I made a short film for The It’s Liverpool film challenge 2013 yesterday. The brief was to make a film under 5 minutes on the themes of ‘Home’ and ‘Liverpool’. You also needed to mention 3 elements – Five, Birthday and the words ‘There’s no place like home’.
So I ended up making a very personal, choppy film and included a cat in it. Winners are announced at start of next month, and there are cash prizes!
I have some personal rules which I follow on film sets. One is never share a drink with someone (germs spread on film sets, it’s so easy to get ill); another is that I always try and make the effort to introduce myself to everyone at least once.
You never know who the people standing around may be- a producer looking to hire future crew, a military advisor with an interesting story, the executive producer of a big company, a new intern, an actor’s mother, someone looking to finance another film.
I’ve met them all and no one else did that day on set. Perhaps other crew where busy, maybe it’s frowned upon for a crew member to be so outgoing. I don’t think shyness helps in this ‘contacts mean everything’ business; I find its good practice to shake hands with everyone.
Of course it can have its problems – being friendly makes people think that I’m not busy and I’ve been followed around by people all day who can’t see that I’m working. I’ve introduced myself to extras who then tag along after me and think I’ll introduce them to the producer and lead them on their way to Hollywood.
Although I really have got work before, just from shaking the hand of someone watching. And I have forgotten this rule and missed out on opportunities. So next time your on set and see someone watching it might be a good idea to say hi.
It has come to my attention recently that there is a lot of confusion over what the AD – assistant director department – is all about. I’ve heard a few new film makers and film set runners misinformed about this in the past month. I’ll say it now being an AD does not mean you’re assisting the director personally.
The AD department is a completely different department from directing (although some people write otherwise) and is not necessarily the ladder step up to being a director. I believe the departments name confuses people into thinking this is the ladder they should climb if they dream of directing. (If you want to climb a ladder there is no one department better than the other when it comes to directing a film)
The AD department is not about creative directing; it is about making the director’s job easier on set.
There seems to be so many new film makers entering the industry with the belief that being in the AD department will gain you enough skills to be a director. The AD department may improve your communication skills but will not train you in the skills of directing actors.
Would love to hear more opinions on this matter or is it just me who sees the confusion.
I am waiting for that phone call. Sooner or later a line producer will call me up and ask if I am free for a job. They will say one thing for sure – “It is a low budget” – regardless of their budget £10,000 – £6 million –every shoot I’ve been on has started with that phone call and a those words.
It is easy to panic, and take the job regardless of pay or conditions. After all as a freelancer you never know when that next call will be.
But there are things to consider. What is your ‘Daily rate’ and do they care. I have a daily rate myself but I’m not always asked what it is, after all “It is a low budget”. I ask what their budget is – people should be able to give you a rough idea, below 1 million or a few million – just a rough idea.
Is it the usual 12 hour 6 day week? Will there be overtime pay?
Make sure they tell you a figure first. In the UK there is no minimum wage for the self-employed (or unions). For the hours we work National Minimum wage is £450 a week ($690).
You need to know are travel expenses covered? Where are you travelling to and how much will travel cost you for the whole shoot. I made the mistake of not negotiating travel expenses for a short film shoot in London – the tube costs a lot every day – I spent £80 that week in travel.
A feature film shoot has to make you enough money to last until the next one. We can’t work all the time as freelancers.
So here is how a phone call negotiation should go according to me –
1. How much is the budget?
2. How long is the shoot for, how many days a week, how many hours a day?
3. How much are they willing to pay? (Is it enough to make a profit?)
4. Are travel expenses and accommodation covered?
Even if you are desperate for work I think it’s a good idea to size up the project first before making a decision. The worst thing that could happen is that you don’t negotiate and discover that everyone on set is being paid more than you. This has happened to me before.
Think I’ll buy an easel tomorrow going to paint a picture…
I’ve spent another long month on a feature film set, this time a sci-fi. The 10th feature film I’ve worked on. It was a good set, great people but with freezing cold temperatures once again. Another month of 72hr, 6 day weeks, (the usual routine, more work in a small amount of time to save money)
And I’ve saved enough money up now to take a much needed break. Film making has become my life but I have to make sure I maintain some sort of normality. It would be good to write creatively and maybe make something creative – like a visual music video. I feel like I can talk about film, and have a lot of knowledge but I’m not putting any of it in practice. I sit next to directors all day, most of which have worked on less films than me and I mentally cut together their films. It is part of my job to make sure the films cut in the editing room.
An ignorant trainee told me she couldn’t see why anyone would want to do my job. It’s boring and uncreative. Yes it can be but it’s not so bad, a bit of power, more money, knowing about all departments, best seat in the house. It’s the waiting about that’s the worse, 2 hour wait until the next set up and you already know everyone’s life story. Next time I’m going to download books onto my ipad (I could get through so many on set ups).
Yes I am becoming lazy on film sets, blasé perhaps. I’m used to the job now; I’ve made it easier by becoming digital, I know what to expect from a certain situation or scene, I know people, the power hungry, the actor, the attention seeker, the poor runner who is yet to realise what exploitation means. And always the same questions, what does a script supervisor even do? Why do you have blue hair? You don’t sound like a scouser at all.
As you can see I do really need a little break. Even if I just do a little something creative, to prove to myself that I do know something. I’ve given myself 2 months off film work to do just that.
This week I have been doing prep work for my third feature in a row. Breaking down the script, Timing the script, counting the 1/8ths of a script – just some of the jobs I do that nobody really understands. I like the look of this one – the script is less conventional than the majority of films I work on – and by that I mean that it is ‘less Hollywood’, you can’t predict the events and it feels professional and British somehow.
So as of Sunday I disappear, once again to the country side. As mentioned in the previous post I am planning to take a little break after this one. Mainly to start writing my feature film script and partly to fill in the gaps of my life that have disappeared these past long 10 months (exercise and finding my social life outside of film sets).
Yes film sets can make you fat, and I have gained a lot of weight in a short amount of time. I can’t help it – I’ve always liked cakes and pastries, biscuits to dip into every cup of tea. And although I have been eating healthier than I ever have in my life this year; the drinking and lack of time I have had for any exercise has caused me to gain a little weight. I used to exercise all the time, it’s a shame there is no time any more.
I’m now running every week and I’m trying out a Samurai ninja class tonight. So hopefully I’ll be in full fitness again in a few months.
Here are a few blogs I’ve found this week that you may want to read –
(Honest blog on life below the line)
(Blog on costume design)
(A production assistant’s battle to become a Hollywood screen writer)
(A blog for the art department)
Amy Clarke is a 22 year old filmmaker from England. This is her personal film making blog.
Amy Clarke is a 22 year old filmmaker from England. Through this site she wishes to share her knowledge, experiences and passion for film making.
Read more About Amy or contact her here
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