5 top tips for shooting an independent film

Arnold Maude, Associate Producer on Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World, shares his light-hearted tips to ensure you keep your sanity and things run smoothly when shooting an independent production:

1.       Cleanliness is next to Godliness: Have enough clean clothes for the duration of the shoot. You may think you can recycle but depending on the conditions of the shoot this could be an unpopular choice with the rest of the crew!

2.       Location, location, location: When scouting for locations consider transport and parking. If you’re filming in the capital Film London can help but if you’re going off the beaten track you may find yourself stuck feeding meters.

3.       Hello? Is anyone home? You don’t want to turn up on the first day of filming and find yourself unable to access your location – especially not with crew waiting and your actors due to appear. Make sure you not only have the phone number of the key-holder but also his flatmate’s number and that of a handy neighbour. Just in case. Is this paranoia or experience?

4.       You’ve got mail: As you begin preproduction you will receive an ever-increasing deluge of emails which will pile up like a tanker load of poured concrete. Start organising your email folders now when it’s quiet because when things get going it’ll be like feeding a troop of monkeys all screaming for your attention.

5.       Friends with benefits: Don’t cast your friends, at least not in a main role (unless you’re friends with Hugh Grant or similar in which case my advice to them is not to act in your film). This is about credibility, casting your mate is a good way to lose any you may have. Casting actors who may not necessarily be famous but of whom the industry is aware makes you a more credible proposition.

Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World is screening at select cinemas across the country from Monday 18^th Feb – Thursday 21^st Feb, the independent production by Fruitcake Films is unlike most artistic representations of mental illness.  www.olliekepler.com

And because we are feeling generous….5 (more) top tips for shooting an independent film

There are a range of legal barriers and production problems you might encounter when working on an independent film project. Arnold Maude, Associate Producer on Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World, shares his top five tips to avoid the most costly errors:

1.       Digital Production: Learn as much as you can about the technical side of production. As digital production becomes ever more dominant if you don’t know the lay of the land you are going to get lost in the binary jungle. Get a guide if you can. You don’t need to remember the specifics but an understanding of the issues and processes involved will be invaluable.

2.       Credibility: Credibility is one of the most useful things to have when putting together a film. If you can afford it, one of the easiest ways of establishing credibility is to join the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT). PACT membership signals you are guaranteeing a level of professionalism as you must meet certain minimum production standard. Membership will establish your production as a serious one.

3.       Soundtrack: If you have heard a song on the radio you can’t afford it – even if the band says you can use the song, they won’t own the rights. You need two sets of rights – the Synch rights and the Master Use license. This is where unsigned bands shine. They can be very generous and are often just happy that you want to use their music. Pay them something; even if it’s only a token.

4.       Cameras: I’ve seen people agonise over what camera they should use before they had even written the script! There’s not much point in trying to figure this out in advance of preproduction as you will eventually discuss it with your Director of Photography. Technology moves on at such a pace it’s pretty nigh impossible to predict what the situation will be in a years time. By the time you get into preproduction an entire new generation of digital equipment could be available.

5.       Script Clearance: If you want to sell your film in the US you will need to have the script cleared by a specialist agency and then have a lawyer look over the report. The US is an incredibly litigious nation and if, for example, you accidentally use the name of an existing business then you open yourself up to a possible lawsuit. For protection against legal action you’ll need script clearance in order to obtain Errors and Omissions insurance.