How can you ensure everyone feels heard and valued during film production?

It's just as important to know timeline as anything at the earliest stage. When is your goal for this project to be delivered and what is the budget attached to deliver it by that time? These two factors can limit how grand your initial vision is. If you're basically outlining your dream project with no strings attached, than that's an altogether different proposition. Either way, I outline my vision by doing a treatment that typically includes: overview, story arc (act 1, act 2, act 3), tonality (and references for vibe), and then filmic approach (camera choices and camera style). I'll not only include a written treatment but also make sure the visual look and feel of the document (photo choice & design style) matches my vision.

Empower your crew by recognizing their professionalism, allowing them creative freedom, and inspiring them to produce exceptional work. Articulate a vision of their highest potential, painting a vivid picture of what success looks like on the project. This instills a sense of ownership and responsibility, motivating the team to surpass expectations. Your words of encouragement become a lasting guide, shaping their efforts to align with the imaginative vision you've shared.

Fostering a culture of constructive feedback should be ingrained from the early stages of pre-production. Leaders, including directors, producers, and top-tier professionals, set the tone. Demonstrating a commitment to continuous learning and unlearning while embracing constructive feedback establishes a mindset that permeates throughout the entire crew.

Film production is collaborative, team sport. While there’s a hierarchy and it’s there for a reason, good ideas come from everywhere and everyone. It’s key, whether you’re producer or director running or the overall production, or you’re running your own department, like the DP or Prod Designer, that you instill a collaborative environment by asking for the opinions of those working for you. You are empowering them to contribute and make decisions with you. This allows the entire group on set to have ownership and share in the successes of the day. Lastly, perhaps the most vital thing is the power of gratitude and giving thanks all the time. Because if those on set are doing an exemplary job, they’re working their butts off for you.

What can help to create a certain collaborative environment, that creates ownership (when needed), is to come up with a way to co-create (complicated, emotional) sequences, scenes and/or shots. This can be done in a lot of ways, even with LEGO’s where you create the shot in the small and where can play around with camera movements, blocking actors, all of it. Everybody can get their perspective on it in a cheap yet practical way. Like a ‘pre-RECCE’ on a table that has a blueprint/map on it. Sharing perspectives from people within certain departments (e.g. camera, grip, art) that can help make the best possible shot(s) imaginable. It’s also fun practice to get yourself in a creative (and (technical) problem solving) mindset.