Making a feature film is hard. Very hard. It rarely, if ever, dawned on me how good I had it as an actor. If I was fortunate enough to book a role, my job was to simply to show, hit my mark, and punch a clock.
Acting as a producer feels a little more like tugging a cruise ship with a dinghy. Resources are scarce, the waters choppy, and land rarely in sight.
Despite a challenging landscape, my team and I have forged a special bond; the kind of character and grit that's fostered only when adversity comes knocking.
As we move forward with our shoot date here are some of the ways we've been able to gel as a team, and a few strategies we've agreed are important for our future success.
Acting as a producer feels a little more like tugging a cruise ship with a dinghy. Resources are scarce, the waters choppy, and land rarely in sight.
Despite a challenging landscape, my team and I have forged a special bond; the kind of character and grit that's fostered only when adversity comes knocking.
As we move forward with our shoot date here are some of the ways we've been able to gel as a team, and a few strategies we've agreed are important for our future success.
Agreeing on the Mission
We discovered how important it is for everyone to be on the same page when it comes to WHY we're making a film in the first place. Our "why" will act as our north star when we feel unanchored or lose sight of the goal at hand.
The why needs to be personal, founded on intrinsic rewards, and bigger than just one person.
The why needs to be personal, founded on intrinsic rewards, and bigger than just one person.
Focusing on ONLY the Essential
One of the tricky parts of making an ultra-low budget film is the lack of resources. Everyone on the production team is forced to wear many different hats.
Still, we recognize the importance of knowing our exact duties, and subsequently gain a clearer sense of what we don't need to be doing.
Having a clearly defined goal allows us to put all our energy and resources into making our ONE thing happen.
Getting Good at Saying, "No"
I've yet to meet a golden retriever I didn't like or a person that enjoys disappointing others. But the ability to say no (politely) is crucial in reaching any meaningful endeavor. Today, we have to go to war against distraction. Its arsenal is vast, its methods assorted. If it's not a text it's a ping, post, or poke.
As a result, we've implemented a policy that says if you're asked to complete a task not congruent to what you need to be doing, you can and should say, "no." The individual whose job it is will simply have to find a way to delegate the task or get it done on their own.
We need to get equally comfortably saying, "I don't know," as we do saying, "No." Each have become stigmatized when in actuality require tremendous courage.
In the end, people end up respecting the boundaries you set-up and start spreading the memo your time is valuable and your goals a priority.
Radical Transparency and Honesty
We've all agreed holding each other to a high standard is crucial. We can be thoughtful but still preach honesty.
For example, it's been my job to get the LLC taken care of for our feature film for the past 3 weeks. For one reason or another this still hasn't happened. To put it plainly, I have failed to execute my responsibilities.
We are trying to cultivate an environment where any team member would feel both comfortable and within his or her rights to pose the question, "Why hasn't this been completed yet? What obstacles are standing in your way? And do you need support to make sure you reach your deadline?"
Personal accountability dwarfs all, but having a group of like-minded people willing to hold your feet to the far is indispensable.
Setting Deadlines
Putting a date on a goal has a remarkable affect on production. When someone knows they have to get something done by a particular day they will move mountains to make it happen. Remember the science fair? Conversely, if there's no timeline, projects will collect dust and start to drift aimlessly.
Together, we plan on setting deadlines for each of our tasks and sharing them with the group on Trello so our objectives and time frame are transparent to all.
Keep Asking, "What's the ONE thing I should be working on to move this goal forward?"
Our head of social media has managed to gain over 2,000 followers on Twitter in just under a month.
How?
Delilah's sole objective was to build our presence on social media.
That's it.
By concentrating on that and that alone, she has built an engaged audience who now feel emotionally invested in seeing our story told.
Putting all our resources and energy into getting the ONE thing done also strips away distraction, and ensures we make significant progress in the arena that counts rather than meager gains in the ones that don't.
No Hierarchy
Each person's role is important, every voice matters, and spirited debate is always welcome. None of us claim to have all the answers and have found the joy of stumbling through this odyssey together.
What's important is that everyone feels comfortable speaking up when a problem arises and that their work is equally challenging as it is engaging.
Finally, we make sure our idealism is fiercely protected but also grounded. Executing a dream without a concrete plan isn't bold, it's dangerous.
As we get closer to making our film a reality we're sure to make many mistakes and likely won't see eye-to-eye on every matter, but we've created a culture that will not only sustain those setbacks, but reshape them into lessons we can leverage.
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