A Day in the Life

Author Christine Vachon, an American independent movie producer wrote this book “Shooting to Kill”, subtitled, “How an Independent Producer Blasts Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter”. I will be doing a chapter by chapter summary with reflections every now and then of this book. Feel free to comment if you wish.

Summary

What does a producer do? What DON’T they do? Author describes that she develops scripts; raise money; put together budgets; negotiate with stars with meager budget; match directors with cinematographers, cinematographers with production designers, production designers with location managers. Makes sure the shoot is on schedule, on budget, on track, hold hands, and stroke egos.

The Author states that when you read this book, you’ll learn about producing by learning what she likes. You learn about her experiences in the areas of development, budgeting, casting, shooting, editing, releasing, and fighting battles with artistic personnel and studio executives.

One shouldn’t go into production without all the money in hand that is needed to finish the film.

Expect the worst, plan for the worst, and repress all thought about the worst.

[personal thought] — Personally I like to stick with “plan for the worst, hope for the best, and put your trust in Allah”

The more you know about the history of film, the better you can imagine its possibilities. The author didn’t go to film school, and a lot of people learn the basics there. When they come out of film school, they all want to be directors. Someone has to make and serve the coffee.

[personal thought] — I was once told that in even in the top film schools, one learns only 20% of what you need in the real world. The other 80% you get by being in the business for real.

In an indy movie one can get a job without having any prior experience as long as you’re willing to work for free.

Yelling at people doesn’t help. The amount of time spent trying to blame somebody else is simply not worth it. The bottom line is, you cannot be a producer unless you understand that it’s all your fault. — Once people stop fearing that they’re going to be targeted for blame, they start thinking for themselves, and they’re no longer paralyzed by the thought that they’re going to screw up and someone’s going to scream at them.

It takes incredible nerves, passion and talent to make low-budget movies. it takes knowing everything there is to know but not knowing enough to paralyze you in the decision making and execution process. The one thing that all great producers have in common is the courage of their convictions.

My friend once said,

“One thing about being a Producer is you really have to have thick skin. It’s not about yelling at people because you want to blame someone else. It’s about being a “force to reckon with” on the set by making sure that the crew is not slacking, that every aspect of the set is taken care of (from catering to rolls of film/tape), and depending on your style, either interfering or giving breathing room to the creative department.

You hit it on the nail in the sense that the buck does stop with you on everything having to deal with the actual production of the film (not necessarily the creative portion). “

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