How do you prep for film production?

Once I can oversee the size of the production and its demands I assemble my team ! Very important to share the challenges with people who are professional, experienced and likeminded. Scriptbreakdown takes some time followed by a budget to discuss with the Production house. Hire a Dogwalker, make sure the car is reliable and tell friends you won't be able to socialise anymore (they will tolerate ..) until the very end of the production. Enjoy the creative process as it won't last long . The Preptime with the Director and DOP is most important as it will dominate the workload - mood boards, models , sketches manifest this progress for everybody to understand. And than- lets roll!

A script is broken down to a Shooting Schedule by the 1st A.D. using Movie Magic, Gorilla, or other scheduling software. This takes a week. A Day out of Days is created from this breakdown, which is sent to potential Actors with their individual work days. The Producer, Line Producer, UPM or 1st A.D. seeks script input from the Director and all department heads to generate a budget. This also takes a week. Financing, + at least 10% contingency is secured. Locations are scouted and chosen, then tech scouted with Department Heads & Best Boys. Cast & Crew are hired. Movie is shot.

Like everything in Film, it boils down to People. Take an account of all the people you have already involved in your crew, your production. Though some believe a film is solely the Writer or Director's vision, my belief is that once the screenplay is done and served, it becomes a dish to be savoured by everyone in the crew. Involve the perspectives of your Cinemat, your set designers, your AD's, then plan out how you'll be executing your and the crew's collective vision. No other way to do it, in my opinion.

The industry standard software for this is called Movie Magic. There's a scheduling module and a budgeting module that are used on everything except commercials. The 1st AD creates the script breakdown, and this is the first step in their prep. Doing the breakdown and schedule can take anywhere from 20-45 man hours depending on the length of the script and the number of scenes. It's basically creating a gigantic database of every element in the script as well as the 'hidden' elements like equipment I know we'll need or something like animal wranglers for any animals in the script. All of this is necessary for the next step, creating the shooting schedule, which is a critical tool the producers use to determine the cost of the film.

The general purpose of a script breakdown is to determine the required elements for a film, which can go a long way in determining budget. I tend to do these by hand, but they can also be done in final draft's "breakdown" mode. Usually this entails breaking each page down into "eighths" (dividing a page into eight rectangular brackets), to determine how many elements will be required in a single span of time (1 page ~ 1 minute), and highlighting color coded information for sound design, production design, etc. Often this will be done by the AD, but a good director will often do this (or at least parts of this) themselves.

The production schedule is where you take your breakdown of your script and shot-list, and create a puzzle of when you're going to film everything. Often a production is not shot in the same order in which the script is.

Using MMS, the 1st AD enters every element from the breakdown to create a strip for each scene in the script. Each strip contains a maximal amount of info, and the strips are then moved around to make the shooting schedule. It is this shooting schedule and the various reports that can be generated in the Movie Magic Scheduling module that the producer uses to budget the film. Scheduling a film is challenging, since the goal is to optimize everything - actors, child actors, locations, and production flow beginning with daytime exterior shooting and ending with nighttime exterior shooting. This process and ongoing organic one as the prep advances, and even into principal photography due to circumstances beyond the control of the producers.

This often involves what editor's call a "lined script," in which lines corresponding to specific shots (shot 1A, etc) are drawn down the page for the amount of the scene they're covering. From there, you can use this to determine how much time should be scheduled for covering each shot when filming (based on the length of the scene it's covering). Using the "eighths" breakdown from before can be especially helpful determining the length of particularly short length shots, like inserts.

When raising funds for a script optioned by a producer, he calls a 1st AD to do a breakdown and schedule. These are the tools the producer needs to figure out how much financing will be required to make the film, so they are invaluable for him. Movie Magic's budgeting module, like the scheduling module, is basically a huge database where all the information can be endlessly manipulated to change outcomes like costs, and to generate various reports necessary for cost analysis. During prep, these reports are used to evaluate factors like cast and location availability and the schedule is modified accordingly. During principal photography, these reports are used to keep track of expenditures and overages, and to move money around as needed.

This is largely estimated based on a combination of the highlighted script breakdown and schedule. The more elements you need to complete a scene as scripted (sound/production design/etc), the more you need to spend to complete. The more coverage you're shooting for a scene, the longer you'll have to schedule your shooting day (meaning paying crew to work longer hours).

During prep, the director's sole responsibility is to communicate his vision, or to get the pictures and words in his head out through his mouth to the many filmmaking professionals working together, united by the common goal of bringing his vision to the screen. It can be challenging for a new director, particularly when it is his script that's in production, but the best directors are highly communicative, creative visionaries who are extraordinarily flexible and understanding of this totally organic and collaborative process we call filmmaking.

Since this can overlap greatly with a film's art direction, a director will generally have a starting point of what they want in terms of color pallet and texture. Their job is to convey this in as clear of terms as possible to a production designer, who will then build a design that allows this to be realized (usually also expanding on this with ideas of their own, such as what materials to use/set dressing/etc).

To make a compelling film with believable characters, you must first get it right in the story and then get it right in the casting. Once you start casting you soon realize that a big part of the success (or failure) of your film rests on WHOSE final decision it is to choose an actor to portray a specific character in your story. For most directors, it’s extremely difficult to quickly judge what physical traits, personal qualities and professional acting skills an actor must have to be right for a part. And to make this process even more challenging, the final decision to cast an actor is (almost) never left up to you alone. Producers, studio executives & casting directors will all want a say on who they feel is right for a part.

Needless to say, casting is critical, and the casting director is a professional with valuable connections to actors, their agents and management, and union administrators, as well as years of experience selecting and working with actors, and setting up casting sessions for directors and producers. A common complaint in the US, Canada, and the UK is that there is little rehearsal time budgeted these days unless the film is a studio blockbuster requiring skills coaching and intensive training. Sometimes directors and actors come together informally to rehearse in the interest of their craft and creativity, but this is pretty rare. This makes it really important that it's all there on the page for the actor to get the most out of the script.

This often involves detailed overheads/blocking diagrams for each scene. This is essentially a bird's eye view of the set or location, with arrows pointing toward the direction of each actor's movement from beat to beat in the scene (as well as the geographic placement and direction of camera). Actors may typically receive a single rehearsal for a given scene, to learn this blocking, with a review rehearsal typically happening on set during equipment setup.

During prep, the department heads have meetings with the director that are scheduled by the AD department and set up for the director to communicate his vision so that department head knows what he/she will need in terms of equipment, materials, labor, and expendable supplies. All this information is then communicated to the 1st AD who puts it in the breakdown for the unit production manager and line producer. In general, the line producer is the person controlling and monitoring the bag of money, and the unit production manager is the person allocating and spending it on all the things described above. The production and AD departments work closely together throughout the entire process.

Prep for a film - at any level - is the most critical part of the process. It begins by selecting your team of compatriots who will help to achieve the filmmakers vision for the piece... it's not unlike building an army and preparing for battle because each day, even in the best case, will be a battle... a battle against time, budget, daylight... any number of things. If a film or television project experiences major hurdles during production, you can bet they can be chalked up to what I call "The Three P's: Piss Poor Prep." Prep is your time to test and fail; To consider every angle. To allow yourself room to pivot when things go wrong. By production you should be putting out small fires here and there. Give yourself time for prep.

I enjoyed a long career working in the film industry in LA and after dropping out, went on a global adventure that spanned more than nine years and three continents. When I got back to the US, I began lecturing, teaching master classes, offering private instruction, and mentoring film school grads, teaching them the things they didn't learn in filmschool. See my profile for contact info if you'd like me to help you learn the skills and mindset necessary to get ahead in this exciting, but highly competitive industry.