Pre-Production-Scene 1

I would have called this post “Part 1”, but with a film called “The Part” throwing “parts” around can be a little redundant and confusing. :-\

Pre-production should always start with a script. Sometimes they start with just an idea and an actor in mind, but the script is the skeleton that the body of the film is built upon.

I wrote this script in December 2007. Throughout my college days I studied screenwriting so I wrote several short scripts. Those scripts were about 20 to 25 minutes long and I wanted something shorter, i.e. cheaper to produce, I could shoot in one day. My other scripts were perfect of course (LOL) and I didn’t see a way to shorten them without losing the story.

I needed a new idea that could be told succinctly. The idea finally hit me and in December, dead of winter, I decided to write a story surrounding a cookout. As long as there wasn’t any snow on the ground we could fake a cookout right? Well maybe on a Hollywood multi-million dollar budget, but not on my film. I wrote it knowing I couldn’t film it until at least the spring.

Now that I had an idea where do I film it? Well that’s where being a writer/director and overall creative genius (LOL) comes into play. I could have staged this reveal (what exactly “the part” is) anywhere, but I know my u&a (uncle & aunt) always gives these big cookouts in their backyard so I wrote that into the script. Since my u&a have always supported my artistic endeavors I kinda knew they would let me film it there, but the question was when. I wanted to film it in June or July, but my u&a, both retired, were understandably busy. It was summer and they aren’t exactly in the “rocking chair” phase. It took me until about March 2008 to even narrow down our August 30th shoot date.

So after the script is done and the location has been booked, it was time to find some actors. I spoke about the casting process in these earlier blogs:
Cast Away
Cast Away 2 or How I Met Ms. Holley
Cast Away 3

It was also time to find my crew. I'm happy to say that I found most of my crew through personal contact. For the past few years I've been going to film/art events all over the area as well as working on cable public access shows. NETWORKING is the key ladies and gentlemen. :) I also found some great people after putting a position posting on the Internet. I’ll speak more about my crew in a future blog.

So I had a crew and most of my cast. Problem was I didn’t have the lead role yet. How did I find my lead role? You have to stay tuned (can you tune into a blog?) to find out.