Crewing Up

Well, aside from the students who will work on the film this summer, we are starting to crew up with a few professionals. We have reached an agreement with a great DP who is semi-local (he lives a few towns away). We are negotiating with an assistant director/production manager-type who has worked with students before and can help organize things, and we have slotted in one of our colleagues in the department as our sound guy. So things are shaping up.

What's weird is this: having started a production company for this production, I am the man in charge. I hold the checkbook (and, you know, the debit card -- but holding the "checkbook" sounds more official). So as we begin to actually plan to pay people for their work, and to write checks for things like production insurance (so annoyingly expensive), I am starting to get cold feet.

I am hesitant only because I am afraid of committing too much money or committing it to the wrong things or people. My producer is really laying out the budget -- it's not like it's all on my shoulders -- but it still makes me nervous. But there is so much stuff that costs major money that ISN'T on the screen (insurance, catering, etc.) that I'm really starting to relate to how tight producers and execs are with money.

My producer, who is a colleague on faculty and who has taught here for more than a decade, keeps telling people "well, it's the director's decision, he's in charge," etc. And it's just weird because I feel like I am so undecided on so much. A big part of filmmaking is decision-making. There are countless questions, and you have to know the answers, or at least know which ones need answers and which ones can wait. So I'm gearing up for that mode. It'll be helpful when I'm done with classes so I can focus on that a little more.