The hardest part about independent production is the waiting.
I guess that's not surprising, since the hardest thing about most things is waiting, but in this case, the never ending delay of the first day of shooting (and my money) can be excruciating.
By way of explanation, I should say that, almost across the board, low budget indies don't budget for pre-production or development. That may or may not seem obvious to some, but what that means is, from the time the director or writer hands me the script and says, "I want you to produce this" ALLLL the way until usually the first day of actual filming, I don't see a dollar.
One of my favorite parts of the process is reading an amazing script. It's apparent from the first first 5 or so, but when you just can't put it down, page after page after page, it's just intoxicating. Then you take it out. And you show it to people, and say,
"Hey, this script is awesome, you should [insert: direct it, invest in it, act in it, work on it]" to all the right people.
And then they read it, and most of them say,
"Sweet, let me know when you can start paying me, and we'll get to work."
And so you wait.
You wait for an investor to have their assistant read it. You wait for an agent to convince their client to read it. You wait for a director to read it, and then give notes to your writer, who pulls their hair out and then sends it back to you and then you wait for the director to read it again (but this time it takes longer because they just booked a McDonald's commercial that shoots in Peru.)
So then, the director agrees to come on, and has his availability, but it's a tight window that doesn't work with the one actor that has agreed to do it. So, you replace the actor, but then some of your money falls out, because the new actor doesn't satsify the market in Germany the way the one before did, and that's a deal breaker for that money. And since you've pushed your start date [again], the director of photography your director just can't work without isn't available, so you replace them with a new person. But this person doesn't want to shoot on the lenses you have already put on hold, so she puts you in touch with her favorite rental house because "They always cut her a great deal." But, when you call them, the manager says, "We can't afford to keep doing these low budget projects anymore and you've got to pay the full rate... BUUUUUT when's your start date?" THEN you go back to your director to tell him that because of the lens package, now you can't afford the expensive location that he wanted to shoot at, and the only other location he'll agree to is only available after the 15th of ****ber so you have to go and re-check the availability of everyone else so it all lines up.
And you still haven't been paid.
PLUS, it's super difficult to make these phone calls when you're driving a Lyft Line full of drunk UCLA grad students riding home from FYF, while explaining to the cute brainy one up front, that "you just do Lyft on the side while you wait for your movie to start, but that you're REALLY proud of it because it has a name in it that she would recognize."
So, she nods her head sympathetically, but you know she's not going to give you her number, which kinda sucks, but how would you take her on a date anyway, because...
You still haven't been paid.
I'm sure real estate agents go through it, and stock brokers go though it, and even mattress salespeople go through it, so I'm not saying I'm alone. But what I am saying, is that it's truly incredible that in addition to ride share apps, and package delivery apps and cryptocurrency speculating marketplace apps, that there's this. This place to share some thoughts, and pictures and stories and hard fought trench warfare made films. This awesome website.
Where you can actually get paid.
One of the movies I'm supposed to shoot this year (which I've been saying since February) has a "start date" in October, half of the two title leads cast, half the budget in place, and me. I've got a good feeling about it.
But as always, more to come.
-beans