Leeds Street Productions

Self-taught Film School

2010-10-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

I never went to film school. On the undergraduate level or on the graduate level. I did apply last year to NYU Graduate film school, and I was interviewed, but I was not accepted to the New York campus. I was recommended to the Singapore campus, and ultimately accepted to the M.F.A. program, but who wants to live in Singapore for 4 years?

Last year I made a $30,000 film shot on Super 16mm. Development was a month and a half, pre-production was about 4 months, production was 2 days, and post production was about 3 months. In total, after festivals and everything, I spent about a year on The Empty Playground. That's a lot of time. Writing and getting notes from producers, interviewing crew members, meeting with your cinematographer, test screening the film with audiences, giving notes to your composer, submitting to festivals.

It was a great learning experience. I learned a lot. Here's a list of principle's to live by for a young director:

1) Pick your producer(s) carefully. -->Don't pick someone just because they have produced a high budget film, or because they've been on projects that have won awards. Pick a producer that is going to be in this with you. Someone that you can trust, and will be there for you.

***Some producers have their own agenda and want to USE your production to better their own career. Decisions should be based on the story, the budget, and what the director needs to achieve his goal. To be honest, there was no reason for me to shoot my short on S16mm, but I did, because one of my producers told me to. He said festivals wouldn't care if I shot on the RED, but if I shot on S16, they'd be impressed. He said he was going to walk off the project if I didn't shoot on film. THAT WAS THE 1ST SIGN. I SHOULD HAVE LET HIM WALK IMMEDIATELY. He wasn't there for me, or for the story, he had his own agenda, to build better relationships with rental and post houses, and to say he producer ANOTHER short on film.

2) Don't get an actor through an agent.

That's for the big time. Right now, get an actor that really understands the character and is available to meet with you, have conversations with you, do test shoots, rehearse. My actor, who is an excellent guy, was brought on 2 days before the shoot, flown in from LA, and I had my 1st conversation with him about the character on the day. Some people do like this, and if that is your style, cool, go ahead, but if you are someone that likes to be extremely prepared (as I do, with every aspect of production), it's extremely counterproductive to do this.

ALSO, there was no reason to spend that kind of $$. Once again, see item #1 for producer's mentality dictating bad things.

3) Hire a Script Consultant

It's easy to think your script is perfect and ready to be shot. It might not be though. It might need another revision. Perhaps it's not complex and challenging enough. There might be a character that could be tied in better. If you hire a script consultant, for nothing less than piece of mind, you've already won the battle.

4) Pick your camera format based on the story, shooting style, and budget.

What camera are you shooting your film on? The Panasonic HVX200? Why? Because your best friend own it. Okay, does it have everything you need to achieve the look you want? Have you done tests? Have you supplied visual references to your cinematographer? Do these things. I am ecstatic to do them on this next short.

5) Go to museums, look at books of photography, and watch excellent films (foreign films too).

Study how painters use composition; how they block the subjects in a frame. Watch great films. See how certain directors cover a scene. Do they do Master shot, medium shot, close up? When do they move the camera? Why do they move the camera? When do they cut? Why do they cut? Who's scene is it? How do you know that?

I have to call my consulting producer now and go over the 1st draft, but I will continue this later. Please look for part 2.

Financing Your Film. HOW??

2010-08-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

Have you financed any of your films? How did you do it? Answer below or respond on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/phil.giordano

CROWDFUNDING??? WHAT'S THAT??

2010-08-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

I've been strategizing about creating a successful crowdfunding campaign on either indiegogo or kickstarter for the last few months. Basically the purpose of these website's is to provide a medium for artists (or someone with a cause) to raise funds online.

The brilliance of these website's is that they realized people want rewards for donating money. I remember a year and a half ago, hearing about an independent film that was giving people Special Thanks Credit on imdb if they donated $50 to the production. They needed the money to finish the film. I thought it was clever, and who doesn't like a special thanks credit (lol and if you're someone who follows my career well, and you have spied MY special thanks credit on imdb from the film starring Shooting Mcgavin, it was from helping out the producers, not from donating money).

However, I will admit I have donated money to a film for associate producer credit. And it's something I am not ashamed about. I wish the imdb page would be up already, but to be honest it was one of the best professional investments I have made.

After chatting with the director I told him: "I would like to donate $1,200 to your film, it's gunna be amazing and I'd love to be part of it. I need credit on a film that's going to screen somewhere big." I had become aware of him from his film that had recently screened at Cannes. He said to me: "well, what else do you want? Do you want to come on set, meet the crew?"

And I said "Absolutely."

A lot of people think I'm crazy. I'll admit it was pretty wild, but it got me on a flight to L.A. and on a movie ranch, and chilling in the honey wagon with the producers, and meeting Cinematographers from Poland and Spain and all over. It ultimately got me a job working on a feature film with an award winning script (from a top tier fest).

The point of that digression is that my donating money to a production didn't just help the production, it helped me: professionally and socially. I have about 15 friends with MFA's that I never had before donating to that film. Some of those people have offered to write me letter's of recommendation to graduate film school when I apply this December.

I post this, because I will be creating an indiegogo account, and if there is anything I could help you out with, like coming by set, or something you could think of, please reach out to me, as I reached out to the director. However, my rewards are MUCCHHHH cheaper (and his film was not on indiegogo or kickstarter, I found his website through links).

If you liked the begining of this article, check out my next article which will be titled: WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT YOUR FILM PHIL???

Defining a Short Film

2010-05-10T08:00:00.001-07:00

It comes down to this. Our entire lives we watch feature films, 30 minute sitcoms, hour long episodic television, but there are few people that are raised knowing what short films are. And for someone like me, that CAN NOT make a feature film until I am absolutely ready and have $250,000-$1,000,000 budget to do it right, I have short films to enhance my skills, see what works or doesn't, and help me get accepted into a top tier film school (or festival, but those days of festival dreaming have ceased, I know how cold it is out there).

So, the other day I was in the backyard pulling weeds out of my the garden and it hit me...I have no idea what a short film is. I mean, we all know a short film is anything from 1 minute to 45 minutes, and there are experimental, narrative, documentary, etc. But honestly, what is a short film? Where did it come from? Why is it so popular now? What makes them successful? Is there a format or a successful structure? We all know (or have heard of) the 3 act structure for feature films, and having read Blake Snyder's book Save the Cat! I began to wonder, am I suppose to fit all his 15 beats into a short? 15 emotional beats is a lot to put into a 5 page script.

As all things, I've learned to not swallow anything whole, so I know there are several things from Snyder's (and Syd Field, and Truby, etc.) book that I can use, but not everything, and not to a T. But what is a short film??? And what do all the successful one's do in common? Here is a VERY preliminary account of what I have learned.

**I have a background of short films in the works, but I thought I'd post that later, because I refuse to use wikipedia as a source.

I have compiled a list of my 10 favorite short films (that are online, for all of us to view and discuss) and I will compare things many of these shorts have in common. They are:

Favorite Short Films:

1) The Youth in Us Dir. Joshua Leonard (US, 2006)
2) Spider Dir. Nash Edgerton (Australia, 2007)
3) The Black Hole Dir. Phil and Olly (UK, 2008)
4) Bitch Dir. Dom Bridges (UK, 2009)
5) Goodbye to the Normals Dir. Jim Field Smith (UK, 2006)
6) Honeymoon Dir Miranda Bowen (UK, 2006)
7) Asshole Dir. Chadd Harbold (USA, 2008)
8) The Substitute Dir. Andrea Jublin (Italy, 2006)
9) Validation Dir. Ken Kluenne (USA, 2007)
10) Eating Out Dir. Pal Sletaune (Norway, 1993)

**As a quick note, there are other shorts that I cherish, that I have not included because you have to pay to view them, including Justin Nowell's Acting for the Camera, Sick Sex, and his NYU Graduate Thesis film Ham and the Hotspurs as well as many of the films included in Magnolia Films "Academy Award nominated Short Films (with The Substitute as an exception)."

The thing I have learned from all of these short films (excluding Kluenne's opus Validate) is that all these shorts action is continuous. None of them cover more than one day. It is a snapshot of one day or one self contained situation. They are not over a long period of time (weeks, months, years) because the scope would be too big. I have also learned there is a structure to successful short films, and this is not created in a vacuum, and I am sure there are plenty of films that break these rules (what else are rules made for), but every one of these films follow a simple 3 act structure.

You always hear the phrase, beginning, middle, and end, thrown around. But what the hell does that mean? And maybe this entire article is common sense and I'm the only fool who never knew, but this has come as an epiphany to me.

All these films seem to have 3 definitive sections:

Part 1- The Set-up. We meet the main character and the world we're in.
We also see the tone of the film: comedy, drama, horror, etc. Nothing big happens here. We're just setting up the world we're in, so later, when things happen, it makes sense, and we already saw the warning signs (or the evidence).

Part 2- The Body. The meat of the story. I call this the "promise of the premise" or the promise of the title. This is where in the film titled ASSHOLE, we see the main character be an asshole. In Goodbye to the Normals, this is where the son tells his parents he's leaving. The body is where the bulk of the "story happens." The set-up allowed for the meat of the story to occur, and once that happens, it leads us to the Twist or part 3.

Part 3-The Twist. This is where something big happens (don't confuse this with the catalyst). Something big happens and it is linked to the body and (not always, but most of the time) the evidence was present in the set-up. The twist in The Youth in Us, after we hear the story about Lukas euthanizing a young deer (part 2), is that his girlfriend in fact has cancer, and she wants him to euthanize her, like he did with the deer. This makes this bittersweet story sting even more in this overwhelming emotional short. The twist is what we've been leading up to the whole time. It might not be obvious, but everything is leading up to the twist.

Breakin 'em Down:

The Black Hole (2008, 2:49)

Part 1-The Setup- :07- 1:17 We're in a dingy, low-lit office. It's late, after hours, and a worker, tired, works when everyone else has left the office.

The copy machine malfunctions and prints out a paper with a black hole in the middle. As he takes a sip of water and places the cup down, WAHHLAAAH, the cup disapears into the black hole in the paper. He sticks his hand into the hole and retrieves the cup. Break into Part 2

Part 2-The Body- 1:17-2:17 The worker uses this newfound power to his advantage. He runs over to the vending machine and helps himself to a snickers. With a gluttonous bite of the candy bar we see the theme of Greed presented. The worker has bigger eyes, and uses the black hole to open the back door and eventually the safe!!! The worker takes out handfuls of cash and slops them onto the floor. The deeper he moves into the safe, the bigger the black hole expands until...

Part 3 The Twist- 2:17-2:28 The tape holding the black hole peels off and the paper falls down-trapping the man inside. Now, all the money is outside the safe, and the man is stuck inside. We pull out to see the vast stillness of the office.

It is all there. Clear and simple.

Set-up --> late at night, in an empty office, a worker finds a black hole.

The Body--> The worker uses it greedily to his benefit. Starting off with a candy bar and building up to the back office safe.

The Twist--> The black hole backfires and traps him inside. This newfound power consumed him and left him off worse than when he started.

I thought I'd do this with another short film. Here's my crack at Goodbye to the Normals directed by Jim Field Smith.

Goodbye To The Normals

Set-up- We open on a woman waiting in a doorway of a nice middle class semi-attached British home. A man dressed in a corporate suit politely greets his wife, enters. He removes a stuffed animal sitting on the edge of the sofa, and he sits down. The music is playful and fun, with a hint of seriousness. Also, the production company name "idiotlamp" sets up the tone of the story as well.

The Body-We meet our hero, Magnus, a sharp tongued 10 year old that informs his father he's leaving for America. He's a shaggy haired tyke with untied converses so his father (and the audience) laughs this off. As they converse about this decision, Magnus shows how well thought out this decision is and that there will be no stopping him (displaying quite the wit for such a youngin, with sarcasm and all). He shakes his fathers hand goodbye and takes off running, with his parents left in the dust. As he runs away his parents longfully look at his back.

The Twist- Magnus stops. He turns around and runs back to them, in a very touching nostalgic moment. The smart mouthed son is returning to his loving family. His parents open their arms to embrace him-EXCEPTTT Magnus doesn't stop, he wizzes by them and heads into the house exclaiming "forgot my fucking passport." He heads out again. His parents annoyed and hurt grimacy at the nerve of their son.

Set-up--> An educated middle class british home.

Body--> Young Magnus is leaving and there's nothing his parents can do, despite their attachment to him.

Twist--> Magnus, having departed, runs back towards his parents and his house as they excitedly embrace their returning son---except he wizzes by them and into the house because he forgot his passport.

How to save up $30,000 for your film-tried and true

2010-01-28T20:10:00.000-08:00

This post will detail how I saved over $30,000 for my film...which I then spent in two days of shooting, haha, but that's another story. Some of the things might sound daunting or impossible, but it's your film we're talking about, if you love movies like I do, nothing will stop you. It's your baby, and you'll suffer for your art, right?

Here are the steps:

1) Work Full Time

2) Be willing to get a second job (even if you quit, that short spurt of $$ is nice)

3) What are you good at? Identify it and use it to make $$ (I am good at writing, see below)

4) Do you have any equipment you can rent out? (post or respond to ads on craigslist or mandy)

5) Stop wasting money (food when out, soft drinks, bottled water, smoking, coffee...drugs)

6) Be a loser for a few months (don't go out much, or limit it for a while)

7) Draw up a budget. (what you need, what you make, what you spend)

8) Live at home (it's free, see below if you can't)

9) Can you borrow $$ from family members? (don't ask friends)

10) See where you can cut corners (equipment, food, etc.)

11) Give yourself time (be rational w/ your timelines)

12) What can you sell? (digital camera, dv camera, poker chips, etc.)

1 Work Full Time

I was lucky enough to get a full time job directly out of college, so after graduating in may '08, I was working as a social worker by July '08. The money isn't great, less than a teacher (god civil service gets shit on) but it was better than minimum wage.

So, I had a steady check coming in. I knew I was getting $_____ every 2 weeks.

2) Be willing to get a 2nd job

I've been a lifeguard my whole life, and a few summers ago I was promoted to Pool Manager. So, when summer came, I worked 7 days a week. Not really as much in 08, but more in '09. In fact, since I got paid for my personal days (at my social work job) there were several weeks where I worked 3 days at my full time, took 2 days off, and worked 4 at the pool. So, in that 7 day week, I got paid for 9 days. Work the system man.

That didn't last long though. Working 7 days a week and being in pre-production is brutal, I left the pool after about a month....but made a few grand while I was there.

3) What are you good at?

I was an English major in college. In fact, I was always good at writing papers. In high school i had a ring of slackers that would pay me $20 to write their 2-3 page papers. So, while attending graduate school, I met a few lazy people, as well as posting on craigslist, and I charged (depending on the page length) but about $60-$75 a paper. All I'd say is "what grade do you want?" I never miss.

4) Do you have any equipment you can rent out? Can you get hired in a crew position?

I bought this homemade dolly for $150 and 20 feet of pvc pipe for about $6 at home depot. I also have a 12 foot jib I bought for about $800. That's less that $1,000. I normally charge $100-$300/day (muuuuch less for every additional day) to rent out that equipment. I've rented it out about 8 times so far (from 1-3 days). I'd say I've made around a $2,000 profit on the equipment. And I own it and use it as much as I want.

I've been lucky enough to have experience as a 1st Assistant Director, so I've taken hired jobs as an AD. I have a boom, and some how, back in the day, got hired $150/ day for 3 days to boom this short, so that was sweet. I've also been paid as a PA. There's not a lot of money to be made in freelance (if ur not big into cam dept. g+e, or sound), but if you're working full time anyway, it's all money in the bank.

5) Stop Wasting $$

I use to run in high school, so I've always been completely against smoking or doing any drugs. In fact I've never even tried it-never will. I do drink (but I lie to myself and say alcohol isn't a drug). Anyway:

Cigarette's are EXPENSIVEEEEEEEEE. Stop smoking. Stop buying coffee. Brew it at home. Don't buy red bull or monster. In fact, only shop at the grocery store and eat in bulk. If your out and your thirsty, don't buy a coke or a bottle of water, carry a fucking water bottle around...or if u know u'll be out, bring a water bottle with you.

Stop eating out. That stuff adds up a lot. If you do eat out, order off the $1 menu. Might kill ur weight, but it won't lighten your pocket.

Cancel your netflixx account and stop going to blockbuster. Get your films from the library or free online.

6) Be a loser for a few months

I made the bulk of my money during this 3 month period where I literally woke up, went to work, came home, watched a movie and went to sleep. Repeat. Repeat. I ate my parents food, slept in their house, took the train to work (free in staten island), and that was it. On the weekend I did a few film jobs, rented my equipment a little and BAM, I had $11,000 in the bank.

7) Draw up a budget

a) What do you make? (ex. $1,200 every 2 weeks after taxes, x2=$2,400 month)

b) What are your expenses (ex. car insurance, cell phone, fun expenses, $400/month)

c) How much do you need to shoot? (ex. $30,000)

$2,000/month means it will take you 15 months to get the whole thing. Now, you might only need $18,000 to shoot, so you can shoot after 10-11 months and start post production.

It took me almost 2 years to save up for my film. But I did. I saved up every penny I could, and I made my baby. Thing is, it sounds like a waste of money, and time, and it sounds insane...but what do most people do with their $$$? Some ppl are amazing and save, so for those ppl, ur genius, power to you...but most of us like to go out and have fun. Like to drink and smoke, go on crazy vacations. To LA, or Vegas or the shore. They get a beach house. And that's cool, I'm not knocking that, but this is what I want to do with my life. In my mind you have nothing to show from all those nights you went to the city and spent $150 bucks. Or $20 open bar, $10/pack of cigarettes and you smoke a pack or 2 a day. I have a beautiful film that I am eternally proud of. And I'd do it again.

8) Live at home

If you can live at home do it. Yea, everyone wants to be cool and live in brooklyn or the city, but if you want to fund an independent film on your own, you have to cut corners. So, if you can move back home. If you can not, find a reeaaallly cheap place.

lol, if your looking for a place, my friend lisa wants a room mate, she'll charge $300/month. Find something that's dirt cheap (now she knows the landlord so that's kinda insanely low, but u know what I'm saying). Craigslist is good to shop for a place to live.

9) Can you borrow $$ from family members?

Find out if anyone in your family is sympathetic to your goal...or loaded. I leave friends out of this because borrowing $$ from friends will ruin a friendship. I don't know why, but it has this magical power to just turn things to shit. You might be desperate, but don't do it. Stick with family, the closer the better, cause they know your not going to stiff them. You work, you'll pay them back, you just have to make your baby first.

10) See where you can cut corners

Equipment, food, etc. Get a producer, production manager, or 1st AD to look at ur budget and really strip that bad boy down. Find out which vendors you have good relationships with etc.

11) Give yourself time

Like I said earlier, it took over a year for me to save up all that money, and I'm still paying for festival submissions (approaching 2 years of saving). We were originally set to shoot in June, but I pushed it back to September because we didn't have enough money, the film would have been shit. Don't rush. Give yourself time. You need proper pre-production time also.

12) What can you sell?

Open an amazon, ebay, or half.com account. What can you sell? I just made a few hundred bucks selling old textbooks on half.com because it's the beginning of the semester, and there's a mad dash for books.

But what do you have that's worth money? Digital camera, dv camcorder? poker chips? Sell those bad boys (unless u need the digital cam for location scouting).

So that's pretty much it.

Saving money is like losing weight. You have to burn more calories than you ingest....

You have to save far more money than you spend, and you have to exercise (work) and eat less calories (spend less green). Best of luck!!!

Pre-Production on The Empty Playground

2010-01-27T06:14:00.001-08:00

This post will give you EVERYTHING you will need to know about pre-production for a $5,000 production up to a $70,000 production, because all the shows (films) I've worked on, including mine, have basically dealt with the same things.

**Also a quick note. Friends and family are always asking me. HOW DID YOU SPEND OVER $30,000 ON A 6 MINUTE MOVIE????? WHERE DID ALL THE MONEY GO??? Well I didn't just throw it up in the air, you'll see where it went, and actually how because of our connections we saved about $10,000.

Also, this is why I tell people that are thinking about getting into film, that if they do not love it, run. If you can NOT be a filmmaker, don't. If you're not going to commit fully...cause you're about to see the extent of everything.

PREPRODUCTION:

*In the order of how I tackled everything for my short The Empty Playground starring Marty Lodge of The Wire, Grey's Anatomy, and Boston Legal.

And if anything is unclear, feel free to friend me on facebook and ask personally.

1) Script (write, register)

2) Website/Social Networking

3) Paperwork (LLC,SAG, Insurance, Contracts)

4) Interview/Hire Crew

5) Budget (Pre-production, Production, Post-Production)

6) Casting (character breakdowns, auditions, agents, deal memos)

7) Equipment (Vendors, quotes)

8) Location (Scouting, permission, permits, tech scout)

9) Creative Meetings/Consultation

10) Shot list, colors, visual style

11) Full Production Meeting (updates, protocol, newsletter)

**Also, remember to be nice and to be grateful. A lot of people are going to be doing a lot of things for free and dedicating MAAAAANNNYYY hours to your project. So please be kind and grateful and respectful. Don't get frustrated and take it out on anyone. If you're reading this, you know who you are and I'm really sorry, you were a tremendous asset to my film, THANK YOU so much!!

12) Costumes, Props, Hair and Make-up (colors, $, sizes, tests)

13) Contingency plan (if your shooting outside, what do you do if it rains? Inside? What do you do if they kick you out?)

14) Pre-order food

15) Rehearse (if your lucky enough)

16) Go over emotional beats of the scene, memorize the shot list, keep your sense of humor

17) Go to sleep!! You have a 5 am call time! You need your rest!

1) Script

I have a few mentors or people that I highly respect. Along with Flavio Alves, who is a remarkable filmaker and a wonderful producer, there is Fernando Pinheiro. Fernando wrote, directed, and animated a 2 minute short film, The KID, that was accepted to 151 film festivals in over 47 countries. He also directed Ser Hermano which was accepted into The Short Films Corner at The Cannes Film Festival.

Fernando and I have been working together for some time, which you can consult imdb to prove, and he has taught me a lot, which very much contributes to the final delivery of my script. Fernando's THE KID, was incredibly short, 3 minutes with credits, and completely silent (only a score over the images).

He taught me that so many films are of people talking. So, I adopted his successful formula. Make something incredibly short, with not much dialogue, and something that is not simply an American story, but can play in different countries. I honestly think my story could be told silently, I added dialogue in small spots, but it is a very visual film.

Get Final Draft. You can use microsoft word, or a free program online, but suck it up, get the program, it's what the Coens use, and anything that levels the playing field is good with me.

Also, register the script with the WGA-LA. I didn't personally do this, my wonderful co-producer and script editor Raina Oberlin did this, so I won't speak about it, but get it registered, cause you will be sending that badboy all over, and believe me PEOPLE WILL STEAL YOUR FILM. YES I AM TALKING TO YOU _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _!! It wasn't a script, it was my hard drive but you stole my film, and it was my fault cause I didn't copyright anything, but I learned and it will never happen again. If your reading this, because we still chat from time to time, please put it in the mail.

2) Website/Social Networking

This is a whole nother post. All I'll say is feel free to visit our amazing accounts:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=104590951476&ref=ts
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAb0Pw4duYs
Website: http://www.theemptyplayground.com/
Twitter:http://twitter.com/emptyplayground
Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/8495068

Pump those badboys. It's how you can show you have social worth. People like my facebook/twitter posts and I continue to get random friend requests from the film community daily.

When people are interested in you, they are going to google you. Feel free to google me or my film. We'll come up in the top searches (I'll never be #1, bc PHILIP GIORDANO, no relation, was a mayor turned sexual offender lol, so unless I win an Oscar, I don't see toping that bastards wikipedia page).

Google yourself, if your not happy with the results, do something about it!

3) Paperwork (LLC. SAG, Insurance, Contracts)

Form an LLC. A Limited Liability Company. This is so if someone sews you, they don't take all your shit. And trust me, mf's be sewing people. I worked on a production where the Casting Director completely dropped out, stopped writing emails, answering phone calls, for months right in the heart of casting, and when it came imdb credit time, he threatened to sue the director because of all the work he did before that. Luckily, we had him sign a contract, and he didn't deliver on the majority of the items, but he was VERY serious about sueing.

SAG if you are going to use SAG actors you have to register with SAG. Please use SAG actors. Besides the script, acting is the 2nd most important thing, and having good actors is instrumental in this. SAG also legitimatizes your production. This is where having producers is amazing. They will take care of this for you.

Insurance. I brought in Top Right Corner Productions because they work A LOT. They're stationed in LA and NY, and they know how to reduce costs, as well as secure things. I put them in charge of the insurance, so they handled that.

Contracts- have every single person that attends a production meeting, or steps on that set, sign a contract. There are two standard contracts. A paid crew member/cast and an unpaid crew member/cast. Have them sign it. Also, PPPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEAAAAASSSEEEEE talk about how much you are paying each person directly. Especially if you say this is an unpaid job. You can post it in an ad (craigslist or mandy) but make sure in your interview, that you make it CLEAR. Don't just mention it, make it CLEAR. You do not want someone on set to refuse to sign an unpaid contract because they thought it was a paid gig. It happens.

4) Interview/Hire Crew

Hire the key crew members and then get a production manager or producer to hire everyone else. All you need to do is approve them. If you are a director, you don't need to rifle through emails and sit through coffee after coffee. Get them to do it for you.

5) Budget

It's going to cost a lot. Learn to be flexible for your art. Also learn when people have their own agenda, and be firm. You're spending your money damn it, don't let them walk all over you.

Try to get an accurate budget with some padding bc everything will inflate. A rule of thumb is that everything will cost about 20% more by the time your done.

From Short Story to Super 16mm film (The Making of: The Empty Playground)-Part 2

2010-01-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

I met Flavio Alves (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavio_Alves) while he was interviewing people for his 35mm film The Secret Friend, starring Viola Harris (Choke, Deconstructing Harry) and Siobhan Fallon (Men in Black, Forrest Gump).

Flavio was a brazilian filmmaker whose last short Even in My Dreams had been accepted to over 30 festivals worldwide and had won The Golden Ace for Best Director at The Las Vegas International Film Festival and won best short at The Mexico International Film Festival.

There I was, sitting with coffee in front of me, interviewing for a 1st Assistant Director position on a 35mm $50,000 short. I had never been a 1st AD, only 2nd AD, and that was only once. Flavio told me he had gone through over 600 resume's for crew members and had personally interview 200 people so far (in all crew positions).

I told him that I loved film, and that I would do anything to make it. Now I've woken up at 2:30 am, transfered 4 times from Manhattan to Brooklyn for a 5:00 am call time, so when I say I love working on movie sets, I'm not kidding...I do. He said he liked me but I needed two people to vouch for me, "I need two references from people in the industry" he said. This is why you never burn your tracks and you build friendships "no problem" I responded.

I have a habit of collecting business cards while on set. It's something I do. I got 500 free business cards of my own, so I try to get rid of those bastards as much as I can, and if you give yours, people tend to give theirs (haha, or get really embarrassed they don't have their own).

So, like a little black book I pulled two and got my recommendations. Because, at the end of the day, if you love what you do, people will notice. They will see it in your eyes. That's something people tell me virtually every day. When I start talking about movies, this thing happens, my tone changes, and I get excited, the passion fills up my chest and I grow more ambitious with every word. Even typing this I'm getting excited about my feature film I'm writing.

CREWING PART 2

So, I was 1st Assistant Director (in charge of running the set, making ur day, planning the production schedule, being the main informational hub on set, etc.) for The Secret Friend and we began having lots of meetings.

One thing I will say about the difference between small productions with cheap camera's and just a handful of friends, as opposed to big expensive shoots, is that the big one's always have A LOT of pre-production meetings (pre-production is when you get all the planning done. The paper work, casting, crew members, insurance, etc.). Flavio had the bulk of his meetings the 3 weeks previous to the shoot, but I had about 40 meetings (and a dated notebook to prove it) during the 4 months of pre-production for The Empty Playground (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1567135/).

So before I introduce Adam Mcdaid, who honestly, is a rock star of a man, let me preface this by saying, when I direct I never touch the camera, it's not my style, I like to have a cinematographer put up a frame, and if I like it I approve it, if not we start over...so the cinematographer has to be excellent (or we'll waste time, and as they say, time is $...it really is, especially when ur paying $2,000 a day for the camera package alone), and to my credit I had worked with 4 separate DP's previously (Director of Photography...same thing as a Cinematographer), and 1 who's highly respected (check out his reel: http://www.chad-cooper.com/site/reel.html), but Adam BLEW THEM ALL AWAY.

Alpha male doesn't usually apply to the film world, but this man is just that. He's the center. Everyone is drawn to him when he speaks.

Having just graduated from AFI (best cinematography school in America) and coming off working with Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminsky (as Janusz's camera intern) on Indiana Jones, Adam was full of life and passion and vigor. He liked shooting and he fucking knew he was good. With this man on your side you were getting into fucking festivals.

I'm not really an outgoing person, but when it comes to my art, or my film, I'll play the part. So, when Flavio took a moment to confide in his producer Nick Eisenberg (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3380884/) I started to talking to Adam about the RED ONE. In my camera illiteracy, I learned to ask smart ppl questions about camera capabilities and try like mad to regurgitate or memorize what they said. So having just over heard Bernard Hunt (amaaaaazing DP who actually owns a RED, http://www.bernardjhunt.com/dpreel.html) and others speak on set, I was quite capable.

Still to this day, I say having Adam as my cinematographers is one of the biggest honors I've been graced to have. And it's funny because at this point, we've become good friends. We talk, joke around, chat about movies, the Canon 5d or 7d lol, etc. but initially it was a 2 month project with many steps involved. I call it winning over the Alpha. This method applies to all the big dogs I accumulated on my crew.

Here are the steps I take to make incredibly talented people who have no reason to work with me, be excited:

1) Be passionate, ambitious, and always moving forward. I learned this from Flavio. People like when you are thinking big, optimism scaffolds itself. If you know your film is going to be amazing, and you'll do ANYTHING to achieve that, people believe in you, no matter who they are.

2) Be cool. Make jokes, be fun. My favorite thing to do on set is ask people "so what else are you working on?" Because people in film are aaaaalways doing something else, be it their passion project, editing a wedding, or writing. Going back to being fun...This also means, if someone is important, please laugh at their fucking jokes. Even if they aren't funny. Laugh your ass off if they think they're funny.

haha, ps all of these don't apply to Adam, this is what I've learned over the years.

3) Be willing to pay. We could have shot on digital. We shot on film because it is the best. If you're cheap and it will show on screen, that doesn't inspire people. Let them know you will do whatever you can to make this film amazing, that it's your life, and you'll never budge. They'll respect you.

My script was 3 1/2 pages long (4 minutes runtime, 6 with credits). I spent more money on meetings and coffee than I spent on my first 5 films combined. If your making films for $50, good, I'm happy your practicing, but sooner or later (sooner!!), u have to step up with the big boys and see what you've got.

4) Keep in contact with people you work with. After a shoot wraps, send out an email thanking everyone for being so excellent. Shoot the producer and email saying you'd love to work with them again. Better if you can do this in person. It's best if you could buy them a fucking beer and tell them how much you enjoyed the shoot (but mean it).

5) Be willing to work for free (and let the producer know that).

6) Never think you know everything. There are people out there that have a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience. Ur job is not to try to impress them w/ how much you know, your job is to soak that jazz up, and regurgitate it. To BECOME the person you admire, and keep moving. Collect mentors and learn all you can from them.

When I attend my grad school classes, anytime a professor uses a word that impresses me, I write it in the margin. I make sure to repeat it in conversation.

7) Write a short script, the shorter the script the less you have to shoot, the less days of shooting, the less film that needs to be transfered, edited, scored, color corrected. And don't go crazy on locations. Outside is free (if ur not in LA). And limit the dialogue. Post for sound is a bitch. And film is a visual medium, stop being lazy and show things visually.

8) Go to bed, it's late, you have work in the morning...and if u don't, get a job, stop spending, save up every dime, and when you have about 10K tell a producer. They'll like you more. The PA with a granola bar in his hand suddenly becomes the struggling passionate filmmaker that will do anything to bring his vision to life.

From short story to Super 16mm film (The Making of: The Empty Playground)-Part 1

2010-01-25T11:44:00.000-08:00

Let me start by introducing myself: I'm Phil Giordano from Leeds Street Productions, and if you're reading this I'm honored to have you on my blog. Thank you! You could be reading other things, but you are here, so I will get right into telling you about my film The Empty Playground.

The Empty Playground is a Super 16mm film I directed in early September '09 which stars Marty Lodge of The Wire and Grey's Anatomy (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0517106/). I was lucky enough to have the highly acclaimed Cinematographer Adam Mcdaid shoot my film. Adam was just coming off two 35mm films and a short that won Best Short Film at The Los Angeles Film Festival as well as the National Spanish prize for Best Latin American film(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1485134/).

Some other stellar members of my team include superstar editor Jodi Gibson (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0317031/) who edited two shorts that have won at Sundance, and Robb Williamson who just came off scoring Gamer starring Michael C. Hall, Gerard Butler, and Ludacris (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932133/).

Some of you may know me personally, others maybe be fans of my film from the teaser trailer, btw check it out, it's awesooooooome (http://www.vimeo.com/8495068), or you could just be curious, either way, you might be wondering how I got my cast and crew (and for those who know me as the kid who doesn't comb is hair, had an 82 average in high school, and indulges in women that are horribly destructive for him, this "success" seems pretty much unfathomable).

So, in this blog post I'm going to tell you how I went from directing $200-$600 projects that didn't see the light of day to directing a $30,000 film that has been the greatest thing I've done. At this point, feel free to check me out on imdb if you want, I've worked hard on my credits, and sorry for my vanity, but this is how I prove my credibility (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3419378/).

CREWING

2 summers ago, I finished my 7th short film which I was greatly unsatisfied with. Ever since throwing myself head first into writing and directing a year previous, I had done a lot of my own films, and devoured books on filmmaking (of which I highly suggest Judith Westons' Directing Actors, David Mamet's On Directing [which is more about writing than directing], and Sidney Lumet's Making Movies). But I had not seen many sets besides my own, or my close friends. I decided to start PAing. A PA or Production Assistant is the lowest of the low, and they are the people on set that get coffee, walk the streets in the rain on runs to get cough medicine and tissues, and generally do all the bitch work. So, I went on craigslist (which has since been reduced to people whining about unpaid work- www.mandy.com is much better) and responded to a few ads. One of which was an NYU Undergraduate Senior Thesis film.

There have been a few eye opening experiences in my life, but this was the 1st (in film). First of all, I saw that they used real equipment-stuff I thought only Hollywood productions used. They had an ENTIRE truck (cube truck) dedicated to Grip and Electric equipment. It blew my mind. Also, they had a 20 foot crane. The director was my age (22 at the time) and while I had just directed my biggest film, 8 person crew on the Panasonic Hvx200, they had 2 producers on set, 25 crew members, and all this big time equipment. I thought I had no chance to compete.

UNTIL the director said action.

And I apologize before hand for what I'm about to say, and feel free to criticize me on my facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#/phil.giordano?ref=name) but this blog is about being honest. Ur gunna get the real deal here.

When all the work slowed, and it was time to shoot, I noticed that the director was excellent at talking to the camera guy, but had no idea how to talk to actors.

I remember him result directing the actor telling him "to be scared...no be more scared. Show more emotion!" and I remembered my old mentor Judith Weston saying actors need to be directed actively, with a verb or a task, not passively with an emotion. She would say, you cannot tell someone to be something. If your friends mother dies, you cannot tell him to be happy. But if you give him a task, like "try to cheer up your little sister" then the performance will seem more natural and you will get the result you want. In trying to make his sister happy, he in fact looks happy.

The actor grew frustrated with the unskilled director and I became confident, because even though I knew this NYU student outmatched me with production value (quality of sets and equipment) I had knowledge he didn't. I could talk to actors. Now I needed to get on bigger sets...

I spent the next year crewing on as many things as I could. Getting close to directors, producers. Soaking up their knowledge, set lingo, walkie talky vernacular, rental costs, budgets, learning about permits, etc. Anytime someone was big time, I tried to absorb the film language I had never gotten from reading or working on my own productions.

I was incredibly dedicated. I worked for free and was on set as many weekends as possible for the next year. I was working full time as a social worker during the week and going to Graduate school at nights, and working on film sets on the weekend. At this point, I began saving up for my next project (on set they provide food, and during work I'm notorious for eating those disgusting .88 cent frozen meals). Everything I saw on set was all money in the bank.

Starting as a PA, I climbed up the hierarchy pretty quickly. In the summer of 08 I was a PA on an Undergraduate NYU film, by November I was 2nd AD on an NYU Grad film. That was a pretty big promotion for me, and getting hooked up with Dan Clifton (who I can not say enough AMAZING words about) was another life altering event. Dan Clifton is a producer for Top Right Corner Productions (a company that ultimately co-produced The Empty Playground) and Onset Films. Onset Films is an LA based company that has a 1st-look deal with Gold Circle Pictures (which produced My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Poolhall Junkies...which I love, and The Haunting in Conneticut). So, if you are have a feature film that you think is good enough to make the bigtimes, feel free to contact them at: http://www.onsetfilms.com/

Dan's sets continue to raise the bar time and time again. Dan's directing/producing style can only be described as Michael Bay meets well-Spielberg (but in a pre-cgi world). He has a talent for over the top production value, but great, inspiring content. His 25 minute NYU thesis film, which featured Terrance Howard as the mayor of Conshohocken was an done very inexpensively for it's grand cast, crew, and equipment. It still amazes me. Shot on the RED ONE, using a Steadi-cam, 40 foot jib (crane), and 20K lights, dan only spent $2,000 out of pocket after winning the distinguished Wasserman grant from NYU. Anyway, Dan showed me what was possible. He was the one (without uttering a word of this) that made me realize a small hd camera, 3 person crew, and unrented lights g+e equipment were for wusses. If you want to create a truly badass production, you need teh crew and equipment that can get it done.
(see 2x official selection Sundance director Justin Nowell as an exception...even though he recieved an M.F.A. from NYU previously, so u do the math http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/acting_for_the_camera/).

Without Dan I wouldn't be writing this blog, or be able to state I have any of those crew members like Jodi or Robb. I would be on short #15, that cost $1,500 and only played in my living room and the Staten Island film festival.

Because Dan brought me on to huge sets, and promoted me to 2nd AD, and then Production Manager for two shoots, I was able to get hired as 1st Assistant Director for a $50,000 short. A short where I'd make my remaining connections and launch me into the craziest, most expensive, sleep deprived, invigorating, exhausting, and rewarding 10 months of my life.

This short is where I met Flavio Alves.