Advice on how to cope with medical emergencies...

DavidBeier

DavidBeier

Veteran
We were all set to start shooting tomorrow when a lead actress in my film and someone who, despite only having known here a while, would call a friend called me late into the night upon just having heard that her husband had suffered a heart attack (he's stable now thank God but there's much more to come). I quickly told her that we'd cancel the shoot tomorrow and offered any help and support I could give (she's a wonderful woman with a great family).

My question is, what do do now. I've already e-mailed all the crew that we won't be shooting tomorrow and told them it was because a medical emergency was involved but didn't want to give more details out of respect for the family (my producer said to just blame it on him but I think that would make the crew who's already being under-paid revolt). I'm going to keep calling and staying updated on her husband's progress (I'm trying to think of a get-well gift that's not too tacky) but I also need to keep going on the Saturday and Sunday shoots because we've already paid for the location and equipment and can't afford to push it back.

She's not needed on those days (we can push her day back to whenever she is ready) but her son is scheduled to shoot on Saturday (also in this film) and I don't know if he'll be up to it.

I really don't know how to handle the situation. I want to be supportive because I care about these people and I don't want to bother them by constantly asking, "do you think he can shoot tomorrow?" On the other hand, I worry that if I start rushing to replace the son, he may end up feeling hurt or betrayed. I wish I had a solution but the film dies if we can't make this weekend.

These people are smart and they're pros but they're in a hard situation and I just need to know if I can save my film without hurting their feelings. I thought of seeing if I could find a replacement and then let the son know that, if he didn't feel up to it, I'd certainly understand but we had no choice but to push on. Is this awful and tactless? Is there any other way?

Making films is so much easier when money isn't involved.
 
tough situation. all i can tell you is that for HEART OF NOW, from the audition process I had a back-up in mind for every role. and I had to go to the back-up for two supporting roles. i imagine you are losing time and money, right? it sucks, but if I were in your shoes, I would send a polite email this very minute saying you've got to replace them. then do it quickly.
 
I can't imagine any film 'dying' because you have to reschedule. Do you lose some money? Certainly. That can be overcome. In some circumstances you might lose a location. Okay, find another to replace it.

Whatever you do, do NOT even THINK about asking the son to shoot this weekend! They are dealing with something now that makes your film insignificant by comparison. Understand that.

Tell the rest of your people that you're rescheduling because a close family member of someone on your project had a heart attack. If they're human, they'll understand. If they're not human, then for goodness sake get rid of them and find some humans. :)

And you're right not to let the producer take the fall. He/she should never have even suggested it. Lying to your cast and crew, even with the best of intentions, is never going to help. Be as honest as you can without violating anyone's privacy. Give the actress and her son all the space they need. And do whatever you have to do beyond that to save the production -- get more money, find more locations, etc. Don't re-cast the roles unless there is absolutely, positively no other way.

Good luck!
 
If it was a decent size production with a union crew and SAG actors you'd have to pay for everyone's day...and your location expense.

You can't simply just ask people to "understand" - they've turned away other jobs to be on your set. And your location doesn't care if you actually shoot or not - he's also turned away people for the same day.

So in my world, you just blew an entire day, paid. Part of the fun of movies. And as Zak said, in this world you'd have to cut your losses and get a backup so you don't lose more days.

Congratulations! You are now a day late and a dollar short! Welcome to my world!
 
Hi,

I think she has other things to do right now than be in a film. She likely want to be replaced in a hurry.
 
Well, that issue has been resolved. The husband will be fine and the son is excited to shoot. We'll figure out when to shoot the scene we missed today when everything's more stable and we get through this weekend. They're really great people and I'm more relieved than anything that he'll be allright.

Of course, my sound guy called me two hours ago to tell me he'd be bailing since he got a better paying gig (knowing full well how important he was and that I'd dropped $400 on a location for this shoot). So, I guess we'll simply use my mike and boom strait into the camera. *sigh*

I guess I should look at this as an experience where you learn who you can trust and who you can't.
 
The wife and son are operating well within reason. The sound guy is not. I'd do everything possible to avoid ever hiring him again.

I've turned down countless higher paying gigs because I'd previously committed to another, whatever it paid. In many cases that gig paid zero, but the circumstances were otherwise similar on their end (my cancelling would really have hurt them).

As far as I'm concernned it's a simple choice called "being a professional".
 
man, that blows. a lesson i learned a few years ago on our first feature was that during pre-pro... ALWAYS SECURE A BACK-UP.... for everything -- cast, crew, locations, equipment rentals, catering for the day, everything. the back-ups usually cost more, but they will minimize the damaged to your schedule. Heart of Now never once dropped behind schedule and we had our share of lost locations (Malibu was on fire at the time), catering f*ck-ups, actors needing replaced.
 
Ted Spencer said:
The wife and son are operating well within reason.
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Most certainly. I have nothing but respect and grattitude for these two and would have totally understood if they had wanted out of the film altogether. My comment about trust didn't mean them.

The sound guy is not. I'd do everything possible to avoid ever hiring him again.
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Yeah. I trusted too much because he came recommended by several people and seemed very cool until just recently. After weeks of very pleasant talk and discussions, he suddenly called me up Thursday morning and said he absolutely had to be paid in cash at the end of each day. He was actually rather rude about it but I calmly told him I'd see if it was possible. This was a red flag to me but I asked some people and they said he must just be having a bad day or he was worried about all the batteries he needed to buy. I discussed it with my producer and told him that we would do that just for him because of his expenses. Then, the next day, he calls me and drops this bombshell on me (once again having known of the disaster that had just passed and that we'd sunk a fair amount of money into the location).

I've turned down countless higher paying gigs because I'd previously committed to another, whatever it paid. In many cases that gig paid zero, but the circumstances were otherwise similar on their end (my cancelling would really have hurt them).

As far as I'm concernned it's a simple choice called "being a professional".
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I wish I could have worked with you instead. I took this guy because I was told he was a professional and had a fairly good rep. Now I know better.
 
DavidBeier said:
Most certainly. I have nothing but respect and grattitude for these two and would have totally understood if they had wanted out of the film altogether. My comment about trust didn't mean them.
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And I didn't interpret it that way. Your position has seemed more than reasonable throughout this thread.
 
Wow - the way life just sorta throws things back in perspective every once in awhile. Glad to hear its' working out well for the talent.

As for the sound guy - fry his ass. Start by calling the people who recommended him asking for another possible suggestion. This may actually turn up someone you can use, and it lets them know schmucko violated their trust and left you in a lurch. This is a small community - be sure the word spreads far and wide.

Best wishes!
 
You'll always find egos in this business that are only working on your project for money. They are usually burnt out from working set jobs week in and out and will test you / your pocketbook throughout the picture. That's why it's always good to hire people you know or close friends of people that you know.
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
I can't imagine any film 'dying' because you have to reschedule. Do you lose some money? Certainly. That can be overcome. In some circumstances you might lose a location. Okay, find another to replace it.

Whatever you do, do NOT even THINK about asking the son to shoot this weekend! They are dealing with something now that makes your film insignificant by comparison. Understand that.

Tell the rest of your people that you're rescheduling because a close family member of someone on your project had a heart attack. If they're human, they'll understand. If they're not human, then for goodness sake get rid of them and find some humans. :)

And you're right not to let the producer take the fall. He/she should never have even suggested it. Lying to your cast and crew, even with the best of intentions, is never going to help. Be as honest as you can without violating anyone's privacy. Give the actress and her son all the space they need. And do whatever you have to do beyond that to save the production -- get more money, find more locations, etc. Don't re-cast the roles unless there is absolutely, positively no other way.

Good luck!
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I wouldn't agree with that at all, but then again I'm a heartless bastard. This is business, and I don't care about anyone's personal life when it comes to my business, myself included. Someone had a heart attack, oh well, too bad, if they can't work because of the situation you replace them and go on. That doesn't mean you can't be nice about it and say how sorry you feel and how it's a bad situation, you hope he gets better, etc. But the show must go on. It's just stupid to suggest anything otherwise. Business is business.

I also disagree that someone having a heart attack is way more important than a film shoot. Nobody having a heart attack is more important than one of my film shoots, unless it's someone related to me, like my dad. If it's some actor's roommate's nephew's friend's best friend's cousin in law's favorite gaming partner's swimming mate's uncle, honestly, who cares? That has nothing to do with me or my show, except that it's an inconvenience to me.
 
JonathanLB said:
I wouldn't agree with that at all, but then again I'm a heartless bastard. This is business, and I don't care about anyone's personal life when it comes to my business, myself included. Someone had a heart attack, oh well, too bad, if they can't work because of the situation you replace them and go on. That doesn't mean you can't be nice about it and say how sorry you feel and how it's a bad situation, you hope he gets better, etc. But the show must go on. It's just stupid to suggest anything otherwise. Business is business.

I also disagree that someone having a heart attack is way more important than a film shoot. Nobody having a heart attack is more important than one of my film shoots, unless it's someone related to me, like my dad. If it's some actor's roommate's nephew's friend's best friend's cousin in law's favorite gaming partner's swimming mate's uncle, honestly, who cares? That has nothing to do with me or my show, except that it's an inconvenience to me.
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Jonathan, I hope you're not serious in your statements. Yes your film shoot (as well as mine) is important but to say nothing is more important than YOUR film means you are a big a*s to work for. In my feature we had to replace an actress due to her father passing, we did so (it was difficult and threw a huge wrench into production, but films are about human life and if you don't value human life then why bother telling stories about it). And by being 'nice' and saying 'how sorry you are' (sorry for who?) I would think that by your statements that you would come across insincere because obviously you don't care about them or their situation since it's only an 'inconvenience to you'.

Business is business but how do you expect someone to care about your film if you don't even CARE yourself.

Just my 2 cents.

Todd
 
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egyptianboxer104 said:
I think you both would take the same exact course of action if placed in this situation. The difference is the philosophy.
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I was in a similar situation. Our actress (granted she wasn't a lead) was setback in India due to her father's passing and we had scheduled a shoot just for her two scenes (SAG feature). It was stressful but the rest of the cast understood and the crew also understood and we rescheduled. Even our lead actress made time in her extremely busy schedule to give us two more days. Much of this was due to the fact that most everyone on board liked our project so it was no longer just a 'job'.

As filmmakers we run across a plethora of situations that can setback our projects (ie, actors/actresses, locations, weather... you all now what I'm talking about), but I just believe that in this business respect shouldn't be demanded or deserved, but earned. And wouldn't you [Director/Producer] want the same back. I know this is slightly OT, but again, it is all about the difference in our philosophy.

Jonathan, no hard feelings (you did say yourself you were a heartless bastard).

Todd
 
Yeah I'm pretty much of a heartless bastard, I have to be honest, if something like that happened to someone on my cast / crew I'd feel sorry for them, sure, because anyone can understand that's a horrible situation. But I would also feel sorry for myself that such bad luck has to befall me on my project. Then I'd replace them. Nobody in this industry is irreplaceable, myself included, even on a project I'm directing or producing, I can be replaced if the powers that be want me to be. It's just the harsh reality of a harsh business.
 
We had a medical emergency on my latest shoot... I was eating a hash brown during breakfast and one of my teeth fell apart. split down the middle and half of it fell out.

Luckily the lead actor is a retired dentist...
 
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