Producing

Shane is such a talented filmmaker who has done it all on his productions. What a great opportunity to learn from someone with this enormous experience. Thanks, Ashley Renee Smith!

Love Shane! Took his class and he was full of great info. So helpful to everyone.

Agreed, Sam Sokolow! And he's providing such great and in-depth answers to everyone's questions today. It's awesome!

I've heard the same thing a few times, Fran Harris. Producers, distributors, and companies are looking for series. It has me thinking about writing and pitching a series. I've been wanting to anyway.

For years, I only wrote features. Television always felt so beyond reach. At one point, I looked at some of my more ambitious features and thought "I could really explore the themes in these scripts, in far greater detail, in a series." I ended up adapted a few of my features into pilots, and then wrote a few original pilots. A couple of the pilots got some recognition in competitions, but I still have no idea what to do with them. Some of the members in my writing group seem to be attracting far more attention to their pilots than I am. They deserve it, no doubt about that.

From a producing standpoint, I've never tried to produce a series. I shot a pilot episode of what was going to be a webseries, but then realized it wasn't going anywhere and left the film as a solo short. I guess I did shoot a second episode, but I never did anything with it. I know some webseries have been picked up for adaptation to television, but a minute percentage.

Especially with the streamers adopting these ad tiers, they can finally realize some of the value off streaming hours for once via ad revenue. But we all know it's just going to make the audience viewing experience worse and pretty much exactly like cable TV once again within a couple years. We radically innovated for the better only to end up right back where we started. And do the creatives of these series get any of this precious ad rev? Likely not, right?

that’s a HOT take Pat Alexander !!!!

Congrats James Hoey! It's always so thrilling to commit to doing it and then just doing it! My pivot was the opposite of yours, funnily enough. I have been a producer since the beginning of my career, but a few years back I gathered the nerve (as well as a little bit of money and some great collaborators) to go out and direct a short film that I had also written. I've done it a couple more times since, it's quite a rush! : ) Good for you for exploring new territory!

Hope the short gets funded, James Hoey! Looking forward to checking it out!

I started out doing improv comedy, moved on to writing sketch, and then screenplays. At one point, I wondered if I could direct, and thought I'd see if I was up to it. My first comedic short film "Pillow Fight", turned out well, proving to myself that I could direct. That led to six more short films. I haven't produced or directed in a long time, but I keep on writing, and I've developed a couple of feature projects thoroughly.

Awesome, James Hoey!! Taking control and becoming producers is awesome. It's a learned skill, like so many others, but a great skillset to utilize in support of your art. I always wanted to write, direct and even act but I realized at a young age that I was a producer to the core and any experience in the other creative fields were meant to inform my producing. I love that you and your writing crew are making it happen as producers now. Bravo. Wishing you huge success with the film!

Do your thing! It's a grind and will challenge you in so many confusing and splendid ways but it's worth it to realize your vision and make something happen for yourself!

Thank you Stage32! Love it.

Most excellent

Thank you. Ashley Renee Smith - I cannot get and read the AMERICAN FICTION and PAST LIVES screenplays fast enough!

American Fiction was so so good. Very well realized story

wait until a legit filmmaker like Del Toro plays with this software. Amazing stuff

interesting development, we'll have to keep our eyes out on that

As a script writer, I have always wanted the power to create and see my own stories. Well, I guess that time is here now!

What a mess.

Im shocked more ppl havent been seriously hurt or killed. Shit production management starts at the top and filters down. Never up.

Hello:

"...first assistant director Dave Halls":

"...armorer and props assistant" (Gutierrez-Reed):

"...she loaded with what she has said she thought were dummy rounds.".

“I told him I needed a weapons check, and he said, ‘We don’t have time,’ ” Gutierrez-Reed said of Halls, according to testimony she gave to New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHSB) in December of 2022.

"On Oct. 14, Rust line producer Gabrielle Pickle emailed Gutierrez-Reed to chastise her for spending too much time on the movie’s guns. “It has been brought to my attention that you are focusing far more on Armor and not supporting props as needed,” Pickle wrote. In the same email, Pickle said that the “Production and AD team have seen twice that there was a shotgun left unattended after a scene.” Gutierrez-Reed replied that the armorer job was “a very serious job and since we’ve started I’ve had a lot of days where my job should only be to focus on the guns and everyone’s safety. There are working guns on set every day, and those are ultimately going to be a priority because when they are not, that’s when dangerous mistakes can happen.".

This would intertwine within Dan MaxXx's insights and perspective - if the quoted text remains honest.

Corruption surrounds the guilty and various can decay the truth to cover their own behinds.

Gratitude into your roads.

God Bless,

John German

Richard "RB" Botto "That morning, most of the camera crew had walked off in a protest of their working conditions, and the remaining crew were scrambling. “I told him I needed a weapons check, and he said, ‘We don’t have time,’ ” Gutierrez-Reed said of Halls, according to testimony she gave to New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHSB) in December of 2022." There's always time for safety. If that's true, Dave Halls should be responsible for Halyna Hutchins' death.

The article also says, "Before Gutierrez-Reed was hired, producers eliminated the armorer crewmember position and combined the armorer supervisor job with prop assistant, taking what had initially been budgeted as two jobs managing the weapons on the gun-heavy film and compressing it into half a job" and "After the session, Gutierrez-Reed said she requested the producers grant her more training time, “Particularly with Alec, just because his role is so gun-heavy, and I wanted to make sure he was familiar with his weapon,” Gutierrez-Reed testified. “I told them that he needed more time to practice his cross draw because I didn’t want him to have complications with it on filming day.” (She didn’t get the time.)" If that's true, the producers should also be responsible for Halyna's death.

If Hannah was using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during production, and if she was the source of the live ammo, she should also be responsible for Halyna's death.

This might already be done, but I think guns should be checked a number of times before arriving on set and checked a number of times before the scene starts. I also think only prop guns and prop ammo should be allowed on set.

The article says, "'With five guns on the set, Hannah should have had at least one assistant'." I think an armorer should have an assistant(s)

My preliminary analysis remains unchanged: it was a production shit-show. Financier driven producers with too little attention to onset concerns, safety, production. Responsibility lies with the producers, who seem to have ducked scrutiny, were seemingly absent, inexperienced, unqualified, and hired unqualified and/or irresponsible crew for this type of film shoot, imho.

One wonders though if the latest "wonder" of AI will be like the swells of enthusiasm for 3D that happen every couple of decades and then die down again. Also, how will the public's growing distrust of media's "truthiness" begin to sour people and drive them towards more authenticity. One can imagine more people turning to live theatre to have a guaranteed real experience... unless they're holograms or realistic cyborgs (insert winking emoji here).

And here's to IATSE and the Teamsters getting a solid good deal for themselves. Maurice, I too have heard WGA and SAG members expressing their reciprocal support.

Let's hope not, and that the studios come to the table to negotiate seriously to avoid another disruption. Or that it happens quickly before all the major work restarts (it's been a very slow return...)

The die has been cast.

Jack Binder, I've heard from many execs that the wait and see approach to all this is partially responsible. Although I will say, requests for screenplays on this platform for the first 2 months of the year are up well over 50% over November/Dec. Reads are happening in anticipation of things opening up in Q's 2-4.

Let's hope it gets settled quickly and peacefully.

You're welcome, Ashley Renee Smith. I've been friends with Vital for a while. He's a great guy, and he always has useful advice and insight to share.

Great stuff here, thanks for sharing

You're welcome, Nick Waters.

I love how they just got this done. Shows what's possible when a group of people share a vision and believe with today's resources at their finger tips. Really cool share and read. Thanks, Maurice!

You're welcome, Sam Sokolow.

Congratulations to you and your team on the accolades and reshows, William Sowles! What was the most challenging part of co-producing?