Just an average day - in the office - of an independent filmmaker. Or is it?
It's Sunday evening.
Today I moved into a temporary place to house and cat sit.
That's what I do these days, moving from place to place, as I don't have enough money to pay rent.
That's the life of an independent filmmaker ;)
So what did I do today, I had a 2.5 hour Skype call with my screenwriter/ co-producer.
He is living in The States, I am living in The Netherlands.
It's 6 hours earlier where he's at, but he wakes up around 3am.
In case you wondered. Yeah, you read that right, he wakes up at 3 am!
As I usually wake up around 8am, it's almost as if he and I are living in the same time zone.
We usually call from around 2/3pm my time, 8/9 am his time. We then chat for a couple of hours.
Here's some things we discussed today:
- We need to go look for another DP (camera operator). Not for the first time, I can tell you that. I could easily write a whole post on that, but I won't.
The DP that we have been talking to, over the next couple of weeks, decided - after having read the script of our microbudget thriller - to not be part of the project. It wasn't the script. He liked it. But he doesn't feel comfortable to shoot it on a micro budget. I thought I explained to him there's hardly any money and that he said he was in but, apparently, he changed his mind. That happens. No hard feelings.
We actually tightened up the script after my first talk with him, before I shared it with him.
So he actually helped us improve the film.
Anyway, we switched to Plan B. Finding a new DP. I was already on the lookout. As I had a hunch this was going to happen. The funny thing is that I actually reached out to a guy on here - @Spartan23r - who is from the Netherlands too.
So let's see what that leads to.
So what else happened today:
Sound Guy
I reached out to a sound guy, who is also a DJ. Will meet up with him in a week or so. Hope he is willing to be part of our team and record sound on set. Both dialogue and ambient sounds. He seems like a creative guy, so I feel he would be a great fit. More on that in a later post!
Actress
I also replied to an American actress who is atm living in The Netherlands. She doesn't seem to fit the character that we're looking for right now but she might be fitting for a part in one of our future projects, so I let her know.
More Sound
Furthermore, I replied to a guy who wondered if we're looking for a (soundtrack) composer. Unfortunately for him, we already got a female composer from Great Britain connected to the project. Can't wait to work with her!
She scored a little teaser of us back in 2013 for a project called 'The Haunted Woods of Terror'.
You can find a clip of that teaser and listen to her score by going to my earlier post. Scroll down to the second video (with the screaming guy).
This is our composer's Soundcloud page:
https://soundcloud.com/looceedee
I also emailed another interested actor. Told him we haven't forgotten him. We will reach out to him in the near future.
So I guess I did a lot of emailing.
I might be the director on this project, but I'm definitely also wearing a producer's hat and what not. Welcome to the life of an independent micro budget filmmaker!
Besides discussing all this stuff, Ted - my filmmaking companion - and I spoke about money (or the lack of it), locations - are we going to shoot some scenes in The Netherlands / Belgium before we shoot the (rest of the) movie on The Canary Islands? and our website. Yeah, webdesign is also part of being an independent filmmaker.
Two days ago, I joked that I'm sure Stephen Spielberg never had to work on his filmmaking website.
He was lucky to be a big shot filmmaker before the start of the internet.
By the time the internet came around, he already had so many people working for him that he didn't need to worry about these kind of things. Keep dreaming!
By the way, I'm not aiming to become a big Hollywood filmmaker. I would be pretty happy if I could make a living on my little films. Right now, I can't even pay myself. So I got a lot of work to do.
I hope this platform can contribute to making my filmmaking a little easier. Let's see about that.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this and I'll talk to you after Tuesday.
By then I will have an update about an actor that we will chat with for the first time that day.
He seems to be a good fit for one of our lead characters.
Until next time!
Wow, This post is so interesting, keep making these "filmmaker's journals"!
My dream is also to become a filmmaker, making small and passionate films. But it's extremely difficult, specially managing a certain amount of people to maximize the time and talent spent. After many failed scripts, I think today I've a decent script to work with, and in a couple of weeks potentially starting production.
I'm following you :D
Cheers from Brazil.
Obrigado Gabriel!
I appreciate it. Comments like these encourage me to keep on writing.
Your idea to make small and passionate films is a great one. I am glad that you're not just dreaming about it but actually doing it. I spoke about wanting to make movies for many years, before I actually started making them.
You only become a filmmaker when you start making movies ;)
And yeah, it definitely isn't easy but if you like easy stuff, you probably won't choose to become a filmmaker. It's complicated and very challenging but also pretty great.
I wish you all the best with your production. If you need any advice or encouragement, just let me know and I will try to help you out as much as I can.
All the best!
Vincent
@spartan23r 👍
Vincent: he can do your website as well ;)
Wish I had the budget to delegate more stuff to people with skills.
That is one of the reasons for me to get into cryptocurrency, possible financial freedom ;)
Great Post. I'm a filmmaker myself, and I'd like to connect with a good network of Micro Filmmakers on Steemit. Just so we can share tips, ideas and support. If you're interested follow me.
Going through the same process, trying to get a micro film off the ground, it a lot of work these days.
Keep chipping away, and you'll get there. I look forward to reading more.
Hi there @newstagefilms
Today is kind of a tough day in my filmmaking career (for lack of a better word).
I appreciate your kind words. It's these kind of things that help me to continue my journey.
I'll try to write up a new post tomorrow on what has happened the past couple of days in my filmmaking.
Like bitcoin, I might be heading towards some kind of fork and I'm not sure yet what route to take.
I just followed you back. Stay in touch!