Suffice it to say that my daughter’s birthday is the most important thing happening today, at least in our family. That said, The Prankster is my baby as well, and has been a long time coming. I wrote the first version of The Prankster in 1994. It was set in 1970 and was a lot closer to my own experince in high school in those antediluvean times.

Over the years The Prankster has evolved. Different drafts for different times. Finally, by the time we went into production, the script had grown into maturity. Now, 16 years after conception, it arrives on my doorstep as a DVD, ready to go out into the world.  Go Prankster, Go!  I wish you a lot of success.  And yes, of course I want you to make gobs of money, but what goes with that is the hope that you will touch hearts and inspire spirits. That’s what we’re really here for, whether we’re a movie or a human being.

So, Celina and The Prankster – Happy Birthday Baby!!!!!!!!!!

It’s easy to go into overwhelm. The story goes, do as much as you can, push as hard as possible, leave no stone unturned. That’s conventional “wisdom.” But as I’ve said all along, if you’ve been reading – and shame on you if you haven’t – this movie is not obeying the “conventional” laws of power and influence. That’s how a lot of things get done in the material world, but there is another way. Trusting the universe.

When a project runs spiritual energy, as The Prankster does, and aligns itself with the flow of the universe, things unfold organically. Yes, you still have to show up and be alert, but it is more like navigating a flow, rather than paddling like a maniac upstream.

At the Zen Center they have a saying – don’t just do something, sit there! Sometimes “not doing”, that is, going with the flow, is the most effective thing you can do. I remind myself of that now and surrender to what is. Free falling….. See ya….

My wish is that the movie serve its audience. I ask for your prayers and blessings to help it on its way. With love.

1. Reality check.  Since the downturn in the economy, it has been extremely hard for independent films to secure decent distribution.  The days of multi-million dollar purchases or even large advances are over.  Almost no indies are picked up for theatrical release anymore – the established theatrical distributors have scaled back and are only releasing their own homegrown products, and a limited number at that.   But that doesn’t mean you can’t make money.  New opportunities are evolving as we speak.

2. Get a Producer’s Rep.  We tried marketing the movie ourselves for awhile, but were denied access by most distributors and not taken very seriously by others.  Reps act as a screening device for the distributors, and they know the game and everyone playing.  Find a rep who really likes your movie and with whom you feel compatible.

3. Budget for Deliverables.  Once your rep finds a distributor, they will send you a scary list of deliverables.  It’s scary because it’s long and expensive to produce all the items required.  Find out what you’re in for in advance and budget for it.  Don’t expect the distributor to pony up – they perceive the indy film world as a buyer’s market and act accordingly.

4.  Get in the game.  Some of the distribution offers you get may be underwhelming.  Take a deep breath and consider taking the plunge.  It is far better to get in the game than stand on the sideline.  That is, of course, so long as you believe in your distributor’s integrity and gameplan.

5. Promote on the Internet.  A great website is your best promotional tool.  Generally, your distributor will be limited in the promotion they do, so it is in your best interest to support their efforts as much as you can.  Your project website is like an electronic brochure for your movie, available to the world.  It is an amazingly powerful tool, so really focus on it.

6. Alternatives.  What if you can’t find a distributor? You can still sell your movie on YouTube, Amazon, Cinema Now and through various other internet distributors – no rep necessary.  For some, doing it yourself utilizing these channels may be more rewarding than what a conventional distributor can do for you, and you’re in charge.  But beware, distributing a film yourself is mucho trabajo – if you’re going to do it, make your peace with the fact that for the interim you are a distributor, not a filmmaker.  Incidentally, distribution is where the money is, so if you master it, you could finance your next project!

7. Perseverance.  It took us about a year after The Prankster was complete to secure a domestic distribution deal, and I’ve been told that’s not bad.  It is all too easy to feel discouraged and angry.  Resist the temptation.  Believe in your project, yourself, and the universe.  The fact that you made a movie at all is a miracle and its own reward.  Know that no matter what happens, to be on this path is a victory of the spirit. 

Et voila, that completes our 5 course recipe for filmmaking in 2010.  Hope you found it tasty.  Aloha!

So, here’s your recipe for a satisfying post:

1. Music.  I forgot to mention it earlier, but you should have hired a composer and music supervisor during preproduction.  Based on the script, they will have prepared some pieces.  Now that you are in the edit phase, you need to feed them completed scenes and segments as they become available.  Your supervisor can provide guide tracks of existing music to test with the edit.  Once you find things you like, you can try to license the guide tracks, or find or compose something similar.  Generally, you should have an idea about how much of your music you want to be original score, and how much licensed or knock off music.  A lot depends on the genre you’re working in, which you should study for examples.

2. Licensing.  This is a huge one.  A lot of newbie filmmakers put all kinds of pop music in their edit, and even mix sound before attempting to license music.  They are in for an rude awakening.  Even moderately popular songs can cost a small fortune (like $50,000) to license.  And it can take months to license a piece of music.  Your music supervisor needs to get on licensing research asap.  I would also strongly recommend avoiding licensing pop music.  There are many wonderful musicians who can provide music that is just as good or better than established pop tunes, at a tiny fraction of the price.  This is really a no-brainer, as I don’t think having well-known tunes on your track necessarily adds value to your movie (i.e., puts butts in seats).  Trust your story to work, and put in good music by unknowns.

3. Sound Design.  Have you noticed these first three notes relate to sound?  Sound is half the experience of “seeing” a movie, and is something that is almost entirely created in post.  As filmmaker, you should have a concept of what you want your Sound Design to be.  How do you want to employ music and effects?  What kind of sound environment do you want to create – naturalistic, subjective, or some combination?  As always, your decisions about sound should relate to and underscore what the film is about.  Find a geat supervising sound editor (like we did in Terry Eckton )and work closely with him/her.

4. Work the Picture.  The edit of your picture will slowly evolve and take form.  Be patient and trust the process.  If you have taken my advice and have a tight script, then structural work (or re-working) will be minimal in post.  Instead, you will focus primarily on editing scenes, and piecing them together into segments that flow.  A good editor has a sense of pace and rhythm.  But they can also benefit from close collaboration with the director.  In the case of The Prankster, our editor Robin Lee rough cut portions of the movie, then I would join him to fine cut.  This seemed to work well, but your process may be different.  Have a schedule for cutting the picture and do your best to keep to it.  It would also be wise to allow a couple of contingency weeks.

5. Rough Cuts.  Once you have taken the picture to a certain level, and have laid in a lot of your music, it is time to screen a rough cut to a panel of film savvy people – either your cast and crew, and/or objective outsiders.  Fasten your seat belt.  A rough cut shows you how far you have to go.  People love dailies because they are all about potential.  And people are shocked by a rough cut, because like a colt learning to walk, it stumbles all over the place.  Expect that.  If your rough cut is 60% of what you want your final movie to be, you’re doing fine.

6. Visual FX.  As you cut your movie, you will be temping in your FX shots as well.  This can be quite an elaborate process if you have an FX intensive movie.  But even on The Prankster, a teen comedy, we had 51 FX shots.  Many were done as a means to shortcut a problem that would have been expensive and/or time consuming to handle practically.  Others were all out trickery, like the Kokopelli firework at the end, to accomplish the impossible and give the movie a bigger feeling.  Whatever the case, find a reliable FX expert in preproduction, and work closely with them in post.  Your FX expert should be able to turn material around quickly, and do fixes and revisions as needed, with a smile.  Our FX guy, Tony Hudson, was fabulous.

7. Color Correction.  When your picture is cut, have it treated by a good colorist.  We shot on HD and were able to do color correction right in Final Cut.  But no matter what your medium, a color pass is essential to give the picture a consistent, finished film look.  Also, it gives you the opportunity to manipulate the image on a creative level, adding another subtle dimension to your work.  We used Gary Coates as our colorist, and he gave the already great looking HD footage a stunning “film look”.

8. Screenings.  When you have a more polished, nearly final version of the movie, testing it with screenings is a good idea.  I don’t necessarily believe in doing surveys and handing out note cards, but there’s nothing better than a live, objective audience in your demographic to tell you where you stand.  One of our first screenings was to a large group of high school kids in Carmel, who had no reason to like the movie – it was being shown as a fundraiser for their school music department.  They loved it, and we knew we were close to being done.  We still tweaked the movie later.

9. Final Sound Mix .  When you’ve got the picture locked, all your music licensed, and are satisfied that you are really and truly done, then it’s time to do your final sound mix.  Sound mixing is an art form and you will be well served to get the best mixer and mixing facility you can.  This is not a place to scrimp.  On the Prankster we mixed at Skywalker Sound and our mixer was Gary Rizzo, who was nominated for an academy award for Dark Knight.  Yeah, we got lucky on both scores and ended up with a phenomenal mix.  The point is, budget properly for mix and do it well.  A top quality soundtrack is the final finishing touch to a great post.

In the end, an edit can only be as good as the written script and the material that’s been shot.  That is, an edit can optimize what you’ve got, but it can’t morph a sow’s ear into a silk purse.  That said, a poor picture/sound finish can undermine good material.  Take each step with quality and care.  And one more thing – at every stage of post, practice letting go.  It is natural to wonder if you have another outtake that would be better, or if that one piece of music or effect should be louder, etc. etc.  You can drive yourself crazy and never finish.  There are indy filmmakers who toil for years on their unfinished masterpieces.  You can see them, walking the streets late at night, eyes glazed, muttering to themselves.  

Make your peace with what is good enough.  Know there is no such thing as perfect. Finish and move on.

So, here’s your recipe for a killer production:

1. Set the tone.  As filmmaker, you lead by example.  Exemplify confidence, kindness, and creativity, and others will follow suit.

2. Be Prepared.  This is true for filmmakers as well as boy scouts.  Show up to the set prepared for the day’s shoot and ready to go.  It helps everyone if you know the scenes inside and out, with story boards (even stick figure ones) and shot list in hand.

3. Make Your Day.  Be mindful of how much you have to shoot in any given day, and have the AD keep you on schedule.  It is mind-boggling how many directors stray off track, being perfectionistic about one shot, and throwing themselves hopelessly behind.  Be strategic in your shooting plan – keep your coverage and number of takes appropriate to the time available.  Know that 100% of the script shot at 80% of your vision is far better than getting 50% of the script shot at 100% of your vision. 

4. Keep your balance.  This means 5 day weeks, not 6, and as little overtime as possible.  You and your crew want to stay fresh and continue to have a life outside the shoot.  Yes, that’s right, a life.  Six day weeks grind people down, as does excessive overtime, which will murder your budget anyway.  Stay disciplined, make your day, break when you’re supposed to, and realize there’s more to life than your movie.

5. Have some fun.  Moviemaking is supposed to be fun.  Yes, be professional and keep on schedule, but there is plenty of time to laugh, joke, be silly, and enjoy the process.  This helps set the tone and leads to a happy, productive, and highly creative set.

6. Handle your people issues.  No matter how well you lead, or how great the production, there will always be a few malcontents, and/or a few people who are not working out, for whatever reason.  It’s the line producer’s job to identify these people and handle them, but you as filmmaker may have to handle them yourself.  Remember, there are an abundance of wonderful, talented, cooperative people who would love to work on your production – you don’t need problem people and should eliminate them asap.

7. Start up post.  Start up your editing team a week after shooting begins.  They can be organizing material and cutting scenes immediately.  There’s no reason they can’t track the production and have a first rough assembly within a couple of weeks of the end of shooting.  An added benefit of starting up post is that your editor and visual FX person can spot potential problems and help guide shot decisions (as well as earmark pick up shots) so that you have complete and workable data when you wrap shooting.

8. Keep things moving.  It’s demoralizing when a shoot bogs down, which is inevitable.  Make sure your production team is multi-tasking (eg, concurrently setting up the next location and scene, etc.) and that you are flexible.  Sometimes, when things aren’t working, you have to try a whole new approach, jettison a line or two or more, and move on.  Keep your eye on the prize, which is completing your shoot and getting to that final martini shot.  Reach the finish line and cross it.

Production is the “glamor” phase of the filmmaking process.  No, it’s not actually glamorous on the set – it is hard, continuous, and sometimes tedious work.  But at the same time there is a magic and special energy in putting performances onto film or tape.  Enjoy this phase while it lasts, or know that it too will pass.  But also know that it is just one phase, and there is crucial work to come.

So here’s your recipe for a tasty preproduction:

1. Have enough time.  Time is money, and if you’re like most indy filmmakers, you are working on a limited budget.  But even a limited budget can look much bigger if you invest time in preproduction.  Preproduction is  when a filmmaker and principal team members can actually SAVE a lot of money by lining things up efficiently.  So don’t shortchange yourself by rushing into production or cutting prepro weeks.  An ounce of prepro is worth a pound of production.

2. Lock the script.  There is nothing more crazymaking in prepro (or worse yet in production) than for the script to be changing, sometimes dramatically.  Production team members tear their hair out when creatives make last minute changes, suddenly requiring vast amounts of new prepro, and possibly scrapping much that has already been done.  When this happens, the odds for a successful, enjoyable shoot drop dramatically. Do yourself, your team, and your project a big favor – lock the script before starting prepro and keep it locked.

3. Have a budget.  Realistically budget your production.  Avoid the tendency to lowball the budget in order to fit a lower funding requirement.  You are only fooling yourself and it will come back to bite you.  Also, once you have honestly and realistically done your budget, add a 10% contingency.  

4. Secure your funding.  One of the biggest mistakes overeager filmmakers make is to greenlight their project before having full funding.  Think about it – if you were embarking on a cross country journey, would you start with only enough money to make it halfway, hoping things will somehow work out?  That’s a good recipe for getting stranded in North Dakota (to all my multitudinous fans in Bismarck, Minot, and Fargo, no offense intended).  Be disciplined.  After figuring out what you need to make your movie properly, get the money locked in before proceeding.

5. Have a schedule.  Like your budget, your schedule should be brutally realistic.  You should also include an extra funded open day or two, a “time contingency” if you will, for the possibility of going over.

6. Cast with Care.  Now that you have your budget, funding, and schedule, you are good to go.  The most important task in prepro is to cast well.  This takes a good casting director and time.  Allow adequate time to have several rounds of auditions.  Attend the final auditions in person, speak with the actors, and check their references.  The actors’ performances are absolutely crucial.  And getting involved in auditions serves as a kind of pre-rehearsal - while choosing your actors,  you can start working on performance.  And yes, be sure to schedule a few days of actual rehearsal before production begins.  This too will SAVE you money, as you will be able to largely work out performances before cameras roll, saving that time to move faster or do more on set.

7. Line up your locations/Pre-Visualize.  Securing locations is a normal part of preproduction.  But again, you can save money and be more efficient by visiting your locations and previsualizing your shooting scheme.  Camera tests, moves, and even actor blocking (using production associates as stand-ins) can be planned in advance.  Storyboards, as many as possible, are also a great idea.

8. Pick your crew – carefully.  Again, having time is essential for you to pick your crew.  You can avoid a lot of potential problems in production by carefully selecting a good team.  This involves not only interviews, but careful reference checks.  Some people can be utterly charming in an interview, but do a Jeckyl and Hyde number when they hit the set. 

9.  Work with your Department Heads.  In the whirl of production, you will be much too busy to do any substantive work with your department heads (eg, Art Department, Wardrobe, Hair & Make-Up, etc.).  Preproduction is the time for you to meet with these folks and work through your general concepts and strategy for the movie, as it relates to their department.  They will know where you want to go and everybody will be on the same page.  

10. Wheel & Deal.  Prepro is also the time for you to make deals on everything you can.  Having enough time (are you getting this one?) is essential.  Think through your contracts.  For just one example, with the actors, make sure your contracts specify that you have the right to use their image and performance for promotional materials.  Also, sort out any and all union issues – the last thing you want is a picket line and labor dispute to deal with during production.  There are myriad other things to think about – in prepro you can work them out, and that’s when you have leverage.

Doing solid prepro is like a cook arriving early at the kitchen and laying out all his tools and ingredients.  When it’s time to cook, he/she is ready to go, and you will be too!

So, here are your ingredients for cooking a great script:

1. Study the classics.  Become thoroughly familiar with scripts that are generally acknowledged as great (and which you love personally).  Read the scripts(most scripts are available for free on the internet) and watch the movies made from them, several times over.

2. Listen to the experts.  There are a multitude of books on screenwriting out there.  Buy a few and read them.  I recommend Syd Field, Robert McKee, Linda Seger, and Christopher Vogler, but I’m sure there are many others that are worth reading.  And remember, no one pundit has the full picture.  Piece together your own understanding from your script study, and from listening to the experts.

3. Write a script.  There is no better way to gain an understanding of good scriptcraft.  When you have to consider and wrestle with the principles involved in quality storytelling, that makes you eminently more qualified to discern and appreciate a great script.  Your script may end up on a shelf, but what you learn from the process will be invaluable.

4. Understand structure.  This is rightfully part of scriptcraft, but it is so important that it deserves special mention.  When I taught screenwriting at UC Davis, my classes analyzed great movies from several different genres and eras.  The biggest truism that emerged is that an effective script always contains a very specific structure.  There is not time to go into that now, but the concepts of three acts, plot points, and climax are essential.

5. Understand the Big 3.  Which would be theme, plot, and character.  These elements are the fundamental building blocks of screenplays.  They are inextricably intertwined with each other.  A great script has characters that arc (or tellingly don’t), exemplifying a central theme idea – yes, Martha, every script worth its salt is ABOUT something.  And, of course, who a character is dictates how they will act, and action is plot.  It all blends together, folks.

6. Work the script.  A great script isn’t written over a weekend.  It takes several drafts.  When you or your screenwriter finishes a draft, put it out to a panel of trusted readers for comments.  Sift through the comments and look especially for overlapping notes.  Use what resonates as true for you, and do a rewrite.  Then put the script out for another read.

7. Test the script.  Once you have taken the script as far as you can, do a reading before a film savvy audience.  Run a discussion group afterward.  Take notes, and where you hear the same thing from multiple parties, pay attention.  As always, only change what resonates for you, but ignore an oft-repeated note at your peril.

8. Trust the finished script.  Once you have developed a script that you have worked, tested, and believe in, then trust it.  There will be severe temptation to veer away from your script as you head toward production, as everybody chimes in with their “helpful” ideas and opinions.  Once the script is finished, the time for input is basically over.  Trust your script as a reliable baseline for a successful movie – that is, shoot the script as written.  If there’s time and inspiration, you will riff off of it, but if not, you can count on what you’ve written to work for the audience.

The vast majority of movies fail on the level of script and are therefore doomed.  Invest time and energy into learning what a great script is, and how to produce it.  That will make all the difference in your becoming a successful filmmaker.  More importantly, it will result in a product that is of interest and benefit to the audience, which is really what it’s all about.