The Perils of Producing

I just got out of a rather amusing meeting with the writer and director of one of my major projects here at film school. The problem is that the writer and I both feel that our original idea is more suited to a 6 minute short, which is our constraint, than the latter idea which the director feels quite strongly about. So strongly, in fact, that she began to cry and ran out of the meeting.

Now, I’m not bagging her out in any way, shape or form. It’s just that she needs to take it professionally, not personally. The former script has a much better chance of being made, as its easier to cast, location hunt and budget for, as well as write. From a purely pragmatic point of view, it is the better option. As the producer, I’m told that I needed to put my foot down. So I did. The former is going ahead. Anyway, thats just the background as to why I’m writing this post. Coincidental alliteration follows:

 

The Perils of Producing

Peril 1: Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has fragile egos. No matter how thick you say your skin is, you can have your ego bruised.

Peril 2: Assuming a facade of professionalism will help you disagree with people. You are always able to blame your current hatred of a person with the ‘its just professional, nothing personal’ excuse. 

Peril 3: I just realized that these aren’t really perils, but sort of advice. Oh well.

Peril 4: Get shit done earlier than you think you need to. We are two weeks away from shooting and, due to the above mentioned disagreement, don’t have a solid script. I needed to put my foot down a month ago. I really did. 

Peril 5: Love your actors. Pay them. Hug them. Love them. Give them a fucking blowjob if you need to. They are much better at what they do than you think and they need all the help they can get. 

Peril 6: Find the middle ground between micromanaging the creative process and just doing administrative tasks. A good producer is a creative producer, otherwise you are just a glorified secretary.

Peril 7: Beginning an article, intending to list about 20 perils and only having enough material for 6.

 

So there you have it. There are many more perils that freak you out if you actually try to be a producer, but I can’t think of them now. Mostly because I’m being yelled at by my producer to write more. He thought I was writing my script, not this article. I hate working. 

~ by John Clark on June 4, 2008.