RESOURCES QUADRANT

Producer
Every film production has a producer. The job of the producer is to organize all of the elements of your film production so that the director can achieve his/her creative vision. This organizing includes providing the necessary equipment, supplies, materials, talent, and all of the support materials in order to get the creative work done. There is no way around it, these things have to be arranged for and somebody has to arrange it.

Usually in the beginning, that person happens to be you. So make no mistake, there is going to be a producer one way or another. Best practice dictates that you try and find somebody else to do this work for you or find somebody to help you do it. A great deal of what happens in the producing world is organizing, telephoning, arranging, and cajoling so the person you select (or you) needs to be organized, motivated, convincing, detail oriented, creative-minded and hard as nails.

The producer is the most important functional role that needs to be filled on a production. Document who is going to fill that role or write your own name there.

Other Key Players
Your short film or video is going to have a lot of people chipping-in to help. The very nature of film is how collaborative it is and how many people it can sometimes take to pull it off. The more people the better. Most of these smaller projects have single people filling multiple roles so it is vital to have a clear & concise list of who is doing what.

Are you borrowing equipment from a film school or local production facility? Is Uncle Charlie providing his farm? Are you counting on your family and friends to help out on the day of your shoot? Be sure you get absolute confirmation from these potential resources so that you don’t find yourself taking your eye off of the creative ball on the day of the shoot because you find yourself solving a technical issue that someone else was supposed to be handling.

Who is providing the equipment?
Who has camera expertise? Sound expertise?
Where are we shooting and who is my contact there?Who’s paying for everything?