Producing : What are the must have crew talents that you need to make an independent film. by Steven Harris Anzelowitz

Sound, sound and sound.

There are many things you can fix in post...Sound is not one of them. At least not to perfection and without major cost.

lawyer up from start-up and hire/find an experienced Producer/Unit Prod Manager. Break down the script & do a realistic budget. figure out how much $$$ u need to complete development to production. Hiring DP, Prod Designer, Sound, Crew- they can wait. (unless you got $$ and the Crew are union people in demand).

You may want to hire an AD. You want someone to run the set so you can focus on directing. And I would probably hire a script supervisor. It's surprisingly easy to eff up continuity while shooting takes and coverage.

Hire some actors too, I've heard they can be very useful....

I second everything @RB said and also Jacob. You need an AD to keep everything running. Your First AD is the keeper of the clock and will make sure things are running smoothly and, more importantly, safely.

As a producer, cinematographer, and production sound mixer key talent outside of writer and director in order of importance is usually the lead actors, production sound mixer (unless you have no dialogue), DP, and script supervisor. That typically covers 80% of the key talent.

If you're both Writer and Director and this is your first feature here are the bare bones crew I suggest: A Producer... even if it's your spouse or best friend or somebody who was a PA two weeks ago on another film. Of course an experienced producer is best, but what you really need at the ultra low budget level is someone to handle the day to day check writing, cast managing, location fixing, and disaster handling so you can focus on directing and working on the set. On ultra low budget pics, the producer orders the pizzas for lunch, makes sure there's water for the crew, writes checks all day long, handles barking dogs and holds the hose to make the rainstorm outside the window when nobody else will. Casting director... Good actors are essential, but finding them can be tough. Paying a little fee upfront for someone who has access to them in your area is worth the expense. Every town or region has a talent agency of some kind. Hire the local talent agency. Sure you'll probably have to cast some of their roster, but they probably have most of the better actors in the area already on that roster. And you can weed out the flakes easier with a third party vetting them. Director of Photography... You'll probably wind up hiring someone who has their own equipment package. Good. They should know their equipment. But don't accept bad lighting or bad composition. Know how to use their equipment as well as they do so you can get what you need. Sound Mixer.... Even if you throw a Zoom H6 on your brother in law and say "hold the mike over his head and push the red button." You must record good (or at least decent sound). Camera microphones sound terrible and pick up more ambience than dialogue. Editor... unless you have a pretty good understanding of editing software hire an editor. If you can, have them start assembling a rough cut as you shoot so they can tell you if anything is missing before you wrap. Post Production Supervisor... You can fake the artsy things like directing and writing. You can't fake the technical end of deliverables and QC. Talk to a real Post Supervisor before you shoot and make sure your camera settings are acceptable and everybody agrees from day one on what frame rate, aspect and format you're working in (and if you don't know what terms like Non Drop frame rate, 24P and 4K are, you need a post supervisor even more than you realize). Sound Editor... Worth it. Right up there with a good sound mixer. Composer... even if all you can afford is a theme and some incidental music, get a composer who can give you some original music. Anyone else is a bonus, but in my book, those are the must haves. Good luck!