When one is working at a production office for a feature films are commercials, I don’t worry about getting paid.

Yes, there can be a snafu here and there, but you know that a bonded company has accountants set up and a payroll system. You will get paid with a week if you are on a film (studio film, indies can be dicey) or a few weeks on a commercial.

The two things that you enter on your own risk are music videos and when someone pays you out of their own pocket.

On a video (better to work with a large company that does commercials as well) the director often gets paid off the top of a job, particularly if they are an owner in the company. This has backfired on me many a time. I have waited a month to get paid on smaller companies as the check from the record company went to the director to get their bite and THEN the rest went to the crew.

If a director is paying out of their pocket, you might want to write out a simple contract, showing what each of you must bring to the table and what the penalties are for NOT doing this.

I recommended a friend to do boards for a director friend. The director gave my friend the assignment at the last minute. Then, he was told that as he was trying to get a studio gig, ten great boards would look better than thirty rushed boards.

The storyboard artist did the job (ten frames) and the director had the big meeting. What happened though, was that the director was pissed that he was charged a full day for ten frames, great or not.

What should have happened is this. The director messed up by NOT locking down the price as something he was cool with. The artist was charging for his TIME (days work) not how many frames he was doing. He was still working a full day in his yes.

The director also thought that he should get a discount as it was coming out of his pocket. Again, he needed to establish that early. If Steven Spielberg is paying me, I am charging my full rate. It is not the artist’s job to know what the director has in his/her bank account.

What has also happened is that the director said he would pay right away, but by now, almost a month has passed.  If you work with a contract, you have it signed that you must be paid by a certain pre-described amount of time after completion of the job.

If a director won’t sign, then you take your chances.

Talk things out completely before you work with an individual or a company you don’t know. Get that contract, baby!

I have yet to see the movie as of this writing. I worked on it for five months when John Singleton was directing. When he left the show do to Fox putting the film through “development hell”, I was done. Joe Carnahan’s filmed version had a mostly new crew, though one storyboard artist was rehired. I worked on a prison escape scene which may be somewhat similar to what appears in the filmed version. Go to http://warrendrummond.com to see the early version. I know the scene with the tank falling out of the plane was similar to something we had done.

I have been fortunately busy this year. I’ve gone from feature to commercial blocks to features to jobs on the weekends. Like, almost every weekend. I still have yet to get my taxes done.

When you are freelancing, you will fine that you will sometimes get more than one job at a time. You have to figure out should you take the job or just deal with the one you have.

Things to consider are how much is each job paying you, how bad do you need the money, and can you do them both without screwing either client. The last sentence is VERY important.

I had a friend in New York who was a better artist than I was technically, but he would “double dip” and ending up missing deadlines. He’d be late to meetings, oversleep and get things mixed up. His reputation went into the toilet. I had to stop recommending him.

When I take on a second job, I have to work out a schedule to where I can get the first job done but giving myself enough hours at day or night to do the second gig. You have to take care of the first job.

It helps to know your limits in how late can you stay up and still do effective work. Also (here is where my friend messed up) how much work can you put in where it doesn’t effect you the next morning.

If you feel yourself crashing or dipping, STOP. There is a point where the extra work hits you the next day and you can’t do your first job properly. This isn’t just for storyboards. It’s for anyone who works two jobs. And being an artist is murder on the eyes, if you didn’t guess.

I would start my main gig at about 9-9:30 in the morning, after a late night. I work it until about 6PM, and then after some family time, I’d go from 9-1 or 2 in the morning.

Thankfully, my wife took or son to school during these hard times, as that is usually my job.

James Cameron one wrote ALIENS, RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART 2 and a TERMINATOR rewrite at the same time.  Cameron divided his day into thirds and went to work. He was the master of mind over matter and proper scheduling. But then, he is James.

When you freelance as a storyboard artist your client will frequently ask you, “how fast are you?”

This goes into how many frames can you do in “X” amount of time. You’ll only really find this answer after actually being in the field and doing different types of jobs.

Storyboards that are mostly “talking heads” or dialogue are a lot easier to do than an assignment consisting of camera moves, lots of characters and action.

Feature boards are something that you can work yourself into a rhythm. Commercial and music video boards are always on a strict deadline. They usually shoot within days of the completion of your work.

Feature films can have their own restrictions. A scene may have extreme pressure on getting done do to filming schedule or that the director just wants to keep a brisk pace of getting scenes done so they are prepared as possible upon filming.

While being honest with yourself, how fast are you? I say, when pressed on to can you get the job done, say “yes”, unless you are sure you can’t do it. If you are a little bit behind, the director will usually be all right with knowing the boards are on the way to being done. Note, I say this for a long term job. Commercial people will cut your throat if you make them miss the next days’ pre-pro meeting.

I am saying, if you think you can push yourself, and you need that gig, take the job and get it done!!!

I just did a week long job and busted my ^%$ dong detailed drawings and working ten to twelve hour days. The last day was about sixteen hours or so, but I got it done and made people smile.

Often, an intense gig will make you work more quickly and economically than you ever thought you could. I had to do a “steam punk” work and distinct body armor and clothes. I was tired, but my mind was racing in ways of getting the work to look nice and clear.

I made sure to spot blacks to add weight to the art and to add a healthy dose of direction arrows for screen direction. I “dutched” angles and added mang style speed lines to increase the arts’ energy. I guess it worked. My client was very happy with my storyboards.

For the last five weeks, I have been working on a movie called “FASTER” for director, George Tillman.

I’ve been working lots of hours, as I want and need to get everything just right.

As this is an action film, George is very exact and detailed with each and every shot. He wants the angle to be right, the possible lens, as well as unique ways to see the character.

I’ve never had the chance to draw Dwayne Johnson in a film before, so I have gotten my money’s worth, as he is the star and is in all the scenes I have drawn.

The key is to not to do heavy a first pass when you show it to the director of a project. Show just enough so they can see what’s going on, but never get bogged down in detail.

You might not get the feel right. Shots get cut and changed. You can have a great shot, but it may need to be tighter or wider. If you put all your energy into beautiful drawings at first, and then you have to do a number of passes, you’ll burn yourself out.

Get feedback from the director, make changes, then, you can add detail if needed.  Also, if you don’t know the director well, try to find out the level of detail or finish they need. If you have a lot to do in terms of frames, you’ll have to economize.

It is really slow folks, for everyone. I’ve gotten a few gigs. Did some boards for my buddy Maurice Marable who directed a promo for H.B.O.’s BIG LOVE. Mo is always greatttt to work with. He’s a true friend and a great artist. I’m also doing boards for my buddy, Malcolm Lee, a talented director and another good friend. They’ve come thru, and help helped me take off the rust.Meanwhile, I am still looking for a feature. My friend Josh hipped me on to some Bollywood people about to do a super hero film. They were set on an artist who had done super hero films. What they should have done is look for an artist who is a greta storyteller, knows angles, lens and action. Too bad.

Well, in the last month I have been working with my buddy, Erik White on his first feature film, THE LOTTERY TICKET. I’ve gotten a few very needed weeks of work.

This year has been extremely up and down with HUGE valleys of no work at all.

Most of my work has been long distance. Erik will come back to LA from Atlanta, where the film is being prepped, and we’ll go over a scene at his place or a Starbucks.

Then, I go home and do a quick sketch.

My work on this show has only been sketchy, as they have a limited budget and have a number of extended scenes Erik would like boarded.

It took a week for me to stop being anal and to loosen up the storyboards. Being neat and fine can work against SPEED.

I found just the right “brush” in my Storyboard Pro program that made the drawings a LOT faster. This “brush” has the thick and thin feel of an actually brush, so I was much more relaxed while drawing.

My work wraps in a few days and I need to get a long term feature.

My mind has been on work, money and writing. Not blogging. Sorry folks.

I was on hiatus from the Fox movie for three weeks. During that time, the money got real dry, and a bunch of athletes started getting murdered. Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died the day before the lay-off. It’s been weird.

During my time I looked for work. Came up snake eyes, went camping with my son in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains (fun) and finished working on a script, which I hurriedly sent off for a friend to read.

My first week back on the movie was brief, as I started on a Tuesday, and took off the Friday to go to the San Diego Comic Con.

Per usual, we went to Carlsbad as well.

The Con was fun. I don’t pay, thankfully as I get the “professional” pass. If you have never been to the Con, it is a sight to behold. Simply thousands of people walking around and so many dealers of art, comics and sci-fi paraphernalia. Yes, this includes grown people in stormtrooper costumes, but God bless them. If you feel free enough to dress up and you are in no way harmful to others, go for it!!

I got to meet LOST IN SPACE’s Billy Mumy and ENTER THE DRAGON’s Jim Kelly.

As for boards, my job is a fun grind. The director, David Dobkin is a fun guy and smart. He really lets me come up with shots and I’ve done pretty well with him so far.

I used STORYBOARD PRO’s slideshow/Quicktime feature early on, but I’m sticking with just storyboards for now until I need otherwise. It’s enough time to arrange JPEGS in Photoshop, make a contact sheet and then make a pdf from that, then print everything for David.

That’s the hidden time killer with boards.  The presentation!!!

I was in a meeting with a director when my phone went off. It was on silent, and I let it go. The director was in the bathroom. When he came back, I “wowed” him in the meeting with some animatic I made from the STORYBOARD PRO program. He was able to feel actual emotions from the characters as I can push in, tilt and pan with the program. The meeting was perfect until I saw the text on my phone as I left. It said “Michael Jackson is dead”

All of the good feelings from the meeting were gone, and I was left with a huge, “WTF???” Once confirmed and with the added news that I was being put on “hiatus” really put a damper on things.

I had just gotten two Michael Jackson CD’s for FATHER’S DAY as well.  Major bummer. Really bad timing, eh? 

Let me see now.

In the last week and a half, I have been hired on to do some pre-pre-production work on a film called NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH.

The director is a very cool guy named David Dobkin who did THE WEDDING CRASHERS. Everything has gone fine so far.

Once again, I can’t discuss the film as I WILL GET FIRED, but it looks to be fun.

David likes to start with thumbnails and work from there. He has a good sense of story and character arcs and is quite open to contributions. David made me feel relaxed as soon as we met, as did his assistant, Seth.

I had to go home to NYC, as my Uncle, a great man named Rueben Holder passed away. I really loved him. He married my mother’s first cousin, and we all just called him “Uncle”. The exact relation never mattered, which is just as I believe.

Family is who loves you and whom you love.

After coming back from the funeral, I am grinding away on the boards. I am very happy not to be using paper as when you work digitally, you can reuse shots and make some wider or tighter.

After approval, I can either draw on another layer or just add detail to the sketches. Tomorrow, I hope to get in a quick workout, take my son to school and start drawing. I have three scenes to do by this coming Monday.

Yes, I am having a lot of fun, I might add.