Practical Film School: - Pre-Production - Selecting Your Team (Lesson 1)

Hey guys

So as a quick intro "Practical Film School" is going to be my series of posts which will act as a guide for indie film-makers to help them progress projects, it'll be in several parts and I'll start with Pre-Production tips, but from there It may become more rounded, and will bounce around various aspects of film production (But I'll try to group them together somewhere on here when I learn how to do it!)

In these I'll try to cover areas that are generally left untouched by most other sources, though as we're all talking about the same topic (The Production Process) there will be overlap.

Selecting Your Team

At first this may seem simple, and even trivial/irrelevant, but selecting who you work with on a film project is the most important part of Pre-Production, without the right people in the right roles you won't move your project forwards no matter how good your concept is, or even how good your script is.

There are 4 main questions you need to ask when looking for your production team:

1. Can you completely trust them in their role?
2. Are they willing to learn/diversify?
3. How well do they play with others?
4. Will they put the project before their own ego? 

In my experience people who show these four qualities are the best people to work with in the stressful, yet rewarding process of producing a film/series, and people who don't have these qualities have a tendency to stall projects as they're incredibly difficult to work with, I'll explain.

• Can you completely trust them in their role - This is important as a film production can be hectic, so as a producer/director you need to be able to trust them to get the job done on time, and you need to trust they can do it well and not have to completely rely on you, they're in a creative industry so there's no reason they can't use that creativity to solve problems!

• Are they willing to learn/diversify - This is extremely important, especially if you're an Indie film-maker, as it's extremely likely you'll be doing more than your listed roles, you should be prepared to do everything, and they should be prepared to step in to help out anywhere on set/during pre-production. (Extra credits to crew who go out of their way to develop their weak points - They're the best people to work with)

• How well do they play with others - Lets face it, someone who constantly makes arguments out of everything is not only going to stall your production, but that person is more than likely an asshole, in my experience they shoot down ideas and rubbish them without any solution or intent to develop them, pre-production is a bit like sculpting, you constantly make little changes to get to your finished product, which looks completely different to what you started with, there are exceptions that prove the rule, but most of the time it's an evolutionary process that's the beautiful brainchild of collaboration and teamwork. 

• Will they put the project before their own ego - The film industry is a tough industry to break into, so it's no secret that you need an ego to make it through and be successful, but when you're collaborating on projects you need to put your own ego aside and do what's best for the project. It sounds ridiculous but I've worked with people who will bring a completed idea to the table and will refuse to make any changes to the idea, out of what I can only imagine is the notion that their own ego will be damaged by not getting it perfect on the first pitch.  No idea is perfect at first, the more development you put into it the better it becomes, it's that simple!

My advice if you're a debut film-maker, or you're gathering a new production crew is that you should go out with your crew and film a short, put a bit of pre-production into it, but go out and film! The only way of telling if a crew is compatible is to go and make something, that way you know who you can work well with, or who may be problematic! It also gets people used to roles they may have in your major production, and will allow them to develop any skills they lack!

Thanks for reading!

-Geraint