I found this podcast about eight things that can kill an indie film worth listening to. Some very basic stuff but always good to be reminded.
1. Big egos
2. Rushing the script
3. Dragging out development
4. Overspending on equipment
5. Neglecting actors for camera
6. Making sound an afterthought
7. Not taking feedback from the team
8. Not caring about the small details
https://noamkroll.com/podcast-8-issues-that-can-kill-an-indie-film-and-h...
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gr8 list - I’d also add “poor preproduction planning”
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Great share, Tucker Teague! "Making sound an afterthought." I've heard industry pros and viewers complain about bad audio. I've also heard that a movie can be excellent, but bad audio can ruin it. Thanks for sharing.
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I would also add poor communication, it's important that everyone on the production understands clearly the vision so they can execute.
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Good List! I feel like it goes for all project large and small. But I get if your budget is small, you may wonder what you can cut. This is good. #1 is awesome! #7, yep, use the experience around you - not so they think they get to be co-director, but to do things the smart way. I'll check out the podcast. Thanks Tucker Teague
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Good list! I like that #s 2 & 3 are in opposition to each other, yet so true. You can make a bad movie from a good script, but you cannot make a good movie from a bad script. However, you don't want to drag it out forever and make "very good" the enemy of perfect. I would also add a few other ideas here, such as not having good marketing materials and an EPK, not having the right deliverables such as M&E tracks, and listing your project's status on imdb as completed or released without having distribution and sales lined up.
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@Tucker Thanks for the share. Been told even by Hollywood directors that “rushing script” is the worst. I’m doing one project to be pitched to Irish investors. I did my own table reads obviously already to clear any what I thought were cheese holes. However it’s been insisted by Ronan O ‘ Leary who offered to help me (one of John Boorman’s line managers) that he listens to more and more intensive sound recordings at later date. It’s a ROM COM where delivery of lines are either funny or they aren’t no matter how perfect a script is on the page OR how it appears visually. Blocking scenes can be experimented on with i phone film which I can arrange.
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@Tucker Another great point. Big egos should not be on set in the first place but a lot of directors are swayed by social media status thinking they’ll ADD to indie film’s popularity. Every single person on the set is a servant to the film, especially me, a big ego will only make a big hole in the bank of the investors.