Why do directors/producers make changes to their scripts if actor's leave?

H

harmonica44

I've noticed from some other posts that they will do that. If an actor drops out, midway through shooting, the producer will rewrite the script to accommodate that. But is it worth it? I can only imagine the plot holes that would arise if you tried to change a story after it's been partially shot. Say an actor leaves and a character has to die therefore, but their was a major twist with that character that is now deemed pointless cause he is no longer alive for example. So a major point in the story is lost.

So why is it that a lot of producers prefer to rewrite the script and continue shooting? Wouldn't it just be better to cancel the whole project, resave money, and then start again? I mean at least the script will make sense and all the the themes and twists will come into play and have points.

There is actually a couple of films I saw at a film festival, where now that I think about it, perhaps that's what they did, after seeing how common it seems to be on here. Characters were developed with some plot twists, that were just forgotten about, and you think were important, then all of a sudden they were gone and without reason and at random. Where did they go? It just seems to me, it would be better to start over, rather than risk your money and audiences not appreciating the story cause of it.

What do you filmmakers think?
 
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So the producers job is to get the best result that they can from what they have in the can.

So half way through shooting, which, mind you is way more than half way through a project, you want to suggest canning it? It's far from optimal and it would be better if the actor didn't leave, if you don't continue on, you end up with zero for all your efforts.

If the production was insured, I'd assume that the insurance company would take over the production at that point and salvage whatever they could, which would mean, complete the project and sell it and get whatever back they can. They'd then probably sue the actor. If it was a bonded film, they've likely hurt their career.

The problem with ditching the project half way through shooting is: No one has ever worked out how to profit from half a movie.
 
I've heard of a producer, re-writing a script and reshooting the scenes because an actor no longer wanted to be a part of the production. This was after the film was in the can. I personally thought she was mad.
 
harmonica44 said:
But is it worth it?
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Yes.

So why is it that a lot of producers prefer to rewrite the script and continue shooting?
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Money and Pragmatism.
Mostly Money.

Wouldn't it just be better to cancel the whole project, resave money, and then start again?
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It is usually cheaper to complete the film with changes (even drastic ones) than to reschedule. If you are paying your cast and crew, then you are out that money plus the money for the reshoot. Plus the money already spent on permits, location fees, preproduction, wardrobe, props, art, etc. If you rented equipment or studio space that money is now wasted. In bigger projects lots of props and set pieces are rented as is the equipment. That money would be wasted.

Then there is the time cost. Having already invested so much time in a project by the time filming begins, it really isn't worth it to invest any more time. That is time that could be spent working projects that are not imploding.

Even if you are not paying people, availability of actors and crew may not be there in the future. Locations may not be available in the future. Weather may be a factor.

Then add in the cost to your reputation. You become the guy who didn't finish the project or the guy who didn't get done on time/budget.

If a movie loses and actor half way through shooting, realistically, that film probably isn't going to be very good even if you reshoot. It is best for everyone to simply get the filming done and get on to another project. When the project begins to implode the producer has to make the best of the situation and get the film done. The point of the producer is to get the movie made and mitigate the losses. While you may want to achieve a certain level of quality, that may not always be the case. Plus once you stop filming there is always a chance (a really high one in the indie world) that you will never finish the project.

It is usually better career wise to complete and release a so-so or crappy movie instead of never releasing a movie at all or going way over budget. Unless the movie is truly awful or amazingly brilliant, people who see it will forget about how good/bad it was. It just becomes another line on the CV.


Characters were developed with some plot twists, that were just forgotten about, and you think were important, then all of a sudden they were gone and without reason and at random. Where did they go?
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My guess is to the land of lost socks.
 
Scrapping a project like that is an absolutely terrible business decision.

Frankly if you are smart and creative, you should be able to work around the issue. Sometimes you come up with something even better, because it forces you to think outside of the box.
 
I guess so. So how would you rewrite a script to make sense if an actor leaves. Let's say your main character actor leaves, and you have to recast, but you cannot come up for a reason as to why the protagonist all of a sudden looks like a different person.

Or if you decide to kill a character of cause the actor left, that character has no reason to be in the movie in the first place, and the plot does not make any sense from then on therefore. How do you make it work really? I understand it's bad to not finish a project, but a movie that does not make a lot of logical sense either is bad too, so what do you do?
 
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How you make it work really depends on the story and what you have already filmed. There is no magic formula for that kind of situation.

They key is not being married to the original idea/script. You have to focus on what you can do, instead of what you cannot. What directors don't quite grasp in such a situation is that once that actor has left, that original plot is gone. It is dead. You have to come up with a new story that makes the most of what you have filmed and what you are going to be able to film within your shooting schedule. You are no longer making movie ABC you are now making movie XYZ.

How much, if any, of what has already shot can be salvaged will vary based on the project. Worst case you either write a whole new movie in a day or two that utilizes the cast, crew, and resources you have on hand, or you write off the project all together.
 
harmonica44 said:
So how would you rewrite a script to make sense if an actor leaves.
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This is another "how long is a piece of string" question. What you will do depends entirely upon the script, the budget, the other actors, the director, the producer and 10 million other variables that need to be solved IMMEDIATELY when the situation erupts.

You can't even figure out a dead cat. You'll cripple yourself mentally trying to figure this one out.........
 
Yeah for sure. I know their is no magic solution. I just look my the scripts I have written, which is 3, and I can't even think of them making sense if any were to leave. I would probably have to take a few weeks off just to rewrite them and not sure if the actors would still be available to do them after, since the rewrites would take time, at least to make them good.

I was just curious and hope it doesn't happen to me. This could be the reason why a lot of indie films at the festival I went to, went in random directions and plot twists were forgotten about, and didn't matter anymore, and was left wondering what was the point in the end.
 
harmonica44 said:
I was just curious and hope it doesn't happen to me. This could be the reason why a lot of indie films at the festival I went to, went in random directions and plot twists were forgotten about, and didn't matter anymore, and was left wondering what was the point in the end.
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Stop worrying about your rep and the different ways you could fail. There are literally billions of ways a film could go wrong.

Write a 1-3 page script.
Get some actors.
Shoot.
Edit.
Post.

Guess what you do next?

Write a 1-3 page script.
Get some actors.
Shoot.
Edit.
Post.

Guess what you do next?

Write a 1-3 page script.
Get some actors.
Shoot.
Edit.
Post.

Guess what you do next?

Write a 1-3 page script.
Get some actors.
Shoot.
Edit.
Post.

Guess what you do next?

Write a 1-3 page script.
Get some actors.
Shoot.
Edit.
Post.

Guess what you do next? :D

Also, I don't think the reason some films go in random directions and not make much sense are because of the director/screenwriter/producer rewriting the script due to the loss of an actor or location. Usually films are like that because of a weak screenplay or bad directing. Also, sometimes films are meant to be strange, confusing, filled with plot-holes, and bizarre.

Watch some films by David Lynch, Guy Maddin, and Shane Carruth.

Bye.
 
We've had two projects where actors have dropped out midway through the shooting and we had to rewrite scenes and workaround with what we've already filmed in order to complete the short/series. And even for the better.

It's sooo much more better to just finish with what you have instead of scrapping it entirely. Do you realize how much time and money is wasted just by doing that?

There is ALWAYS room to fix something. Your main goal is to make use of your other characters.

In the 2nd season of Power Rangers, the original Red/Yellow/Black rangers left the show. They wrote that the characters became ambassadors at a Peace Conference in Switzerland. You don't have to make the idea deep. Just enough to move the story forward.

In our web series, Battle Hero Absolute, our main actress left us for personal reasons. We simply had to kill off the character off-screen.

h44. STOP BEING PARANOID. If you ever get a chance, participate in a film fest where you have a time limit ala 48 Hour Film Fest (or any of the sorts). This will truly test how well you are as a film maker. If you can produce a story with a 7min time limit then you can produce more that are even longer. There's no backing out, you just have to move forward.
 
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I'm amazed at this. I tried two attempts to make short films, all with people dropping out or changing the terms of their contract and threatening to leave otherwise.

I went overbudget on them all, and still didn't end up getting them shot because of them.

In fact I just started another short a couple of weeks ago, but a the PSM may have dropped out, before the shoot dates later on. I am actually really tempted to give up on this one. After two failed attempts at making shorts, I am tempted to actually call this one quits unless everyone sticks. With no PSM, what's the point? I can look for another one later, but the actors will not be available later. I am tempted to cancel the current shoot dates cause it will just be a waist of money to make a movie with unusable sound.

The same thing happened to be me before in my first shoot. The PSM and DP both left before production and I was told by people on here to go do it anyway, cause it shows the actors I am not a flake. Yeah sure I'm not a flake, but it also shows you cannot finish a movie at all with any usable results, since their was no experienced crew to take on the tasks.

It seems that being incompetent, is just as bad as being a flake, only with being a flake, you save money for a possible next time, as oppose making something unusable to proove a point which won't matter after it's over anyway.

At least that is what I am tempted to do right now.
 
But H44, you have made a short film, you just won't show it to anybody. I happen to have seen it (by sheer luck of the internet), but nobody else has. Why would you spend so much time making a movie, only to keep it to yourself? Kinda defeats the purpose. If you're worried about actors taking you seriously, perhaps they'd like to see you finish a project and put it online.
 
Cracker Funk said:
But H44, you have made a short film, you just won't show it to anybody. I happen to have seen it (by sheer luck of the internet), but nobody else has.
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Futurama_Fry_icon_by_urkel8534.jpg
 
Cracker Funk said:
But H44, you have made a short film, you just won't show it to anybody. I happen to have seen it (by sheer luck of the internet), but nobody else has. Why would you spend so much time making a movie, only to keep it to yourself? Kinda defeats the purpose. If you're worried about actors taking you seriously, perhaps they'd like to see you finish a project and put it online.
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Found it! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_UtlgW5QjA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUCT14_miQw
 
Dreadylocks said:
Futurama_Fry_icon_by_urkel8534.jpg
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It's true, I saw the whole thing! H44 posted an unrelated video in a thread in which he was testing an aerial shot, or something like that. When I was finished watching that video, one of the youtube recommended videos happened to be H44's full movie! There was even some raw footage (a separate clip), so I got to see his directorial style!

I'm not gonna say I downloaded anything, but I'll admit that I sure as heck felt the temptation.

Chimp, the movies you found were not the full movie. He removed it a long time ago, after I commented (in that test-footage thread) about having watched it. The version you saw (which he has now since removed) did not contain the climactic finale (and it's quite the climactic finale).
 
I had a video posted on there which the settings were set to 'private', but chimp hacked into it so that any could watch it with the link. I don't appreciate people hacking my videos that I set to private for certain people to see.
 
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