It has frequently been said that if you do not have a plan for success, then you have a plan for failure and this is very relevant to the procedure of filmmaking as well. Imagine it; a producer gets a script that he or she likes, then what? Top actors may be booked up for years as can all the top directors and technical staff.

So, while you are trying to find financiers for the film, you have to begin co-ordinating all your key personnel. Let’s say that you want a certain director, a few of the foremost technicians and you have five leading character roles, for which you have preferences. First, you might need to wait for your favourite casting director to have time to help.

You get in touch with the director and he cannot start until the end of January. However, your first preferences for the leading five actors may not all become free for long enough to shoot the film until June,

However, some of them could spare a couple of days here and there before that. Now the leading man and the leading lady want to appoint executive directors to look after their interests.

The script writer and a couple of the top investors also demand to appoint executive directors in order to look after their interests as well. Now you have what amounts to a board of directors with a chairman, every one with slightly different focuses, but all wanting the film to be a success.

Of course, the financiers want to know exactly how much the film will cost and the actors will want to know when their agents may book their next film role.

This means that time and money has to become allocated to each scene. So someone has to price up every scene and allow for weather, illness, breakdowns and delays.

If the producer wants to begin before everybody can be on the set, he could arrange to shoot scenes as and when actors have a free day or two and this means a lot of co-ordination by the continuity staff.

It might also mean hardship with visas if shooting abroad, where permission to film will also have to be acquired. This may mean a license or corruption.

If the film is an epic, they might require thousands of extras and maybe none of them will be able to speak English, so you will need interpreters and the script may have to become translated in part. And that translation has to be proven to be accurate

Customs and local habits have to be followed, so first you have to know what they are and you need to make sure the actors and technicians understand them. If you are shooting some scenes on location and others at home, you have to take the local seasons into account.

Some countries just have a few hours daylight at certain times of the year, whilst other areas vary from 15 hours to five hours. What if you want a monsoon, you have taken your cast to Thailand and hired 500 extras and the monsoon comes four weeks late? Your insurance will have to be very detailed and specific to cover every contingency.

Making a film is a huge task and frighteningly costly, so if you do not plan, you will fail and the more detailed the plan you have, the more control you have and the more chance of success.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on lots of subjects, but is at present concerned with professional studio photographers. If you have an interest in cameras, please go over to our website now at cameras Studio Cameras

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on Photography Tips
• Boiler Parts