Keeping Healthy in Hollywood

Last week I got in a car accident.  I’m ok and it wasn’t my fault so that’s good.  Actually it was a pretty funny situation of a 16 year old boy being distracted by some cute girls that caused it and I suspect will end up in one of my movies one day, but it got me thinking about health care and health insurance.

It’s a pretty boring subject, so I’ll keep it short, but I know it’s a topic that comes up a lot when you get a few freelancers in a room.  So this week’s blog may not be entertaining, but hopefully it’ll be helpful.

If you don’t work for a company that supplies it, there are only a handful of ways to get health insurance in this business.  At least at the moment.

The most preferable is to be a member of a union.  Lots of people talk about health insurance as a free union benefit.  That’s not strictly true because you do pay yearly dues, but usually the benefits are very good and for what you get the dues are reasonable.

The next way is to buy it on your own.  This is what I do and it pretty much sucks because the good coverage is pretty expensive so you get what you can afford.  The rates depend mostly on your age and your pre-existing conditions.  (Personally I think that’s a bunch of bullshit - one friend recently got turned down because she took anti-depressants fifteen years ago in high school and another had a breast cancer scare that turned out to be false!  But whatever, it is what it is.)   And ladies if you’re thinking about getting preggers there’s an additional fee for that coverage. The best thing I can say about this is get it when you’re young and healthy.  But, expect it to go up every year like clockwork.  My policy started at about $100/month and now it’s $250/month.  Grr…  When you look for plans ask around and know that they differ from state to state so what’s good and cheap in NY may not be in LA.

There’s also the Freelancers union.  I’ve heard they offer good, reasonable policies.  But again they differ from state to state.

The only other way I’m aware of is to use your spouse’s coverage, be young enough to be on your parent’s, start your own company and offer it or get a real j-o-b.

Finally, and I’m definitely not advocating this, but if you’re really strapped many people risk it and go without.  If you do that here’s what you need to know… many cities like NY and LA have excellent free clinics for the times you get non-emergency sick and for gyn Planned Parenthood will see patients on a sliding scale.  If you ever have an emergency, public and Catholic hospitals will not turn you away if you can’t pay.

That’s it.  That’s all I know about health insurance.  Short and sweet.

Good luck out there people!  Stay well making movies!

Relatively Speaking

Truth is a funny thing in Hollywood.  When you’re a kid you’re told to always tell the truth.  It’s a non-negotiable fact.  One of the hard moral lines of the world.  Nice though that is for fairy tales and Catholic school it’s not really my experience.

What I have found about the truth is that it’s a rare commodity to be given and taken with care.  And not because people are evil or immoral or whatever.  It’s mostly because people don’t know the truth, don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings or just want to keep their job so they can pay their mortgage.

Now, not to say that I’m a rampant liar, but I look at my truth as something I can choose to give or not.  And it’s just not always warranted.  Here’s an example, you go to see a film of some guy you sort of know and it sucks.  Like seriously sucks.  It’s the first screening, the guy is excited and nervous and filled with adrenaline.  And just after the show he comes to you and says, “What did you think?”  Ugh.

Years ago when I was a young student in New York I would have felt it was my moral duty, my obligation to tell the truth.  If I didn’t it somehow reflected on my own artistic integrity.  It would have been my job to either tell this poor guy how bad his film was or to find something, anything, nice to say about it.  Which lead to quite a few, “The titles looked good?” type awful comments.  But now I know better.

Truthfully?  The film sucked.  But here’s the thing.  What would saying that get anyone at that exact moment in time?  Make him feel like crap on his big day?  Make me look like a know it all?  I know my opinion, I don’t need to hear it out loud to be convinced.  Ruin a potential relationship?  The film’s done, it’s not like he’s going to go recut it on my advice.  Also, if he doesn’t know he made a shitty film it’s not like he’s all of a sudden going to be able to see that now.  And besides, I could be wrong.  How mean would that be?

So this is what I’ve come to.  Truth is not the standard here.  And it’s fine.  No need to rail against it.  And no point going looking for it where you know you’ll never find it.

But it is extremely important to know where it does exist.  The people in your life who will tell you the truth are invaluable.  I think this is one of the best things I got out of film school.  I know exactly who to ask when I need an honest opinion.  And this week in particular that really came in handy.

It also got me thinking about the truth.  And I’ve noticed there are three times when I always give it.  When a friend honestly wants my feedback, when I’m looking at my own work, and when it’s something I give a crap about.

Other than that, I’m happy to smile politely and drink my gin and tonic.

Cutting it up

I’m in post right now on the short film I shot a couple weeks ago and I love the editing process.  It’s like writing without all the pressure of the entirely blank page.

The way I work with my editor is to first give him some time alone with the project.  This allows an entirely new perspective to infuse fresh energy into the project and it gives me a small break after shooting.  Which not only gives me a chance to physically rejuvenate after larger shoots, but also gives me a break from the project mentally so I can come to the cut with some fresh eyes of my own.

Sometimes my editor and I will speak a lot at this point and sometimes just a little.  Almost always in broad terms though.  For example, I might say “This film is about loss,” or “This is really so & so’s film so let’s make sure we’re cutting from her pov” or “I know it looks like we covered this one section a lot but it’s because I really wanted to build out the moments between so & so because that’s the changing point in the film.”  We’ll talk about feel, pace, rough beats.  Music is always a great thing to talk about.  Whatever gets my editor cutting the same film that I’m making, but not so much that he’s creatively shut down.

It’s key that I work with someone who understands story and characters the same way I do, but I also like working with someone who’s a bit more experimental than I am.  Someone that will push me to see new things, surprise me when I’m watching my own film.  Someone that will look for material in the stuff between takes as much as what we meant to shoot.  It’s also key that my editor, like all members of my team, feel ownership over the project.

The one thing I’ve found consistently across all aspects of filmmaking is that if I do a good job hiring creative, hard-working people, the next step is to give them clear expectations and room to shine.  That’s especially true with editors.  It’s the final opportunity to do another draft of the film so the stakes are high and you want to make sure everyone’s bringing their big guns to the table.

Relishing in the Little Things

This week I got invited to screen my commercial, Viesso: Couch Therapy, at The Be Film Festival in New York.  And you know what?  Hell yeah!

Is it the biggest film festival world?  No.  Has anyone ever even heard of it?  Perhaps not.  But you know what?  I don’t care.  It rocks.  It rocks because it’s the world giving me feedback and it’s not a poo sandwich so that is a good thing.

I’ve found that most of the progress to be made in this industry is slow and steady if you’re lucky, slow and jerky if you’re like everyone else.  And, if you’re really fortunate, punctuated by a few grand leaps forward that will someday be neatly edited into a 30 second summary for E! True Hollywood Stories.

So in the meantime, it’s important to find pleasure, gratification and learning experiences wherever you can along the way.  Or you may one day end up a very grumpy monkey indeed.

Have a great week everyone!

Anatomy of a Shot

The Script
INT. SUBWAY STATION PLATFORM - MORNING
The last passengers are boarding the train. The doors chime and we see JEAN, 41, holding a cup of coffee and clutching a folded paper beneath her arm, standing on the edge of the platform looking rather disconsolate. The doors close and the train pulls away from the platform. Jean looks down at the rails, looks along the track, pauses then steps back from the edge.

The Intention
This film is about a woman, Jean, who is isolated in her own world to the point where she sees no options.  That world, during the course of this film, is slowly chipped away at by a complete stranger, Heather.

My first shot, shot A, is about establishing Jean, her emotional state and her world.  It is the shot when we are most intimately with her.

The Shot list
A - E/C/U Jean
B - Wide through train doors
C - Medium c/u of Jean through train window, also punch in for e/c/u
D - c/u Jean feet at ledge, train leaving
E - Jean pov of track - a bag blows
F - c/u Jean, train departs
G - e/c/u Jean, train departs (punch in from shot F)
H - wide, behind Jean, train departs
I - c/u of Jean, slow push in
J - C/U Jean, slightly from side moves to…
K - … head on c/u Jean
L - overhead wide of women for geography
M - c/u Jean, to Heather out of focus

You’ll notice that all of these shots happen before Heather enters.  This was decided because the film is about Jean, not Heather.  And what gives weight to the entire film are the moments Jean spends with herself before a word is ever spoken.  Nowhere else in this simple film is there nearly as much coverage.

The Overhead
(Heather, red, starts running up the stairs and lands next to Jean, blue.  Train moves from left to right.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Storyboard

 

 

 

 

Art Department
Our color palette for Jean and, as this is her film, for her world was grey, silver, green and blue.  The major art department choice really was location selection.  Beyond that there were subtle tweaks here and there to enhance the environment.

If you look over Jean’s left shoulder you will see some blue and silver columns.  Those columns normally have very busy print ads on them that are primarily colored red.  My production designer found blue and silver fabric that she used to wrap the columns.  That brought us back to our color scheme, created additional reflections for the lighting department to play with (check out those bonus hot spots we got out of the bargain!) and simplified the background to keep our focus on the talent.

(By the way, this is a still taken from a still camera, not a screen grab.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wardrobe Specs
Although you can’t see it terribly well in this shot, Jean’s wardrobe was professional and conservative, falling within the color palette of the film.  The film is meant to take place on the East Coast in Fall.  She is wearing a navy suit with a light blue turtle neck, a trench coat, Burberry purse, brown leather shoes, a watch and simple pearl earrings.

Hair & Make Up
A touch I love that the Make Up and Hairstylist suggested, that Jean’s hair be nicely done but with one piece that just doesn’t sit right.  To illustrate that while she’s trying to fit in a certain world it’s just not quite working for her.  You’ll see that piece here on her forehead just above her left eye.

The Lens
We chose a lens that would keep Jean in focus and throw everything else out - which pretty much mimics her emotional state at this moment.

The Lighting
For this you’ll have to look at the moving shot below rather than the still.  The lighting evolves in this shot.  It starts out quite dark and becomes much brighter as the shot progresses.  This was important to tell the story of the train passing, to tell the emotional journey of Jean in the film and also to give us a visually interesting open.  At this point I imagine we’ll fade up from black onto this shot as our open.

The Camera Move
On set we decided to add another layer to this shot.  We began on an extreme close up (as in the above storyboard) but pulled out to a frame similar to the still above.  Thank goodness I had a DP that made the suggestion even though it required more work and an amazing grip team that was able to jerry-rig slider for us in no time.

It made sense to have this shot evolve because we’re moving with Jean from a state of complete isolation to something less so.  This shot opened up some room for that possibility.  We did not just add the move because it was cool.  I personally have a real disdain for unjustified tricky shots.  (Though fortunately, it did end up being quite beautiful.)

The Performance
Lily Knight, who played Jean, is amazing and the best thing I did to contribute to a good performance in this case was casting well and responding to what she was giving me.  But the key to the performance in this particular shot was keeping it appropriate to the frame size.  Technically, eyeline was also a question.

Shot A
So here it is.  (Sorry I can’t post a clip here unless I put it on youtube so here’s a link for now.)

This shot is raw from the camera, compressed so I could upload it here.  No color timing has happened and obviously no edit points have been chosen nor has any sound been added.  All of those things will change the perception of this shot dramatically but here’s what we have so far.  This is the worst this shot will ever look or feel because it is not finished.  (Thank you, my amazing DP, for not being a baby about me posting this.)

What you are seeing is the wind and lights from the train passing by.  If you can imagine all the wonderful screeches and squeaks that go along with that you should have a good idea of where I’m heading with this.

http://web.me.com/jjenred5/Site/TOUCH_Shot_A.html

In the end, will anyone other than you and my crew know any of this when they watch the film?  Nope.  And they shouldn’t either.  Because if I’ve done my job well the audience will just watch, and hopefully feel, the story and the characters.

That’s a wrap!

Last night I had a nightmare.  Here’s what it was…

I was sleeping and it was the day of the first night shoot of my film.  I was awakened by what seemed like my entire crew wanting to have a production meeting in my living room.  I got up and joined them.  My team and I talked through the shoot during an endless stream of crew walking in and out bringing and taking who knows what.

A woman who morphed back and forth between crew positions expressed her concern that my lead’s performance might look too much like Joaquin Phoenix’s and that it needed urgently to be addressed.  I listened to her and asked her what film I should watch to see his performance so I could compare it.  She listed off five films, all of which I clearly could not see before the shoot that evening.  I thought, “This is ridiculous.  What does she want?”  I told her I didn’t have time watch all those films but that I would certainly keep an eye out while we shot and at this point we just needed to buckle down and shoot.  I told her not to worry, I’d take care of everything on set.  But she wasn’t comfortable with this and insisted that the performance was doomed.  There was nothing I could say to console her.  She was bent on believing the film was ruined.  Seeing this, I fired her.

At that point I woke up, annoyed that I had to spend my day finding a new crew member.  Then I groggily realized I already shot the film this past weekend and a feeling of victory overcame me for not being foiled by that irritating woman in my dreams.

Here’s the thing.  When you’re making a film all sorts of complications, problems, obstacles come up.  Some of them are solvable, some are not and some have absolutely nothing to do with you or your film.

On this last film we had trouble locking down our location because of our small budget, our second lead dropped out at the last minute because she didn’t want to do a night shoot, and all the regular low-budget short film problems caused much of my energy to be spent goading and cheerleading rather than focusing one hundred percent on making my film.  One thing no one tells you - in the beginning when you’re building your career you will be making films under the most challenging circumstances of it.  But there’s nothing you can do about it so you’ve just got to man or woman up and get it done.

On the upside, the cast I ended up with was brilliant, we got the location we wanted and the crew I worked with was amazing.  The film looks beautiful.

All those problems that came up early on don’t matter a single bit because they didn’t have an effect on the finished film.  That is the only thing I care about when I’m trying to make my movie.  And fortunately I work with a rock star team who all feel the same way so in the end we always make it happen.

Also in the end, when the film is good, all the lame stuff is quickly forgotten.  Just like my bad dream.

The Forward-moving Force

Sometimes you need to just set your focus, put your head down and move forward.  You may feel fear, anxiety, insecurity, frustration but you’ve just got to keep moving forward.  Everyone around you can signal that the end is nigh but it may be your energy that is the little bit needed to push things in the right direction.

I’m shooting this weekend.  Surprisingly, it’s been a pretty tough prep.  But as long as the movie’s good it’ll all be worth it.

Next week, after this puppy’s in the can, I’ll go into more detail.  For now, I’ve got a whole world of other things to focus on.

So you got into film school, now what?

Last night I was at a New Year’s Eve party in Venice and of the nine people there three of us were USC MFA alums.  The two other people were earlier classes than I so we never crossed paths at school, but we had similar classes, professors and experiences.  And, as frequently happens when you meet fellow film school grads, the question of “was it worth it for you?” comes up.

My time at USC was great and I got a lot out of it.  But I don’t think I’ll know for another ten years or so if it really was “worth it”.  As I think I’ve mentioned before, the student loan repayments are crushing and make a real, daily impact on my creative and career decisions.  I have no idea if I’ll be able to succeed under the strain, but I’m certainly giving it my all.  So we’ll revisit that particular question in the next decade.

But that discussion last night got me thinking about what I would have liked to have known in school that I know now.  If you’re considering film school, just about to go to film school or are in film school now and you want to direct I think I can boil it down to four things that might be useful.

Film school is great because it forces you to make movies, constantly.  And in the making of them you will inevitably learn some stuff the school wants you to know, but on top of all that, here’s what you really need to get through the first few years out on your own…

-    Script writing or script development.  You must learn how to make or get good material.  It is the number one most important thing in this business and will be a challenge your entire career.  Character arcs, story structure, strong dialogue.  If you’re a talented writer, consider yourself lucky and get better.  If you’re not and you don’t want to be, you must figure out how to secure and develop material with writers.  If you don’t own a good script, you’ve got nothing.
-    Shot composition.  Every single shot you make from the moment you first pick up that crappy dv camera to your final thesis film must be deliberate.  Force yourself to have a reason for every angle, every move, every shot - eventually with practice you will have great reasons and equally great shots.
-    Good performances.  Challenge yourself to learn about actors and understand how they work, what they need, and what you must do to get the best possible performances out of them.
-    Politics. It’s as much of an art form as any.  Figure out how to get along with people in an uber-competitive environment.  And if you can master out how to do that in a mutually beneficial way, even better.  Relationships are the key to opportunity.

Just showing up for class and doing your work is not enough.  But if you come out of school with a good grasp of these four things I think you’ll be on a really good track towards making it worth it.

Happy New Year Everyone!  Kick ass in 2009!

A Prediction

The Screen Actors Guild commercial contract is up for negotiation in March.  I predict it will be a smack down drag out fight.  Here’s why…

On the actors side, they are bruised and sore from the messy losing battle they waged with the studios on the theatrical contract.   I know it’s technically not over and they still may strike, but it’s fairly clear who won this round and they’re going to want to take it out on someone.  And, commercials are very rarely art so from the actor’s point of view this is where they should be making their money.  The stakes will be very high for actors who make majority of their living off of commercials.

On the producers side, they resentfully feel that they prop up an entire union and due to lower ad spend and runaway production - something frequently blamed on expensive talent contracts in the US - their budgets have been steadily shrinking since the 90’s. On top of that if you talk to producers you’ll find there’s still lingering bitterness from the strike in 2000 so they’re not afraid of a fight this time around.

The only thing I’m not sure of is where the public’s sympathy will fall - with the actors who they mistakenly see as vastly better off than the general population.  Or with the crews - who have helplessly watched their jobs go to Canada, Argentina and Eastern Europe.

But I feel fairly certain of this, if you make any of your living in the world of commercial production I hope you’re saving your money now because we’re all going to need a big cushion come March.

Brace yourselves.  And hope I’m wrong.

A glutton for punishment

Alright I may have hit my limit.  Last week two of my friends and I were sitting around bemoaning the sturm und drang of making short films.  So we decided to get off our asses and challenged ourselves to shoot a film the next weekend for as little money as possible.

With that goal in mind we knew the concept had to be simple, the location had to be accessible, the cast had to be small, the props had to be minimal, there could be no dialogue and we had to shoot outside, in daylight and on tape.

So.  Here’s what we came up with - we decided the film would be called THREE DOORS.  We would each write a three-minute film about someone approaching the obstacle of a door.  The completed films would then be combined in to one nine minute short.  A short film trilogy.

We planned to shoot it all in one day - each of us getting three hours for our productions.

Here are the concepts…  One is about a man having a mid-life crisis who, after a hard night out, has come home to ask his wife’s forgiveness.  One is about a mother walking to visit the daughter she gave up years ago.  And mine is a comedy about a postman who has to deliver a letter but is desperately afraid of a homeowner’s dog.

We cast on LA Casting.  We found our locations by talking to neighbors.  (Yes, we knocked on doors and asked complete strangers.  Humans are actually mostly nice.)  We spent a total of $300 - on lunches, renting an old car from Rent a Wreck for our guy coming home from his hard night out, renting a postman’s costume from Sony for my dude and tapestock from Edgewise. Fortunately we had casting space at one of our offices and a camera that we own but those things could have been borrowed from friends.  In six days we were ready to shoot.

We started the morning with the guy coming home to his wife and it went really well.  We showed up to the house we wanted and other people had parked where we planned to set up our picture car (we didn’t exactly have PA’s to hold spaces the night before) so we had to work around that.  No worries.  We just shot the car interior stuff across the street where we liked the light better anyway and moved back later.  That was really the only bump in that shoot.  We lit minimally with reflectors and two dollar mirrors from Walgreens.

Then for the woman coming to meet her daughter.  Again, that shoot went really smoothly.  This one was the simplest of the three and went off completely without a hitch.

Just before we broke for lunch I took the rental car back - we needed to make sure we only had it for one day - and then met the guys for lunch near the third location.

And then it happened.  The one day of the year that it freakin’ rains in Los Angeles.  My first thirty minutes we sat watching it pour.  There was even lightning.  Grrr…  The rain finally stopped but the clouds didn’t clear which meant there was no sunlight left to reflect so the look was pretty flat.

But the big thing about comedy is the timing.  And it’s built from a combination of actor instinct and editing.  If you don’t have those things you can’t bring the funny.  It just won’t be there.

So.  With my decreased time and on the spot shot cutting I’m not convinced I have what I need.  It certainly wasn’t genius directing on my part - with the sun sinking fast the discussion devolved fairly quickly to technical, result-oriented commands.  It was a fun day and great to just make something but I’m procrastinating putting it in to Final Cut to deal with the reality of what I may have created.  But I’ll get around to it soon enough.

As they say, cheap, fast, good.  It’s your choice.  You can have two but never all three.  Annoyingly, I know I had cheap and fast.  Now I just have to bust my ass to see if I can force the third.

« Previous Page — Next Page »