Shall we play a game?

In the movie "Wargames" it was Thermonuclear War. This game might be just as crazy, but without the mass destruction. People tell me it's crazy anyway. At least they stopped saying impossible. I think they still mean impossible, but they just say "You're crazy", or "That's crazy".
Instead of stressing out about trying to make a feature film in 48 hours, we're turning it into a game. And every game has rules so here they are for Film 48:

The objective is to make the best film you can with the longest running time.
It must be shot in one continuous 48 hour period.
It must be edited in another continuous 48 hour period.
The cast and crew can't see the script until 48 hours before the shooting begins.
No more than 48 people total can work on the film.
You are not allowed more than two takes of any shot.
The number 48 should be in the film somewhere.
The finished film must have a run time of at least 48 minutes.

Simple right?
So I'll go first, we shoot our Film 48 this weekend. I'll keep you posted on the progress. And then I'll have to ask "Who's Next?"

The Universe has Spoken

Sometimes the Universe just lines up against you. Production for Film 48 did not begin today. As we fought past one obstacle and another, the universe finally made itself clear, Film 48 is destined for production some other time. This morning our leading lady came down with the flu. And sickness hit our DP's family as well. So despite our intention to "go with whatever we have" we decided to postpone shooting. This gives us time to make the script stronger, and go in with a fully prepared cast and crew as we answer the question "Can you make a feature film in 48 hours?"

Remain Calm, All is Well!

On the eve of "Film 48" principle photography I have to remind myself to "remain calm" in the face of the onrushing crowd. Today has been a flurry of activity, with calls and texts and facebook messages and errands. Props to find, locations to re-secure, actors to line up for a few remaining roles, schedules to create and communicate. And we are nowhere near ready. Filming begins anyway, its been our motto all along - "we're going with what we got". The dedication of this cast and crew is amazing, and the newfound participants are surprising in their enthusiasm. Tonight as one of my main actors was painting plastic prop guns for us to use, I got some wonderful advice from his wife. I was expressing nervousness, and she reminded me that we are supposed to be having fun. Yeah, I get to spend a weekend with wonderful friends, trying to do something that shouldn't be possible, something we all want to accomplish anyway. Fun indeed.
So tomorrow the fun begins, I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Working with whatever you have.

When someone else says it perfectly, there is no need to re-think it. And since I've been a bit under the weather, I'll just "phone in" this post by re-directing you to this link:
http://platypusunderground.com/2014/04/23/you-shot-on-the-red-so-what-your-movies-still-terrible/

Fighting The Production Triangle

I've quoted this one about a thousand times over the years, "Good, Fast, Cheap, Pick Two ONLY". And now I'm trying to fight the inevitable.  For Film 48 I've clearly already chosen "Fast", and with no budget, I've also chosen "Cheap". But of course I want it to be good. The question I ponder now is whether or not this is an equilateral triangle. Or can the triangle be "squeezed together" so that cheap and fast could still be fairly close to "good".  I'm not sure of the answer yet, but I suppose we'll be finding that out in short order.
If there is a way to change this paradigm, it will likely come from another interesting property of the production universe.  If you ask every single person you know, someone has exactly what you need. This is a bizarre property, but it keeps being proven to work!  Along those lines, I met some wonderful people at the SWLA Film Alliance meeting this week and they seem eager to help us make a success of this crazy Film 48 concept.  I also met a budding makeup artist who offered her services to the project. I asked her if she could give me realistic abdominal and neck knife wounds. Her mockup and test shot is above.  I have to say, if anything gives me hope that fast and cheap could also be good, it's work like this from talented people who have said "Yes" to being part of Film 48.

The cards mock me.

These cards, simple 3x5 index cards.
They mock me, taunt me even. By the end of the day, they should be full of the beats of the movie we are making in less than 1 month. Even at that I'm behind on where I should be. But there they are, all blank and what not, just daring me to get started.  They point out that my outline is not nearly in depth enough, there are holes in the story, even characters who need a name.  But I'm going to start at the ends and work my way toward the middle. Hopefully I'll meet in the middle without too many blank cards. As an aside, I inherited these cards. My Dad had boxes of them.  I'm not exactly sure for what purpose he needed that many cards, I doubt it was for screenwriting, but I think he'd be okay with them being put to that use.  So if you see a couple of characters in this movie named "James" and "Henry", you'll be one of the few people who know that's a nod to my Dad - and a thank you for the cards.
Now lets get these things filled out. We've got a movie to make.

Austin, A mentor, And making the movie 3 times

Have you been to The Austin Film Festival?  If not you should.  Over the years I've seen some amazing movies there including “Slumdog Millionaire”, “Precious”, “Silver Linings Playbook”, and “Nebraska”.  This year’s opening Friday night Paramount Theater presentation was a documentary on true indie spirit writer-director Richard Linklater. That film and a panel of filmmakers on “Directing Your Own Script” is part of my inspiration for undertaking the Film 48 project. Maybe next year we’ll be screening in Austin. (AFF can you hear me?) And perhaps then when I’m in a coffee shop small talking with a guy who looks familiar, maybe I’ll actually realize it’s world famous screenwriter John August (yeah that happened). 

The Austin Film Festival is primarily a writer’s festival, and that brings me to my writing mentor.  A friend of mine has written, I don’t know, I think it’s 20 scripts. He’s taken on a bit of a role as a mentor on this project, sending me tons of helpful tips and information, plus a few threats to help get me going. The support is nice, and the advice is better.  A lot of the advice is production advice, which is helpful but perhaps surprising from a writer. And yet, my mentor is deadly accurate in providing production tips. Because he understands that the writing IS the production.  If you write in 40 locations, 16 speaking parts, and a car jumping over a flaming school bus, you've written a movie that can’t be made in 24 hours of shooting on a zero dollar budget.

Which brings up the 3 times we’ll make this movie.  The first time is when it is written. That movie will exist in a beautifully perfect form – in one mind only.  The second time a movie gets made is when it is shot, often nothing at all like what was written.  The panel in Austin suggested that if you can get 70% of what you intended shot, you’re doing well.  The third creation of the film is in editing, trying to complete the story that it can be, from the footage that it is, based on the story you thought it would be.

For now though I need to be writing a movie, not a blog, and I’m waaaay behind the suggested timeline. Time to finish that story outline (even though my writing mentor is going to tell me it has too many speaking parts, and too many locations.)  FADE IN: a car flies in the air over a flaming school bus…