My 2 cents.
From past experience.
Not going to talk about finding the script, Camera, genre, social media, marketing, making your $ back lol etc,
Note - You as the the producer are responsible for the money. You answer only to yourself. If it's the director's money and you answer to him, that's another kettle of fish.
1) You are in charge.
2) Don't micro manage, if you hired someone (who is good), then let them do their job
3) Ego = watch out for it.
4) As a producer I have no interest standing around on set if I don't need to be there. I don't need to be the centre of attention.
5) Since I'm not on set, my representatives are. The 1st AD and maybe the Production Manger if they are around.
6) The director will think that they are god on set, they are not. The 1st AD is.
7) The 1st AD needs to know what they are doing i.e. scheduling and has to be able to communicate with the crew to get them to do what needs to be done on time and on budget (this includes the director!). Get someone who knows what they are doing! this is very important.
8) The director well before you start rolling on day 1 , should have storyboards, or at the very least a shot list... if not the 1st AD is not doing their job... and or the director thinks that they are a genius and doesn't need one... that's cool.. but it's not their money, it's your. If you are not happy, fix it. This goes for any aspect of the film. Plus nothing burns $'s/time when you have the director and department heads standing around debating about where the camera should go, lights, etc, etc, this needs to be done before.
9) Pre Production is very important, once you start filming, unless you have like 50 people standing around in the production office, you won't have time to change/chase up major things... make sure everything is sorted before you start filming.
10) Sound is more important than vision!!!
11) On our last shoot, we had experienced heads of departments, their underlings were students, or students who has just graduated, or people who might have done a few smaller things and wanted to do a feature.
12) One of our HOD was a teacher (film), and since it was school holidays, managed to bring along some of their students along. free labour in exchange for on set experience and credit
12) You need a PM who is a whiz at getting things done... make up person got sick, they would be ringing people up to find a replacement at 6am, even if they only got 2 hours sleeps.. nothing was too big of an ask..
14) Runners are very important. Who else is going to run back to the office to get a forgotten prop, or pick up the lunches, or pick up a cast member, whose car has broken down.. We had 2, would have liked another... as it was I ended up doing some running as there was noone else and i wasn't doing anything
15) Do you offer deferred payment and or points and or cash up front say $50 or $100 per day and that's it? Pro's and Cons for each.
16) After a day or 2 being a running for no money suxs.. what can you do to make them stay... not really your job, that's the PM/1st AD's problem really, but if they leave, then it becomes yours.. so maybe some token amount of $ or something to keep them happy. A DOP may do something for a credit or for something to add to the show reel... what does a PA get out of it for 3 or 4 weeks?
17) Try and get PA's with cars... that work... pay them gas money, keeps them happy
18) Food, budget.. this one is always a nasty surprise... if you got people working for free atleast feed them well. there will be a Vegan....
19) night shoots suck!!!!
18) makes sure all your legals are in place. contracts. clearances, workers comp, public liability, etc.
19) Think about what your contracts need to say.. what if you need do to reshoots.... can you get the actors back, or will they say, only if you give me some money... make sure that your contracts have everything mapped out. Also what about BTS footage, PR, things like that...
20) Petty cash
21) Parking
22) Deliverables!!!! - What needs to be sent to a buyer, find out now and make sure that you can fulfill what will be need. "What do you mean I need 50-100 high res stills? Won't the ones of the DOP eating lunch do? I shot it on my Iphone
"
23) Who has Final cut?
24) Get HOD, plus PM and 1st AD to suss out the locations, so there will be no nasty surprise (spend a day driving around and go as a group.. plus it's a nice bonding experience.
25) toilets
26) Coffee... get people drinking instant... you can't afford starbucks
27) After the martini shot, things will go walkabout... lock that shite down.. camera tape went walkabout and almost "lost" a $300 piece of camera gear, that was 'left' in someones bag......
28) it's okay if by the end of the shoot everyone hate you, the 1st AD, the director, each other... deal with it.. it happens, try to not let it though, but if it does, stay positive.
29) learn to say no. also don't be one set, hard to ask for things if they can't find you.
30) the 1st AD or PM along with the director will breakdown the script and schedule/budget it. From this point you will see how many days are needed, how much money and what you can/can't afford... don't go hiring people before this, otherwise you might promise money you don't have.
31) actors and crew will start calling about 1 month after wrapping to get footage for showreels, how will you handle this.
32) did I mention sound?
33) This will be a low budget film. Get crew who know what this means!!!... we have a HOD say to us that they needed 6 people... errr, no you get 3. They were used to working on bigger productions where you ask for something and it appears... not in this end of the business I'm afraid.
34) 1st AD should know this, but how many makeup- hair people will you need. You can't make up a cast of 10 with one person. well you can if you want to wait for 6 hours.
35) can you try - make up schools/hair schools/catering schools students for free/cheap labour for credit and references.
36) If you don't know something, ask. I spent an afternoon with the sound designer going over what things you can and can't do in post. Some of the stuff that they can do is amazing.
37) How much data storage will you need? how many back up of the camera files? How long will it take to dump each card. Don't want to hold up production waiting for a card to copy.
38) What editing system are you using? In the end of the day it's a tool. If FCP is better for you, use it, if Premiere Pro is better for you, use it.
39) If you can have an assistant editor on set/office getting all the raw files/sound files ready to go. If you can have an editor working away at the same time even better.
40) Good luck!
I'm sure there are a million more things that I have forgotten.
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