Red Ruination Blue - a production blog

Jeff Anderson said:
Just to add to the list of those shooting digital ER is shooting the last 7 episodes on RED. I'm glad to see more acceptance of digital workflows in the mainstream, but like Adam said it isnt any easier or cheaper necessarily. Glad to see you're going with you know what works - removes alot of the what-ifs and potential surprises of a new workflow.

I'm curious to hear more about potential casting though when you can talk about it. Perhaps I missed it but are you going to try and cast Sizemore again for this? I think you mentioned you wanted him for Hanger 51 but couldnt remember on RRB. Good luck on this Adam, look forward to hearing more.
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Hey Jeff!

I'm a little ways from casting right now. To recap, I need to lock this story down and then we can determine our budget.

Actually it's more complicated than that. I've completed the story as far as I will take it for now, and sent it off to my "script reviewer people" to give me feedback. Currently, my 1st AD and DP have the script and are formulating a budget and schedule from it.

Once the script has been tweaked by the feedback I get, I will give it to the other department heads, visual effects, production design, etc. Because by the time they get it the story won't change much.

This should all be done within the next week-ish time frame.

We will then pull together the budget which will tell us how much we can spend on the movie, and also the schedule, which will tell us how many days we need each actor for.

Budget and schedule then form the basis for getting people attached....you basically call up and need Mr. X for 5 days and you'll pay Y amount of dollars.

Without this detailed info, you're pissing in the wind. Once I have the budget and schedule I work the attachments hard.....

That's also the time that presales can be initiated, since presales is all about cast.

So, very soon, Jeff.

Oh yeah, Sizemore will be in it. He'll kill me if I don't call him. I'll actually see him this Friday. Yeah, so he's attached but frankly in this league of film, his name is somewhat diminished.
 
Hey Adam a quick question.

When you say that you need a schedule before calling actors, does that mean exact shooting dates? I mean are you actually planning your production period at this point, or are you just plotting out the number of days?
 
gi-jones said:
Hey Adam a quick question.

When you say that you need a schedule before calling actors, does that mean exact shooting dates? I mean are you actually planning your production period at this point, or are you just plotting out the number of days?
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Interesting question.
When he did Corrado he had to play tough telling dates to be more credible.
Now that he has some credibility, he is working a plan to see how much money he needs and can get. Then he will approach the actors probably without sure dates cos their agents might not ask "who the hell are you?", this time :)
 
CiPO said:
Interesting question.
When he did Corrado he had to play tough telling dates to be more credible.
Now that he has some credibility, he is working a plan to see how much money he needs and can get. Then he will approach the actors probably without sure dates cos their agents might not ask "who the hell are you?", this time :)
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Yeah basically, Although I'm going to have to invent somewhat of a date for starting the movie, so people can effectively respond.

What do I mean by this:

Basically call the agent and say I need his guy for ten days, mid june.

That's close enough to start the dialog ball rolling in most cases. Even agents know the dates are subject to change.
 
Steven2885 said:
Filmman, I agree with you.

Film forces discipline on the filmmaker. Look at Hitchcock or the Coen Brothers. Lots of pre-planning and very little waste.

I'm putting together a budget for a feature. What are the equipment costs for shooting academy aperture 35mm anamorphic? Do you have to rent the camera and lenses from Panavision?
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Here are some numbers for you to start with to get a ball park.
A 90 minute film finished will be roughly 8100' at 4 perf.
You are probably going to shoot at least a 10 to 1 ratio if you are diciplined about it.
New stock costs about $.61 per foot.
Short ends are cheaper, $.15-$.25 per foot depending on the length of the end. You will probably want to stay closer to 400' medium ends to allow for longer takes and fewer camera reloads.
Processing costs roughly $.10-.12 per foot, printing another $.22ish per foot. This depends on the lab and the deal you cut. You can avoid printing if you do an HD telecine if you want to edit digitally and do a DI.
HD telecine runs about $350-500 per hour and they can transfer roughly 2000' per hour.
35mm cameras can run from $450 per day to $1200 plus lens sets for an extra $300-500 per day. Standard is a 3 day week. It Depends on who you rent from.

Using a 2 or 3 perf camera is a huge cost savings, as you can see from these numbers. More frames per foot means longer takes, less raw stock to buy, process, and transfer.

Good luck, hope some of this info gets you started.

You can find labs and camera rental companies on the la411.com web site. They will have links and phone numbers for most of what you need. Call them and talk to their sales people. With all of the migration to digital, they are very friendly, helpful, and willing to help you cut a deal. They want people to shoot film and most labs and equipment houses have indie film sales guys just to deal with our kinds of budget issues.

Cheers!

Chris
 
I just got my first schedule back - 30 day shoot, six day weeks. SCHHHHHWEEET. Glad I'm all caught up on my sleep - damn!
 
Scheduling a film is really what determines the budget. Days equals dollars. You have a constant fight between scheduling talent in contiguous chunks as well as fighting locations.

I just got the first schedule back and it looks like it was written for practical locations, which I want to avoid. It's going to be sets andbacklots for us; I simply can't have too many practical locations due to the level of talent I'm going to have.

1st ADs will typically do scheduling, and they're always a bit optimistic. Just so you can get an idea of the process, I've posted my notes below:


Notes for Day out of Days:
Most important actors are:
1. Shem
2. Dad
3. Stanton
4. Wilfred
5. Ray
6. Beth
7. Burke

As much as possible, make their days all one stretch. If you have to
choose, make Dad all one piece then Stanton and Wilfred. Shem is there
almost every day anyways. Dad is going to a big name. I want to be
able to offer continuous days or very close to it.


Notes for Schedule:
You have scheduled for practical locations. I want to try and shoot
some of these on backlots, especially street exteriors,so they will
not match with their interior counterparts. We won't use a house,
shoot inside, then go outside. Think more sets and backlots.

Here are the notes.
1. Group all exterior nights together on the same street (Day 4 Scene
24, example can go with Day 14, scene 20, and Day 18 Scene 40)
2. Day 3 is too big of a day. The shootout with dad will take a while
3. Day 8 is too big. Break up bank and drug store. Scene 10 is a big,
huge scene with like 100 people in it, even if it is only 1/8th page.
Same with Scene 12.
4. Day 9 - backlot street scene
5. The ext and int of the cabins can probably be the same location.
6. Add more days if you need to, one or two is okay. I want the
longest day not to exceed 4 pages with the exception of the one scene
where Wong is killed in the ordinance locker. We can knock that out in
a day.

Grazie,

Adamo
 
Sounds it will be a hell of a job :) Glad you are moving ahead anyway. Hope the actors/agents would consider the tough times when they will ask for their money. Maybe this crysis will drive down the prices ;)
Keep going ADAM
CIAO
 
Wow, third blog! Nice! I allmost missed it, from now this thread are in my bookmarks. I enjoyed reading the Corrado making-baking. Many people (including me) consider these blogs inspiring. I wonder, how many people started their own features after reading Corrado?

taormina said:
I must make this film.
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For a while I was thinking where I heard those words. Now I remember, it was some guy which was making a sci-fi feature. And he did it!
http://www.imustmakethisfilm.com/?q=node/522

Good luck, Adamo!
 
ZetKey said:
Wow, third blog! Nice! I allmost missed it, from now this thread are in my bookmarks. I enjoyed reading the Corrado making-baking. Many people (including me) consider these blogs inspiring. I wonder, how many people started their own features after reading Corrado?


For a while I was thinking where I heard those words. Now I remember, it was some guy which was making a sci-fi feature. And he did it!
http://www.imustmakethisfilm.com/?q=node/522

Good luck, Adamo!
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Thanks so much!
 
I wish I could talk about what's going on with the film......

It looks like I may be able to cast the main roles without ever picking up a phone. One by one I am talking to these people (A and B listers) through contacts I already know. Haven'tspoken to an agent yet......

Stay tuned for more.
 
I don't think it's been asked, but any chance of Messner poppin up in this one? Can't wait to see 'em in Corrado. He was bad ass in Running Scared and the bit parts he had on the OC.
 
drunknbear said:
I don't think it's been asked, but any chance of Messner poppin up in this one? Can't wait to see 'em in Corrado. He was bad ass in Running Scared and the bit parts he had on the OC.
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Messner's in it. I wrote a role in it early on for him. Not nearly as big of a role as he played in Corrado, but a good role.

He was so generous to the production of Corrado (as was Tom) that they will both have roles in this film, albeit smaller ones.

Plus Messner's a personal friend now and I don't see him ever NOT being in a movie I make in some capacity or another....
 
The guy who played the waiter in Corrado should also be in it. Big up coming talent, I'm telling you.
 
Adriano is good buddies with a friend of mine (RL) who produces movies. Rick gave him a part in HOW TO ROB A BANK. We have talked about this before, you know who I hang with when I'm out in LA. :)
 
ChipG said:
Adriano is good buddies with a friend of mine (RL) who produces movies. Rick gave him a part in HOW TO ROB A BANK. We have talked about this before, you know who I hang with when I'm out in LA. :)
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Yeah, I forgot. It's all coming back now....
 
I'll bet Adriano is a house hold name in 5 years. I personally don't know him, never met him but he hangs with some friends.
 
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