Week 2 of Juju under the belt. Still had our bumps and bruises, but all in all things are smoothing out. I'm still working on figuring out exactly what niche in this field I would like to end up in, but Production Manager seems to suit me pretty well. I work best when I have a variety of tasks, a lot of responsibility (and leeway), and crisis mode, as much as it seems to suck while I'm in it, is where my brain is clicking rapid-fire. I have a good feeling at the end of the day when I can say, "We really pulled that one out of the fire." On a low-budget indie movie set, that happens more days than it doesn't. It is definitely a team effort, though, and I enjoy that aspect of it, too.
Last night we shot this very cool nightmare scene in my attic. The scene called for three children, so I called my aunt and uncle to let me use my little cousin Sean (who was in "Charm City" with his brother Joey) again. Joe is a little too old for what we were looking for, so Irene (my aunt) called some of Sean's friends parents and got me two little girls from Sean's class as well. Kids and dogs can be very tricky on the set, but so far I am three for three, in a good way. Sean and Joseph did a great job in their scene in my movie, my dogs and my neighbor Philip's dogs got their scene in "Charm City" perfect on the first take, and last night went with Sean and his friends went pretty perfectly.
It is very hard for little ones, if you can get them relaxed enough to not be scared or embarrassed, to do certain things like not look at the camera or not smile if it is a serious moment, but all three kids did very well. They are at an age where they are scared of ghosts and when they first got here they were afraid of the attic before they even saw it. But we let them play pool and eat lots of junk food for awhile first and then they were fine and bored and wanted to shoot the damn thing already. Sean had to move these large white pillar candles around very slowly from behind a shelf. He was backlit so it looked very cool and creepy, but because there was so much going on, lots of lights, and about a dozen other people standing in the room, he wasn't scared. Kyleigh, one of the girls, had to rock a (fake) baby while sitting in a dilapidated rocking chair, and silently and without smiling offer the baby to the lead character, Jake. She is such a sweetie, it was hard for her to do without smiling, but we got it. Also, the baby is actually a rubber model of a full-term fetus and it weighs at least 7 pounds. That is pretty heavy for a little girl, but she was a trooper. She would hold the baby out to Jake, and sometimes no one yelled, "cut," so she would just keep holding it until her little arms were shaking from the weight and I would tell her to put it down. The other little girl, Colleen, is a cutie with long red pigtails. She was a champ. When the other two got the giggles, she managed a straight face and took direction from Michelle, whom she had never met before, perfectly. She had to stare down Jake and be the creepiest of them all. It is amazing what lighting can do, change a sweet little girl with freckles into something from a terrifying nightmare! But it also took a lot of concentration on her part and it looked SO COOL. It is definitely my favorite scene that we have shot of this movie so far.
So in the last two months a lot has happened in my attic. A crazy woman of the Victorian era has chopped off a man's head with an axe, a greedy narcissist is visited in his nightmares by demonic children, and in between, a sassy middle-aged artist rediscovers her creative side and rebuilds her studio. Similar scenes have played out all over this building. When these three movies are completed, I want to watch them as a triple-feature. That will be a great lesson in the versatility of a location like this, and how lighting, acting, and the script can totally change the mood of the same room.
But today is Sunday, our day off, and I get to watch FOOTBALL!!!! I am so excited. Except I fear that I am not going to be able to see the Steelers game (die-hard Pittsburgh girl here, that is the "Steel" in "Steel Corset Productions") since they are playing at the same time as the Ravens, and I only have regular cable. At this point I'll take anything that can distract me from anything movie-related for a couple hours. Cuz then I gotta get back to work this afternoon/evening and map out our last week and a half of production, as there are several locations in flux. It will all work out, though, it always does. One more week and I'll have all these people out of my house! Then we move to the studio in Beltsville for a few days. Like my film, we had to add another three days of filming onto this one. So next time I plot and plan out a feature length production down to the minute and think I have it perfectly, reasonably scheduled, I will then scrap the whole thing and add three days to whatever I came up with at my first pass.
Gotta go spend some snuggle-time with my dogs before starting the day. Haven't had nearly enough of that in the last three months!
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget. Show all posts
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Ask Not What Movies Can Do For You...
If you are reading this right now, there is one question you should be asking yourself: What can I do to help Jeanie make her movie better? Luckily, the answer is simplicity itself: you can be in it!
I still need many, many extras. The more the merrier. If you want to be in this flick, contact my Production Manager, Rebecca Clear Dean, IMMEDIATELY at rebeccacleardean@comcast.net. I especially need extras for THIS SATURDAY, August 2. SO get on board already! Bring your mom! Bring your friends! Bring a book! Filmmaking is a LOT of hurry-up-and-wait. But on the flip side, it is an opportunity to be immortalized!
My brain is so fried yet so clickin' at the same time. I am extremely stressed, but even more excited. I know that my entire team - film crew, actors, and production team - are well-prepared. Five loooong days of rehearsals with the actors, hours and hours of pre-production meetings with Michelle and her crew, and Rebecca and the interns and myself as well running all over town gathering wardrobe, props, permits, artwork for the finale... I still have quite a bit to do in the next 48 hours, but we are in pretty good shape.
All the tiny details, you wouldn't believe how long the list is...yesterday I went to two of my actors' homes to finish choosing wardrobe, plus pick up artwork from one of them...the housekeeper's uniform and the judge's robe that I ordered on the internet came in yesterday... the robe is cheap-looking because it has a bright silver zipper in the front that is not at all hidden, but that is why God invented gaff tape - it can fix ANYTHING. Got in touch with my friend who is loaning me the sweetest limo you ever saw for one of the scenes, and another cherry classic car for a different scene...made some tiny tweaks and put the final, FINAL lock down on the script - no more changes, it is what it is now. Realized I STILL need a hot latino guy for the finale, so I called my friend and investor Mikey B. to dredge one up for me. Mikey is a concierge and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan, he can make ANYTHING happen! Hung up all the wardrobe from the actors who have handed theirs over to me and started sorting them. Made another run to Sam's Club, where I am maxing out my credit card $200 at a time. I have gone there almost every day for the last week, filling my car to the brim with soda, water, disposable plates and utensils, condiments, coffee, juice, snacks, etc. I have been stockpiling for weeks. OOPS, still have to order the flowers for the finale, MUST do that in the morning. And thank goodness my cousin Janet called me to volunteer to be an extra, she is making a cake for one of the scenes and I hadn't talked to her about it in months! But she's on it. Oh, I went to Utrecht art supply and bought $155 worth of black foamcore boards. Even better than duvatene (blackout cloth) for blacking out windows. Man, the money is FLYING out the door.
I really have a million things to do so I have to be going, but every day someone new tells me that they are actually reading this thing, so I don't want to leave you hanging just as we are getting to the good stuff! It is SO much work and I am exhausted fairly consistently, yet at the same time, as soon as I open my eyes in the morning I pretty much spring out of bed. Partially because there is so much to do, but mostly because I am excited to be doing it. The best part so far, though, has really been all the people who have come through for me. Every day the pot sweetens as someone throws their own personal contribution into it, whatever that may be... a location, a piece of equipment, their dad as an extra, a cake :), their time... their support. It means the world to me and keeps me going.
But right now what is keeping me going is the realization that if I don't get some laundry done tonight, I am going to have to go commando through this shoot. Peace out.
I still need many, many extras. The more the merrier. If you want to be in this flick, contact my Production Manager, Rebecca Clear Dean, IMMEDIATELY at rebeccacleardean@comcast.net. I especially need extras for THIS SATURDAY, August 2. SO get on board already! Bring your mom! Bring your friends! Bring a book! Filmmaking is a LOT of hurry-up-and-wait. But on the flip side, it is an opportunity to be immortalized!
My brain is so fried yet so clickin' at the same time. I am extremely stressed, but even more excited. I know that my entire team - film crew, actors, and production team - are well-prepared. Five loooong days of rehearsals with the actors, hours and hours of pre-production meetings with Michelle and her crew, and Rebecca and the interns and myself as well running all over town gathering wardrobe, props, permits, artwork for the finale... I still have quite a bit to do in the next 48 hours, but we are in pretty good shape.
All the tiny details, you wouldn't believe how long the list is...yesterday I went to two of my actors' homes to finish choosing wardrobe, plus pick up artwork from one of them...the housekeeper's uniform and the judge's robe that I ordered on the internet came in yesterday... the robe is cheap-looking because it has a bright silver zipper in the front that is not at all hidden, but that is why God invented gaff tape - it can fix ANYTHING. Got in touch with my friend who is loaning me the sweetest limo you ever saw for one of the scenes, and another cherry classic car for a different scene...made some tiny tweaks and put the final, FINAL lock down on the script - no more changes, it is what it is now. Realized I STILL need a hot latino guy for the finale, so I called my friend and investor Mikey B. to dredge one up for me. Mikey is a concierge and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan, he can make ANYTHING happen! Hung up all the wardrobe from the actors who have handed theirs over to me and started sorting them. Made another run to Sam's Club, where I am maxing out my credit card $200 at a time. I have gone there almost every day for the last week, filling my car to the brim with soda, water, disposable plates and utensils, condiments, coffee, juice, snacks, etc. I have been stockpiling for weeks. OOPS, still have to order the flowers for the finale, MUST do that in the morning. And thank goodness my cousin Janet called me to volunteer to be an extra, she is making a cake for one of the scenes and I hadn't talked to her about it in months! But she's on it. Oh, I went to Utrecht art supply and bought $155 worth of black foamcore boards. Even better than duvatene (blackout cloth) for blacking out windows. Man, the money is FLYING out the door.
I really have a million things to do so I have to be going, but every day someone new tells me that they are actually reading this thing, so I don't want to leave you hanging just as we are getting to the good stuff! It is SO much work and I am exhausted fairly consistently, yet at the same time, as soon as I open my eyes in the morning I pretty much spring out of bed. Partially because there is so much to do, but mostly because I am excited to be doing it. The best part so far, though, has really been all the people who have come through for me. Every day the pot sweetens as someone throws their own personal contribution into it, whatever that may be... a location, a piece of equipment, their dad as an extra, a cake :), their time... their support. It means the world to me and keeps me going.
But right now what is keeping me going is the realization that if I don't get some laundry done tonight, I am going to have to go commando through this shoot. Peace out.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Toes Curled
I feel like I didn't get much done today, but I did really. It is just that there is always SO much more to do.
After much thought and review of the current set up of my apartment, I decided that it makes sense to move my makeshift movie-making office from my living room into my studio. I had been trying to avoid doing so because it is going to be a lot of work, and I need to ELIMINATE items from my plate, not add to it. But, it must be done. It doesn't make sense to set up the whole she-bang in my living room and then have to move it all when it comes time to film, as this room will serve as the set for at least one scene when we start filming seven weeks from now. Seven weeks from now?!?! Mm, was that a chest pain?
My horoscope today (Gemini, which should surprise no one)said that if it uses electricity, it would be problematic for me today. That indeed was the case, as my stupid computer seized up everytime I tried to get online until after 3pm. What my horoscope also should have said was that if it walks on two legs and works at Home Depot in it would completely ignore me.
Once I make a decision I am a person of action. So, must transform studio into office, must hit Home Depot! I went in there knowing EXACTLY what I wanted and it still took me an hour and a half to get out of there. I spoke with at least eight different people who worked there, and the only one who knew what they were doing, was pleasant, AND gave a damn about helping me was the SECOND guy I dealt with in the paint department. I think they should change their motto from, "You can do it. We can help," to, "You can do it. Good luck with that."
But, I did get a nice area rug that was originally $370 for $160, so my patience paid off. Crammed that huge thing in the back of my Mustang, packed the trunk with a gallon of primer and four gallons of paint, rollers, tape, etc., and headed home.
The rug is now in the staircase, the paint is still in the trunk. It will be a few days before it can get anywhere near the walls of my studio. First I have to figure out where the hell I am going to put all my artwork, supplies, and framing.
My subconscious is sorting that out for me and I'll start tackling that Sunday. My friend Caren will help me with the painting, she loves that stuff. I want to have it done by Wednesday night. A tall order, but with Caren's help, completely do-able. She is like the Tasmanian Devil, except cuter and more productive. Put a brush in her hand and by the time you turn around, the room (and a good portion of Caren)has two layers of paint.
Sean is supposed to help me next week, to go to the Apple store and choose equipment for my editing suite. So I want a nice, fresh office to put my new toys in.
Tomorrow I am going to Eric's to continue my tutorial on building a website. I need to launch that no later than the end of the month. I am going to become technically proficient (at something other than writing really long blog entries) if it kills me!
Today I also popped off a few important emails, including confirming a day-long do with Michelle on Tuesday. We are going to go over the entire script and probably visit a few locations, start blocking things out schedule-wise.
Between yesterday and today, I watched the nearly five hours of tapes of the callbacks. Some decisions have become clearer, but there are still some choices that leave me on the fence. I have found a brilliant group of actors and it is going to be difficult to turn some of them down. Everyone of them seems so enthusiastic about the project, I wish I had parts for all of them.
After taking a second pass at breaking down the script into production days, it became clear to me that it is going to take a minimum of twelve days to shoot this thing, not the ten days I was hoping to cram it into. That alone pretty much eats up my "contingency" budget. But not to worry. Another credit card is on its way to me in the mail as I write this!
After Eric's tomorrow, I am taking my little cousins and future movie stars, Joey and Sean, to the Orioles game. I was on the phone with Eric last night and he asked when I was totally diving into pre-production. I have been plugging away at it, obviously, but this weekend I think will be my last social hurrah for the next two months. In the last two weeks I have seen a lot of friends, due to my birthday and other excuses to gather. But it is time to get down to business, hard-core. I'm standing on the edge of that wobbly plank, gripping the edge tightly with my toes while I gather the nerve to bounce higher and higher before taking the plunge. Here goes nothin'...
After much thought and review of the current set up of my apartment, I decided that it makes sense to move my makeshift movie-making office from my living room into my studio. I had been trying to avoid doing so because it is going to be a lot of work, and I need to ELIMINATE items from my plate, not add to it. But, it must be done. It doesn't make sense to set up the whole she-bang in my living room and then have to move it all when it comes time to film, as this room will serve as the set for at least one scene when we start filming seven weeks from now. Seven weeks from now?!?! Mm, was that a chest pain?
My horoscope today (Gemini, which should surprise no one)said that if it uses electricity, it would be problematic for me today. That indeed was the case, as my stupid computer seized up everytime I tried to get online until after 3pm. What my horoscope also should have said was that if it walks on two legs and works at Home Depot in it would completely ignore me.
Once I make a decision I am a person of action. So, must transform studio into office, must hit Home Depot! I went in there knowing EXACTLY what I wanted and it still took me an hour and a half to get out of there. I spoke with at least eight different people who worked there, and the only one who knew what they were doing, was pleasant, AND gave a damn about helping me was the SECOND guy I dealt with in the paint department. I think they should change their motto from, "You can do it. We can help," to, "You can do it. Good luck with that."
But, I did get a nice area rug that was originally $370 for $160, so my patience paid off. Crammed that huge thing in the back of my Mustang, packed the trunk with a gallon of primer and four gallons of paint, rollers, tape, etc., and headed home.
The rug is now in the staircase, the paint is still in the trunk. It will be a few days before it can get anywhere near the walls of my studio. First I have to figure out where the hell I am going to put all my artwork, supplies, and framing.
My subconscious is sorting that out for me and I'll start tackling that Sunday. My friend Caren will help me with the painting, she loves that stuff. I want to have it done by Wednesday night. A tall order, but with Caren's help, completely do-able. She is like the Tasmanian Devil, except cuter and more productive. Put a brush in her hand and by the time you turn around, the room (and a good portion of Caren)has two layers of paint.
Sean is supposed to help me next week, to go to the Apple store and choose equipment for my editing suite. So I want a nice, fresh office to put my new toys in.
Tomorrow I am going to Eric's to continue my tutorial on building a website. I need to launch that no later than the end of the month. I am going to become technically proficient (at something other than writing really long blog entries) if it kills me!
Today I also popped off a few important emails, including confirming a day-long do with Michelle on Tuesday. We are going to go over the entire script and probably visit a few locations, start blocking things out schedule-wise.
Between yesterday and today, I watched the nearly five hours of tapes of the callbacks. Some decisions have become clearer, but there are still some choices that leave me on the fence. I have found a brilliant group of actors and it is going to be difficult to turn some of them down. Everyone of them seems so enthusiastic about the project, I wish I had parts for all of them.
After taking a second pass at breaking down the script into production days, it became clear to me that it is going to take a minimum of twelve days to shoot this thing, not the ten days I was hoping to cram it into. That alone pretty much eats up my "contingency" budget. But not to worry. Another credit card is on its way to me in the mail as I write this!
After Eric's tomorrow, I am taking my little cousins and future movie stars, Joey and Sean, to the Orioles game. I was on the phone with Eric last night and he asked when I was totally diving into pre-production. I have been plugging away at it, obviously, but this weekend I think will be my last social hurrah for the next two months. In the last two weeks I have seen a lot of friends, due to my birthday and other excuses to gather. But it is time to get down to business, hard-core. I'm standing on the edge of that wobbly plank, gripping the edge tightly with my toes while I gather the nerve to bounce higher and higher before taking the plunge. Here goes nothin'...
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
In the thick of it
Where does the time go? Whizzing by my head, for the most part. But, lots of progress. It is all coming together.
My Director of Photography, Michelle Farrell, is signed on and already has most of her crew assembled. She is amazing, I am SO happy to be working with her. On the technical side, renting her equipment gives me access to almost every piece of gear you can think of, dollies, steadicam, you name it...and we are going to be shooting in high definition on an HVX, which I am very excited about. I recently went to a production meeting with my script consultant, Sean, to see the latest on his own production he is working on. Some of their footage was in HD on the HVX, some was not, shot on a DVX. What a difference! I was sold.
Michelle knows her stuff, is so easy to work with, and keeps me laughing. I can't wait to actually get on set. Our shooting schedule is locked down, July 31 through August 12.
This week I'm taking another pass at the script. I HAVE to knock it down to 90 pages. Doing the casting calls helped me to recognize the fat I can trim. Trying to get the gist of a scene into a one-page side will do that. This week I sent out longer sides to the actors that are coming in for callbacks on June 8. I hadn't looked at the script for awhile, and I was afraid that if I trimmed the fat, I would be cutting out all the funny parts. But it actually makes it funnier, and a lot tighter.
I am looking forward to the callback on June 8. I have some very talented actors coming in, and I will have some tough decisions to make. Proper casting is crucial to the film. There are no car chases, gunfights, or sex scenes to distract the viewer from mediocre acting. This is a character and dialogue driven film, the actors, and the script, have to carry it.
I'm having lunch Thursday with my other investor. He sent me a tantalizing email a few days ago to entice me to meet him in D.C. - a photo of the check he has for me, for $20K.
Along with Mikey's $10K already in the bank, there is my production budget. Pre- and post- are out of my pocket (and plastic), and will probably total about $20K when all is said and done.
Depending who is reading this, you probably either think that $50K is a boatload of money, OR you're laughing right now. It goes fast, that's for sure. But I have enough to do what I want to do, the way I want to do it. I have some fantastic people around me like Michelle, Sean, and others who are going above and beyond to help me make a quality product. And I keep meeting more of them.
Another filmmaker friend, though I've only known him since January, Is Eric Thornett, of Piranha Pictures. Currently he is filming his latest, a period horror film, at the mansion that I manage. I have seen a good deal of the footage, and it looks AMAZING. This is Eric's fourth feature-length, and I am happy to have him and his crew around, even if it means that when I open my apartment door there may or may not be a headless corpse in a tuxedo sitting by the elevator. I absorb a lot from watching him work and just BS-ing with him and his production team. They are a very fun bunch, and they work very hard. It brings it home to me how important it is to choose the right people to become a true team.
Well, have to get ready to meet an actor that I found outside of the casting call, someone I saw in one of the films Michelle has shot in the past. I average two meetings a day for the rest of the week, plus rewriting the script, and attending the Stonehenge auditions on Sunday. Monday I am off to London for 10 days, to chaperone the theater students from the Baltimore School for the Arts exchqnge program with my friend Matthew's school in the UK, Songtime Theatre Arts. So you won't be hearing from me for a couple weeks, but stay tuned!
My Director of Photography, Michelle Farrell, is signed on and already has most of her crew assembled. She is amazing, I am SO happy to be working with her. On the technical side, renting her equipment gives me access to almost every piece of gear you can think of, dollies, steadicam, you name it...and we are going to be shooting in high definition on an HVX, which I am very excited about. I recently went to a production meeting with my script consultant, Sean, to see the latest on his own production he is working on. Some of their footage was in HD on the HVX, some was not, shot on a DVX. What a difference! I was sold.
Michelle knows her stuff, is so easy to work with, and keeps me laughing. I can't wait to actually get on set. Our shooting schedule is locked down, July 31 through August 12.
This week I'm taking another pass at the script. I HAVE to knock it down to 90 pages. Doing the casting calls helped me to recognize the fat I can trim. Trying to get the gist of a scene into a one-page side will do that. This week I sent out longer sides to the actors that are coming in for callbacks on June 8. I hadn't looked at the script for awhile, and I was afraid that if I trimmed the fat, I would be cutting out all the funny parts. But it actually makes it funnier, and a lot tighter.
I am looking forward to the callback on June 8. I have some very talented actors coming in, and I will have some tough decisions to make. Proper casting is crucial to the film. There are no car chases, gunfights, or sex scenes to distract the viewer from mediocre acting. This is a character and dialogue driven film, the actors, and the script, have to carry it.
I'm having lunch Thursday with my other investor. He sent me a tantalizing email a few days ago to entice me to meet him in D.C. - a photo of the check he has for me, for $20K.
Along with Mikey's $10K already in the bank, there is my production budget. Pre- and post- are out of my pocket (and plastic), and will probably total about $20K when all is said and done.
Depending who is reading this, you probably either think that $50K is a boatload of money, OR you're laughing right now. It goes fast, that's for sure. But I have enough to do what I want to do, the way I want to do it. I have some fantastic people around me like Michelle, Sean, and others who are going above and beyond to help me make a quality product. And I keep meeting more of them.
Another filmmaker friend, though I've only known him since January, Is Eric Thornett, of Piranha Pictures. Currently he is filming his latest, a period horror film, at the mansion that I manage. I have seen a good deal of the footage, and it looks AMAZING. This is Eric's fourth feature-length, and I am happy to have him and his crew around, even if it means that when I open my apartment door there may or may not be a headless corpse in a tuxedo sitting by the elevator. I absorb a lot from watching him work and just BS-ing with him and his production team. They are a very fun bunch, and they work very hard. It brings it home to me how important it is to choose the right people to become a true team.
Well, have to get ready to meet an actor that I found outside of the casting call, someone I saw in one of the films Michelle has shot in the past. I average two meetings a day for the rest of the week, plus rewriting the script, and attending the Stonehenge auditions on Sunday. Monday I am off to London for 10 days, to chaperone the theater students from the Baltimore School for the Arts exchqnge program with my friend Matthew's school in the UK, Songtime Theatre Arts. So you won't be hearing from me for a couple weeks, but stay tuned!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Notes on Being a Grown-Up
Woo-Hoo!!!! I OFFICIALLY have an LLC and an EIN! I am no longer acronym-deficient. Please join me in welcoming Steel Corset Productions, LLC, to the Wonderful World of Filmmaking.
The whole process was pretty painless. First I went online to Maryland SDAT (State Dept of Assessments and Taxation and printed out the form "Articles of Organization". When I noticed that the office was 6 blocks from my house, I figured I'd just do it in person. I braced myself for long waits and cranky state government employees, but it went pretty smoothly. I was in and out of TWO Maryland State Tax offices having spent only 45 minutes and $192.00 ($70.00 of that was just to expedite it), and I had my LLC Charter Division in hand. When I got home, a seven minute phone call to the IRS secured my new Employer Identification Number. Which is concurrently Very Cool and Very Scary.
Now I have to get my bank to work with me to put the LLC name on my checking account, so I can really be in business. I'll let you know how that goes.
And in other news, my greatest fears (of the moment) were realized when the afore-mentioned Plan A, as my British friend Matthew would say, "went tits-up". Seemingly there was some major miscommunications at hand, and one party or the other was not necessarily at fault. As I've said before, the whole process is like dating, or being in love - the same words and phrases don't necessarily mean the same thing to all people, so you have to really nail these things down. See, up until now, everyone who has said to me, "I can do this for you," or, "I can help you with that," has meant that to mean, "for FREE," or cheap, or in exchange for something I can do/will do/have already done for them. The person related to Plan A, though, meant that only that he is CAPABLE of doing those things - but for a price. To him, a very discounted price, to me, not so much.
One point that this person tried to drive home is, "You get what you pay for." I've been in the business world for over two decades, and of course I agree with him, to a point. I have been on the unfortunate end of working for a company with great aspirations and shallow pockets more than once. I know for a fact that "cheapest" often equals "worst". But I also know for a fact that "most expensive" rarely equals "best."
I know that there are film crew people out there who make $350, sometimes even more, for a day's work. They paid film school tuition and are probably still paying off their loans. They have their own gear that they might still be making payments on themselves. They work hard, are experienced, and deserve to get paid well. Which I'll be happy to do. When Hollywood knows my name and I have a real budget that can support those kind of salaries.
But, I don't. Plain and simple. So, what are my choices? Beg people who usually make $350 a day to work for less than 15% of what they consider themselves worth? I don't foresee that making for a healthy, fun, or most importantly, productive work environment. I don't want to be on set with a bunch of people who spend the day calculating how much they SHOULD be making, or rolling their eyes at me when I ask them to pick up the pace. That's poison.
So what are my other options? Will qualified people really work for $50 a day, or less? I know for a fact that they will. I have plenty of people offering to do exactly that for me, and that is before I even start asking around. Of course, they won't have as much experience as the pros, and more mistakes will be made. That eats up time. I have time. But I wouldn't have the career in the hotel industry that I have if (1) I didn't work my ass off BEFORE I started getting paid what I am worth, and (2) if someone hadn't taken a chance on me, taken me under their wing and showed me the ropes.
Short of brain surgery or rocket science, or rocket surgery or brain science for that matter, my attitude is this: I'd rather have someone who is thrilled as HELL to be there. No one is going to die if you call an extension cord an extension cord (film lingo, a "stinger").
So I have a lot of thinking to do. At first I was crushed, I must admit. But it is better to know this now than to have four or five more meetings where we are talking about different things. I'm okay with it now, and it is really not that big of a deal. Everything always turns out the way it should for me, it seems, and this is no different. Beside the elevator in the Maryland State Offices today, there was a sign that said, "It is not the person who goes the fastest that gets things done, it is the person that keeps going."
The whole process was pretty painless. First I went online to Maryland SDAT (State Dept of Assessments and Taxation and printed out the form "Articles of Organization". When I noticed that the office was 6 blocks from my house, I figured I'd just do it in person. I braced myself for long waits and cranky state government employees, but it went pretty smoothly. I was in and out of TWO Maryland State Tax offices having spent only 45 minutes and $192.00 ($70.00 of that was just to expedite it), and I had my LLC Charter Division in hand. When I got home, a seven minute phone call to the IRS secured my new Employer Identification Number. Which is concurrently Very Cool and Very Scary.
Now I have to get my bank to work with me to put the LLC name on my checking account, so I can really be in business. I'll let you know how that goes.
And in other news, my greatest fears (of the moment) were realized when the afore-mentioned Plan A, as my British friend Matthew would say, "went tits-up". Seemingly there was some major miscommunications at hand, and one party or the other was not necessarily at fault. As I've said before, the whole process is like dating, or being in love - the same words and phrases don't necessarily mean the same thing to all people, so you have to really nail these things down. See, up until now, everyone who has said to me, "I can do this for you," or, "I can help you with that," has meant that to mean, "for FREE," or cheap, or in exchange for something I can do/will do/have already done for them. The person related to Plan A, though, meant that only that he is CAPABLE of doing those things - but for a price. To him, a very discounted price, to me, not so much.
One point that this person tried to drive home is, "You get what you pay for." I've been in the business world for over two decades, and of course I agree with him, to a point. I have been on the unfortunate end of working for a company with great aspirations and shallow pockets more than once. I know for a fact that "cheapest" often equals "worst". But I also know for a fact that "most expensive" rarely equals "best."
I know that there are film crew people out there who make $350, sometimes even more, for a day's work. They paid film school tuition and are probably still paying off their loans. They have their own gear that they might still be making payments on themselves. They work hard, are experienced, and deserve to get paid well. Which I'll be happy to do. When Hollywood knows my name and I have a real budget that can support those kind of salaries.
But, I don't. Plain and simple. So, what are my choices? Beg people who usually make $350 a day to work for less than 15% of what they consider themselves worth? I don't foresee that making for a healthy, fun, or most importantly, productive work environment. I don't want to be on set with a bunch of people who spend the day calculating how much they SHOULD be making, or rolling their eyes at me when I ask them to pick up the pace. That's poison.
So what are my other options? Will qualified people really work for $50 a day, or less? I know for a fact that they will. I have plenty of people offering to do exactly that for me, and that is before I even start asking around. Of course, they won't have as much experience as the pros, and more mistakes will be made. That eats up time. I have time. But I wouldn't have the career in the hotel industry that I have if (1) I didn't work my ass off BEFORE I started getting paid what I am worth, and (2) if someone hadn't taken a chance on me, taken me under their wing and showed me the ropes.
Short of brain surgery or rocket science, or rocket surgery or brain science for that matter, my attitude is this: I'd rather have someone who is thrilled as HELL to be there. No one is going to die if you call an extension cord an extension cord (film lingo, a "stinger").
So I have a lot of thinking to do. At first I was crushed, I must admit. But it is better to know this now than to have four or five more meetings where we are talking about different things. I'm okay with it now, and it is really not that big of a deal. Everything always turns out the way it should for me, it seems, and this is no different. Beside the elevator in the Maryland State Offices today, there was a sign that said, "It is not the person who goes the fastest that gets things done, it is the person that keeps going."
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