If production hick-ups came with prescription antibiotics

Papertwinproductions

Papertwinproductions

So.

Our production of our next project 'Sew Sew' has met yet another 'grassy-mound', a hill, a bump in the road. All equally welcomed -Unwelcomed- with open arms. It resides with the many hick-ups cataloged.

  • The Delphine'- An actress who took a feature in Israel...three days before we where set to shoot. :grumpy:

This particular set-back- budget related- has forced delay that we are sure will see-out the rest of the year. The sinking feeling gnaws, sits heavy, and inevitably passes in almost the same breath, which is subtly reassuring and confirms a certain degree of character has developed somewhere between the walls of PTP.

And so we focus on setting the wheels in motion for our next works, bracing ourselves for what may come, and of course continuing to appreciate the bitter-sweet industry of cinema.

So I'm pondering the resilience of the film maker, who has been handed the shittiest stick? Kudos to anybody topping 'The Delphine'.


Let the group meeting commence.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
Bummer! I hope you get it worked out eventually :/
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The project is on the shelf for the time being, we have a lot of material that is manageable at present, we've luckily managed to assemble a crew that we can work with time & time again, most are cool with collab so that's pretty sweet.

I should note that we have just purchased a 5DmkII with killer lenses from the funds of our previous camera. So i don't feel so bad, this year will be extremely productive. :D
 
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Dreadylocks said:
@Steve: Is there a docu that exists about that film? I want to see more!
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Lost In La Mancha is the docu about the film - the Don Quixote flick that Terry Gilliam tried so hard to make. :cool:

In other "what can go wrong" news, on the last flick I was on we had the entire cast walk out on Day 4. (Can't say I blame 'em, either. I would've done the same, in their shoes). It's a really long story; suffice to say that some producers just shouldn't be allowed to talk to people... ever. :lol:
 
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Zensteve said:
Lost In La Mancha is the docu about the film - the Don Quixote flick that Terry Gilliam tried so hard to make. :cool:

In other "what can go wrong" news, on the last flick I was on we had the entire cast walk out on Day 4. (Can't say I blame 'em, either. I would've done the same, in their shoes). It's a really long story; suffice to say that some producers just shouldn't be allowed to talk to people... ever. :lol:
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Jesus...that tops mine, dayyyyyuuum.
 
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Papertwinproductions said:
The project is on the shelf for the time being . . .
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Your actress splits three days before you shoot and that makes you shelve the project?? There were three whole days you had to re-cast. Couldn't you have asked any other actresses who auditioned for it?

I hope you don't mind a little "tough love, " but the way I see it, when a problem like this presents itself, you need to be proactive and "solution-oriented." In other words, if you really want to see the thing get made, you need to kick into high gear and get 'er done! Once the wheels are set in motion, it would have to be something really drastic for me to set a production aside - like a death in the family or a hurricane ripping out a location (even so, I must admit, I did not bow out of opening night for a play I was in, just two days after my mother died, and I once did lose a location due to flooding from a hurricane but did not give up and scrambled to find a new one. Needless to say, the production went on).

These kinds of things happen all the time - no matter how committed an actor seems, there's always a chance that they will have an emergency, change their minds, or not show up. Same thing could've happened with a key member of your crew. At least you had some notice! I would've been grateful to have found out three days in advance.

My recent project was shooting over the weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun) - on a Jewish holiday - and the rental house where we were getting our equipment is owned by Orthodox Jews, but they overlooked the fact that we had scheduled our pickup for Thursday late afternoon (Fri's call time was 6am). My DP happened to go by the place on Thursday around midday and it was already closed for the holiday - do you think I gave up? Hell, no! We found another rental place at the last minute. I had to pay much higher rates, but I had budgeted a 15% contingency for emergencies such as this -- and nothing would've stopped me from shooting that weekend!

The first thing I did in planning this production was choose my shooting dates, and I stuck to that. Although you found a great crew you really like, they may not be available when you want to do it again, they could already have future commitments for afterward. If I were you, I'd recast that role and get the thing going again ASAP. You will feel so proud of yourself that you accomplished this, despite this hiccup.
 
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citychik said:
Your actress splits three days before you shoot and that makes you shelve the project?? There were three whole days you had to re-cast. Couldn't you have asked any other actresses who auditioned for it?

I hope you don't mind a little "tough love, " but the way I see it, when a problem like this presents itself, you need to be proactive and "solution-oriented." In other words, if you really want to see the thing get made, you need to kick into high gear and get 'er done! Once the wheels are set in motion, it would have to be something really drastic for me to set a production aside - like a death in the family or a hurricane ripping out a location (even so, I must admit, I did not bow out of opening night for a play I was in, just two days after my mother died, and I once did lose a location due to flooding from a hurricane but did not give up and scrambled to find a new one. Needless to say, the production went on).

These kinds of things happen all the time - no matter how committed an actor seems, there's always a chance that they will have an emergency, change their minds, or not show up. Same thing could've happened with a key member of your crew. At least you had some notice! I would've been grateful to have found out three days in advance.

My recent project was shooting over the weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun) - on a Jewish holiday - and the rental house where we were getting our equipment is owned by Orthodox Jews, but they overlooked the fact that we had scheduled our pickup for Thursday late afternoon (Fri's call time was 6am). My DP happened to go by the place on Thursday around midday and it was already closed for the holiday - do you think I gave up? Hell, no! We found another rental place at the last minute. I had to pay much higher rates, but I had budgeted a 15% contingency for emergencies such as this -- and nothing would've stopped me from shooting that weekend!

The first thing I did in planning this production was choose my shooting dates, and I stuck to that. Although you found a great crew you really like, they may not be available when you want to do it again, they could already have future commitments for afterward. If I were you, I'd recast that role and get the thing going again ASAP. You will feel so proud of yourself that you accomplished this, despite this hiccup.
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I believe I've been misquoted, the two are unattached. 'The Delphine' was simply our most memorable hick-up, yet it was from a production a year and a half ago.

We explored every option for replacing Delphine, but she was in amongst a niche, there was nobody else who could play this role, we knew as soon as she auditioned that it had to be her. This production will not be sacrificed, we have sufficient material to see us through the foreseeable future, this was not a lack of initiative or problem solving, both of these where explored to the finest detail and the very last possibility.

But i suppose the question you're going to ask is 'So this chick flew the coop, is she ever coming back for you to finish this production?'

This material will rightly sit for a while, until it is that we approach it again, be that with a new lead or not.

'Sew Sew' involved a lot of touch decisions, I've seen too many people sacrifice the quality of their work for the sake of meeting their dates. The fact was we didn't have the funds we expected to that would give us the best possible chance of creating what it is we wanted to create. There was no way around this i can assure you, whether it is I am now swarmed in 'why the hell i didn't sell my kidneys,' or pass on my mother to the black market. It was not possible for us at this present time to gain the necessary funds. It was wholly a decision that we thought best after weighing up the options endlessly, that perhaps this material had a lack of 'budget consideration', writing blindly things that simply could not be achieved up to the standards we desired.

So we continue as you should, building the foundations with material that is both manageable and substantial in our need for near perfection. The material that is left to ponder will be picked back up as our journey progresses into the bigger budgets.
 
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Okay, hmm... wow, no one misquoted you -- I was responding to YOUR posts. I guess I just don't really understand your writing style or what you're saying. So, I'm not sure what actually happened, but I wish you the best. Don't give up!
 
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Who cares about the fomatting? Miscommunications happen all the damn time over the internet. I don't think it changes citychick's point.

This actress was IRREPLACEABLE? C'mon now.

Also, I don't know what you're planning, so you totally might be making the right decision to wait until you've got the budget to shoot what you want. Of course I have to at least throw out the idea of a creative rewrite.

Regardless, good luck! I'm checking out your website right now.
 
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Cracker Funk said:
Also, I don't know what you're planning, so you totally might be making the right decision to wait until you've got the budget to shoot what you want.
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It was for this purpose exactly, we had other material that was manageable at the time, with money being put to better use in other areas, basically thinking of the bigger picture after a hell of a-lot of deliberation.

On the website front, it's still in the works, we're hoping to run our blogs throughout the course of our next few projects, just busy running test shoots with the 5D. It's a beautiful thing!
 
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