MOVIEMAKER.COM SPRING 2020 39
DIRECTOR GRAHAM SWON AND ACTOR
ALEXA SHAE NIZIAK ON THE SET OF
THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS.unavoidable costs. Don’t give up control over
the finances, because you’ll find yourself
bleeding valuable capital—I’ve had P.A.s buy
packs of bottled water for $8.99 at a bodega
when they could have been bought for $3.99
at a supermarket. That may seem like a silly
thing to worry about, but if you don’t keep
track of the small expenditures, you’ll end up
empty when you really need the extra dough
for a day of re-shoots or an extra hour of color
grading. Every dollar you don’t spend on this
production can be spent on the next one, and
if you go too deep into debt, this is probably
your last production.9
A BALANCER
The cinematographer almost definitely
doesn’t need all the gear they are request-
ing, but if you don’t put your foot down
about it they’ll take as much as they can
get. If you cannot afford $800 to buy a pot-
ted tree for one shot, you have to be very
explicit with your production designer on
this issue. No (sane) person particularly
likes keeping track of money, and you’ll be
amazed how quickly others “forget” how
much they have budgeted to spend. That
being said, you’ll have to find balance. Don’t
penny-pinch where it matters. If your cine-
matographer tells you he or she really, truly,
desperately needs a second A.C. for one
day—believe it. If the production designer
is telling you that this lamp is going to beworth $50—believe it. If you don’t have the
money and your team can make a good case,
it’s your job to re-arrange the budget and
schedule to make what they need possible.
Trust begets trust: If the crew can tell you
are paying attention, they are much more
likely to ask for what they need, not just
what would be nice. A side note: Never, ever,
ever cheap out on sound. The streets are lit-
tered with the corpses of well-meaning films
with terrible audio.10
AN AUTODIDACT
Any chance you have to disconnect
yourself from the corporate-industrial machin-
ery of cinema, take it. The system that exists is
inherently going to be working against you—
the rental houses, the post-production labs,
the publicists, the distributors, and all the rest.
These institutions largely exist to make mon-
ey, but as you’ll recall, you aren’t going to be
making money. How can you protect yourself
from them? Learn how to do absolutely every-
thing, at absolutely every stage. The resources
to educate yourself on all technical matters of
filmmaking are easily accessible (I recom-
mend falling asleep to audio commentaries).
You don’t have to be good at everything, but
if you understand each individual element of
the process, you’ll be able to understand how
to do it cheaper, you’ll be able to ask the right
questions, and you’ll prevent yourself from
being eaten alive.11
A BEGGAR
It is, in fact, almost always much
easier to ask for permission than forgiveness,
and simply asking for assistance from others
will open up resources you can’t imagine. It’s
remarkable how open people are once they
are asked for something. By simply asking
politely, I’ve managed to get free locations,
free equipment, free studio space, free music,
free labor, free permits, and free legal counsel.
Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t pay when
payment is due. But you’ll be amazed what
you can obtain if you just get past your anxi-
ety and pride and ask for what you need. No
matter how isolated and individualist you feel
at times, never forget that you are working in
a collaborative art form, and every bit of help
you can get will make the final work stronger.12
A PARTNER
If someone asks you to produce a fea-
ture, realize that this is a request of similar
weight to moving in with a romantic partner.
If you don’t feel like you could comfortably
share all your emails and sleep in the same
bed every night for the next few years, save
yourself the heartache. If you don’t love
someone, I promise you, you won’t want to
make a film with them. MM