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Film Directors - Direct the Money Before the Money Directs You
By John Gaskin
Most Film Directors have elected to stay away from film budgets
and production costs. The heavy grinding SHOULD be left to
accountants - but, let's lay it on the table:
The Film Director is at the helm of a big money-burning
machine. It is the Film Director's job to produce his/her vision of
the script - on time and on budget. At his service is a team of film
production experts (the Line Producer, Unit Production Manager,
the AD team, Production Accountant, etc.) all there to assist the
Film Director to do just that.
Film Directors make it their business to understand the basic
functions of on-set filmmaking, without being able to fully light a
set, or operate a crane, or focus a steadicam. In the same spirit,
the Film Director must understand the basics of Budgeting and
the extremely important Weekly Cost Reporting process. Every
creative decision involves money. It's only good sense to learn
to translate creative ideas into costs.
Experienced Directors know of The Weekly Cost Report. If you're
not yet familiar with it, let me introduce it to you:
The Weekly Cost Report informs all Producers, Studio
Executives and Financiers of the costs you're expending and
how those costs compare to the Approved Budget. If you are
unable to challenge, or defend, the conclusions made by those
who read that financial 'Report Card' (that is, those who hold the
purse strings) your ability to control your career is significantly
weakened.
Find a comfort level where you can, at the very least, know what
to ask during the Budgeting phase, and have a good
understanding of how you can trade-off one cost overrun with a
cost savings in another area. Know how to formulate general
concepts of trading off costs to arrive at your vision and you'll
impress the money belts off the Studio Executives.
Picture the following scenario:
You're the Film Director of an Independent Film Production.
You've shot the exteriors called for in the script and you've seen
the dailies; however, you KNOW that there's a better shot of that
exterior in Oklahoma that would give the perfect hook to the
opening of your film.
You know that you can convince the producers of this on a
creative plane. But, you also know that most producers will
shudder at the task of dropping that bombshell on the
Financiers/Bonding Company that you need to dip into the
closely guarded Contingency funds. (Oh, did I tell you that we're
going to Okl¡)
1. How do you pose solutions to those added costs?
2. What's the right way to approach the game of cost trade-offs?
3. How do you defend those cost trade-offs?
It's always going to be a challenge to present this kind of choice -
but, a very doable challenge if you know how to translate your
needs to cost trade-off's by using my Walk The Talk ideas.
Usual Way:
As the Film Director you sincerely express your view that the
Oklahoma shot would be a perfect opening for the movie. What
kind of response do you think you'll get? Here's the most likely,
from my experience:
Film Producer/Bonding Company Rep - This will put us over-
budget by $150,000. I'll talk to the¡ 'whoever' - (it's a stall for
sure).
Walk The Talk Way
Alternative: Film Director
- The cost of shooting 1 day of exteriors will not require a full
crew in Oklahoma. I've called the Film Commission there (see
my web site for internet links to all Film Commissions and major
Unions) and they have assured me that there are plenty of local
crew available to work at a very decent rate.
- I estimate it should cost about 1/2 of your estimate, say about
$75,000 to give us a bit more than we absolutely need. I can get
that back over the next 5 days here in New York. (Note: you'll
need to pick-up a copy of my Ebook to see how I arrived at the
$75,000 figure - see Figure 17.2, Table 3)
- You see, I've rehearsed the next five days with my very
experienced cast and there's no way that we can't complete the
scenes scheduled in 10 hours a day instead of the budgeted 13
hours a day. And, as you all know, that last 2 hours in New York
costs about $10,000 a day (see Figure 15.1 in my book).
Alternative: Bonding Company Representative - Oh. Have the
accountant make a schedule of the costs and we can check
them. (That's a Financier's last stand - it's up to the accountant to
verify your estimates.)
You get the drift. You are simply applying a cost trade-off
technique in the same technical way as you would use focal
points, storyboards, crane shots, etc. You are 'Directing The
Money'; the money isn't Directing you.
Some Directors, through the school-of-hard-knocks, have
developed a 'knack' for conceptually streaming their creative
ideas through a 'what's the cost?' process. But that process is all
too often tainted with blame on 'the blue suits' and 'the money
guys' and 'all they're interested in is the money', etc. It's also
often based on misinformation, biased toward a predetermined
decision. Take my word for it; unless you, as the Film Director,
can be familiar enough with the language of money in film
production, you're up the proverbial creek.
You, as the Film Director, are at the helm of a money burning
machine. The best way to get the confidence of those who hold
the purse strings is to know how to participate in the budget
approval process, and then to trade off costs to get YOUR vision
during the shoot. You could think of it as Directing, only you're
Directing The Money.
So how does a Film Director get familiar with Budgets, Cost
Reports and the trading-off of costs techniques? Visit my web
site at http://www.talkfilm.biz and sign-up for 7 FREE informative
articles on how to participate in the budgeting and cost reporting
process. You can instantly download my Ebook, ¡°Walk The
Talk¡±.
Written by John Gaskin - With 20 years experience in the Film
Industry as a Production
Auditor, John has managed over 40 major films all over the
world. John has worked with some of the industries top
professionals including academy award winning producer Ron
Howard, Brian Grazer, Walter Salles, etc. See more "About the
Author" at http://www.talkfilm.biz .
About the Author
How does a Film Director get familiar with Budgets, Cost Reports and the trading-off of costs techniques? Visit my web site at http://www.talkfilm.biz and sign-up for 7 FREE articles on how to participate in the budgeting and cost reporting process.
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| Some other articles by John Gaskin | |
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