Joy Lies Within The Low Budget

There is often a void left behind after a production has completed its stages of pre, production, and post.  For me, it's right after we've wrapped that seems to be the hardest.  I spend days and days round the clock preparing for a shoot - running around, planning, strategizing, stressing out, anticipating, problem solving, and thinking fast.  It abruptly comes to a close and I'm left the next day nursing my body aches and wondering, "What the hell am I supposed to do now?"  I long for a back to back barrage of productions so often simply because I manage to work on very enjoyable sets.

This summer was a slow one.  We had a couple of our own productions in the music video realm and some random interview and performance stuff but not enough to keep me moving as fast as I like.  So, I picked up a couple other odd jobs that had nothing to do with producing whatsoever but kept me around the camera. Then those jobs ended and it was back to twiddling the ol' thumbs.

Voids.

Too many days in a row of not being on set began to drive me a little nuts.  I noticed an ad for a PA on a 3 day shoot, in a remote location, staying in a resort, with not one red cent of pay.  "Sounds great!" I said to myself and off I went to work on the last days of a really bad sci-fi/horror feature.  It was fun.  The director had no real understanding of the words 'crew' or 'team' or 'group' so we, the crew, banded together and made it happen.  It was the best 3 days of free work I've done in a while mainly because connections were made and there was a set camaraderie that can only be found on a low budget film.

I busied myself with company stuff after that then dove head first into our latest music video.  As soon as that was done I came up for air and realized I just wanted to get back to swimming the depths of creative production.  Lucky for me a producer/director I work with on and off popped up again.  He put together a crew for a 3 day contest and I was to be his production supervisor.  I was only needed for one day since the writing had to be done in one day, the shoot the next day, and the editing the following day.  We were an eclectic San Diego group of varying age ranges and ethnicities and it was a blast.  The rain had been coming down all week but the skies dried up for our shoot day.  (Something that had awesomely enough happened on the music video shoot as well, come to think of it.)  The clouds offered a natural diffusion for most of the day then spread out to show off billowing patterns against patches of blue.  It was smooth and easy and quick. Yet another fine day of free work for me.  As we said our goodbyes the sound recordist reiterated my satisfaction by saying, "You spend so much time working on large, stressful sets you forget what it's like to enjoy your job.  Then you get a chance to work with a crew of people who make films for fun and you remember how great it can be."  No truer words have ever been spoken.

That was the end of summer.  Since then things have come to a screeching halt.  I've thrown myself into a winter office position teaching me the ins and outs of payroll for both union and non-union commercials.  Super informative.  Incredibly useful.  But oh so dull to be indoors battling paperwork instead of the elements, crew, locations, and budgets.  I love being in control of a shoot.  I love being in charge.  I love being a leader on a production.  But more than anything I love being on a set in any capacity. It's proving difficult for me to sit still and learn more of my trade via a 9-5.  I just keep telling myself it's winter.  It's the holidays. It's relatively slow out there until March again.  And who knows?  I may come to love the payroll aspect of producing.

What I do know for sure, though...my heart lies in the trenches with the struggling indie filmmakers.  Should someone invite me to participate in a low budget shoot, in the dead of winter, on a nearby mountain top, for an 18 hour day, I'd be hard-pressed to say no. - TKS

Welcome & Intro to Ebony Harding

So, welcome to the Sunspot Pictures blog.  I never thought blogging would be something to do for our production company and certainly didn't think adding another task to the infinite list would be prudent but after many networking events and discussions with other more savvy social networkers I figured, ok, it's time.  Essentially, you'll get to know our personalities and skills, triumphs and disasters through here.  We're looking for just as much advice as we may offer and would love to connect with many other bloggers in our industry.  All that aside, I'd like to just say that in regards to blogging, the final nail on the coffin so to speak, came from meeting another screenwriter and industry pro by the name of Ebony Harding. 

We have spent the last year attending about a million networking events of varying levels and purposes.  One in particular we follow is Indie Producer's Schmoozefest.  I believe they happen every month or two.  The last one was at a venue in Beverly Hills, an area I do my best to avoid for many reasons, that turned out to be less of an event than the last two I'd attended.  Why, you may ask?  See, these networking events tend to be filled wall to wall with film folk desperately looking for something to boost their career and rightfully so.  But it's a whole lotta gimme at these things and very little co-op or friending.  People judge each other by appearance and for the most part only talk about themselves.  I'm a conversationalist.  Granted, yes, I'm attending these things to achieve something for myself as well but I never step into a conversation with anybody asking only the question, "What can you do for me?"  I enter into conversation hoping to make a friend first and foremost, have a really good industry related discussion...well, any kind of discussion, actually...and find a way to collaborate, scratch other peoples backs while they scratch mine.  When you hear from any of Hollywood's greats they always bring up their circle of friends during their time of humble beginnings and that circle usually always consists of other successful names.  That's what I'm looking for here with this past year mainly being about introducing people to the Sunspot name and logo, our personalities, and our skills as well as connecting with potential crew members and possible money people.  We've been looking to impress and be impressed.  This particular night, however, felt less friendly and open than the others...not a whole lotta impress going on.

Until Ebony.  We were introduced by a close film connection, Crystal Callahan, who had just met Ebony herself.  Ebony mentioned she was a writer and I instantly wanted to have that discussion with her.  Finding talent in the industry, believe it or not, is almost as hard as finding money to make your film.  I wanted to hear her take on it all but was pulled away for some reason and didn't get the chance.  I told her I'd be back and got caught up in another huddle of people.  Some point later I turned to find Ebony at my side.  Instantly I knew this was a potential collaborator.  She didn't forget me and made it a point to come over to talk when most people would have just went about their business and ignored my interest.  We discussed the art of film, among other interesting topics, and I could have done back flips of excitement.  At last!  A film person willing to converse and share opinions!  And it wasn't just regurgitated trade news.  Ebony was all information and boldness.  She managed to squelch a bit of my networking cynicism that nite and I couldn't have been happier.

Some weeks passed and I found myself at Gower Studios attending New Filmmakers short film screenings.  The first batch of films had sold out so I sat inside drinking wine and chatting with the people behind the scenes of the event.  Very cool people, by the way.  Ebony was there when I walked in and we reconnected.  She gracefully watched the second batch of shorts with me and then we headed home.  That evening we covered all kinds of topics...everything from social issues to politics to film to life in LA...and I again was beyond happy to have a person willing to discuss anything and everything.  It helped tremendously that Ebony was clearly schooled in life and travel and had a great calming energy and intelligence about her.

Just the other day Ebony interviewed me for her blog.  We sat for two hours at a coffeeshop in Hollywood focused on film industry topics but also having the usual stimulating conversation.  I was honored that she'd even want to interview me in the first place so it turned out to be a great experience.   By the time we parted ways Ebony had a few pages of my opinions in her notebook and we had the beginnings of a possible writing group in the works.  (I say possible simply because time moves faster than the Road Runner in this city so I'm sure we'll have to find a way to beat that race to make our group come together).  I set up a blog for Sunspot based on this almost instant sort of trust I had in Ebony's taste.  If she was blogging then maybe we should too.

Now we're up and running and it's refreshing to have somewhere to expose my thoughts.  I look forward to collaborating with Ebony in the future and staying connected through our blogs at the very least.  Finding one gem in the middle of a pile of coal, I really have to say, makes the mining worth the hardship. - TKS

Ebony's blogspots:

http://newwave-film.blogspot.com/
http://thewayoftheartist.blogspot.com/