RichardCurrie
New member
Hi all,
I've worked in the film industry for almost twenty years, but back in 2023 I had quit possibly the worst experience of my life when I was the 1st AD on a low budget movie in Scotland. below is a summary of my experience.
For people who have never worked in the movie industry before, film production must seem like the easiest occupation in the world: you take an expensive camera, point it towards an overpaid thespian, wait for a cigar-smoking director to scream action, and then sit back and start penning your Oscar acceptance speech.
It’s the proverbial piece of cake… Right?
Well, you couldn’t be more wrong!
Director Sam Fuller once famously said, “Film is a battleground.”
This is quite possibly the most accurate statement ever made about the movie industry. Film production is a brutal process, and it involves working long hours and pushing your body to its physical limits. If you’re weak-willed, lack talent, or devoid of common sense, then she’ll eat you up and spit your remains out for the vultures. Basically, if you want a career that doesn’t involve persistent stress and sleepless nights, then don’t become a bloody filmmaker!
During pre-production, you must expect the unexpected and put contingency measures in place should the worst-case scenario ever happen. But sometimes, you’ll be faced with events that simply could not be anticipated, and when things go wrong during a production, you’ll wish you were somewhere else.
There are several film shoots which have been labelled the worst in cinematic history—The Abyss, Waterworld, Alien 3, and The Island of Dr. Moreau. These productions were so hectic, so insane, and so problematic, that the director nearly quit making movies forever, and the crew was left severely traumatised.
But now, there’s one more film that can be added to that list: an action/sci-fi movie entitled Synthetic Prey. This production was so chaotic that its completion was a genuine miracle, and unfortunately, I was the 1st AD on this project.
On paper, this shoot appeared perfectly innocuous: the budget was $250,000, there was twenty people on the crew, three main actors, and we would be filming for eighteen days inside a secluded forest environment. It should have been easier than stealing a kebab from a drunk student… What could possibly go wrong?
Well, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and what followed was one of the most tumultuous low-budget film productions in cinema history!
The moment our shoot commenced, it felt like we had been cursed by a witch. The lead actress was a prima donna, people were habitually late to set, our special effects and makeup department underdelivered, a member of the crew was fired for insubordination, and our stunt choreographer had questionable methods. And if that wasn’t bad enough, our shoot was hit with the worst rainstorm in decades, the main camera suffered a near-catastrophic malfunction, local residents started complaining about the constant gunfire coming from our location, and low-flying aircraft ruined numerous sound recordings. Unfortunately, this was just the tip of a colossal iceberg, and things only got worse as the production continued.
As the 1st AD on this shoot, it was my job to manage these insane incidents and troublesome crew members, and every day was like a living nightmare. My stress levels were pushed to their absolute limits, causing me to nearly quit on more than one occasion. Given what I had to deal with on this production, it’s a miracle that I’m not currently in an asylum weaving fruit baskets.
Nobody on this production had it worse than our director, who was also my best friend, and frankly speaking, the only reason I didn’t quit. Daniel McKenzie was no amateur; he’d directed several feature films and thought he could handle anything. But this production was custom-built by Beelzebub to inflict emotional turmoil on everyone involved, especially the director. Every day, Daniel watched helplessly as these events occurred right in front of him—ruthlessly destroying his cherished movie project.
You would be wrong to assume that our entire film crew was unprofessional; many dedicated team members stood diligently in the rain and completed their jobs to a professional standard. If not for those people, and Daniel’s perseverance, we might still be in Scotland today trying to finish Synthetic Prey.
Days into the shoot, it was blatantly obvious that this production was going to be chaotic, so I made the decision to start surreptitiously documenting everything that transpired. It began as handwritten notes and then turned into audio messages on my phone. Each recording featured my voice only, narrating every incident after it had happened on location. By the end of our production, I was shocked to discover almost eight hundred voice messages on my phone. Every instance of bad luck and unprofessional behaviour had been documented.
And I do mean everything!
All the conversations and events depicted in my book are based upon these very recordings, which are a factual account of what happened during this production. Any material not derived from my own personal observations or audio messages, is the documented result of multiple discussions with trusted crew members both during and after the shoot. It’s very important to note that no one was aware of the existence of my novel during these private conversations, and the information has been verified through multiple sources.
When I first thought about writing this book, I knew that some crew members would be opposed—which is a polite way of saying that they’d want to skin me alive. Perhaps what happened is best left unspoken, and the memories should just fade away and become nothing more than cinematic lore.
Chilean author Isabel Allende said: “Write what should not be forgotten.”
Those eloquent words have resonated with me since our production mercifully wrapped in November of 2023. What I experienced, what our director endured, and what those dedicated crew members were subjected to, should never ever be forgotten, and it’s my duty as a member of that nightmarish shoot to document this ordeal for posterity.
The only way to tell this story truthfully is by detailing every single event that transpired; withholding information would simply alter the narrative and paint a false picture of what occurred. Naturally, by disclosing the full truth, some crew members will be extremely infuriated, but I didn’t create this narrative, I merely documented what happened.
Everyone on this production was paid to facilitate a specific role within the team, yet certain people chose to conduct themselves unprofessionally. These inept and problematic crew members assumed that their behaviour would be forgotten forever, but unfortunately for them, I documented absolutely everything.
(novel title deleted so I comply with the book rules) is my personal account of the film shoot from hell—an experience that pushed me to the very brink of madness, emotional frailty, and created a deep-seated resentment for the movie industry. This is a brutally honest account of what happens when everything goes wrong during a production, and nothing goes right. But most importantly, this book is a tribute to the determination of our director and those dedicated crew members, who against all odds, saved this production from self-destruction and carried it over the finish line.
Film is a battleground, and this is the incredible story of the greatest war ever waged in cinematic history!
I've worked in the film industry for almost twenty years, but back in 2023 I had quit possibly the worst experience of my life when I was the 1st AD on a low budget movie in Scotland. below is a summary of my experience.
For people who have never worked in the movie industry before, film production must seem like the easiest occupation in the world: you take an expensive camera, point it towards an overpaid thespian, wait for a cigar-smoking director to scream action, and then sit back and start penning your Oscar acceptance speech.
It’s the proverbial piece of cake… Right?
Well, you couldn’t be more wrong!
Director Sam Fuller once famously said, “Film is a battleground.”
This is quite possibly the most accurate statement ever made about the movie industry. Film production is a brutal process, and it involves working long hours and pushing your body to its physical limits. If you’re weak-willed, lack talent, or devoid of common sense, then she’ll eat you up and spit your remains out for the vultures. Basically, if you want a career that doesn’t involve persistent stress and sleepless nights, then don’t become a bloody filmmaker!
During pre-production, you must expect the unexpected and put contingency measures in place should the worst-case scenario ever happen. But sometimes, you’ll be faced with events that simply could not be anticipated, and when things go wrong during a production, you’ll wish you were somewhere else.
There are several film shoots which have been labelled the worst in cinematic history—The Abyss, Waterworld, Alien 3, and The Island of Dr. Moreau. These productions were so hectic, so insane, and so problematic, that the director nearly quit making movies forever, and the crew was left severely traumatised.
But now, there’s one more film that can be added to that list: an action/sci-fi movie entitled Synthetic Prey. This production was so chaotic that its completion was a genuine miracle, and unfortunately, I was the 1st AD on this project.
On paper, this shoot appeared perfectly innocuous: the budget was $250,000, there was twenty people on the crew, three main actors, and we would be filming for eighteen days inside a secluded forest environment. It should have been easier than stealing a kebab from a drunk student… What could possibly go wrong?
Well, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, and what followed was one of the most tumultuous low-budget film productions in cinema history!
The moment our shoot commenced, it felt like we had been cursed by a witch. The lead actress was a prima donna, people were habitually late to set, our special effects and makeup department underdelivered, a member of the crew was fired for insubordination, and our stunt choreographer had questionable methods. And if that wasn’t bad enough, our shoot was hit with the worst rainstorm in decades, the main camera suffered a near-catastrophic malfunction, local residents started complaining about the constant gunfire coming from our location, and low-flying aircraft ruined numerous sound recordings. Unfortunately, this was just the tip of a colossal iceberg, and things only got worse as the production continued.
As the 1st AD on this shoot, it was my job to manage these insane incidents and troublesome crew members, and every day was like a living nightmare. My stress levels were pushed to their absolute limits, causing me to nearly quit on more than one occasion. Given what I had to deal with on this production, it’s a miracle that I’m not currently in an asylum weaving fruit baskets.
Nobody on this production had it worse than our director, who was also my best friend, and frankly speaking, the only reason I didn’t quit. Daniel McKenzie was no amateur; he’d directed several feature films and thought he could handle anything. But this production was custom-built by Beelzebub to inflict emotional turmoil on everyone involved, especially the director. Every day, Daniel watched helplessly as these events occurred right in front of him—ruthlessly destroying his cherished movie project.
You would be wrong to assume that our entire film crew was unprofessional; many dedicated team members stood diligently in the rain and completed their jobs to a professional standard. If not for those people, and Daniel’s perseverance, we might still be in Scotland today trying to finish Synthetic Prey.
Days into the shoot, it was blatantly obvious that this production was going to be chaotic, so I made the decision to start surreptitiously documenting everything that transpired. It began as handwritten notes and then turned into audio messages on my phone. Each recording featured my voice only, narrating every incident after it had happened on location. By the end of our production, I was shocked to discover almost eight hundred voice messages on my phone. Every instance of bad luck and unprofessional behaviour had been documented.
And I do mean everything!
All the conversations and events depicted in my book are based upon these very recordings, which are a factual account of what happened during this production. Any material not derived from my own personal observations or audio messages, is the documented result of multiple discussions with trusted crew members both during and after the shoot. It’s very important to note that no one was aware of the existence of my novel during these private conversations, and the information has been verified through multiple sources.
When I first thought about writing this book, I knew that some crew members would be opposed—which is a polite way of saying that they’d want to skin me alive. Perhaps what happened is best left unspoken, and the memories should just fade away and become nothing more than cinematic lore.
Chilean author Isabel Allende said: “Write what should not be forgotten.”
Those eloquent words have resonated with me since our production mercifully wrapped in November of 2023. What I experienced, what our director endured, and what those dedicated crew members were subjected to, should never ever be forgotten, and it’s my duty as a member of that nightmarish shoot to document this ordeal for posterity.
The only way to tell this story truthfully is by detailing every single event that transpired; withholding information would simply alter the narrative and paint a false picture of what occurred. Naturally, by disclosing the full truth, some crew members will be extremely infuriated, but I didn’t create this narrative, I merely documented what happened.
Everyone on this production was paid to facilitate a specific role within the team, yet certain people chose to conduct themselves unprofessionally. These inept and problematic crew members assumed that their behaviour would be forgotten forever, but unfortunately for them, I documented absolutely everything.
(novel title deleted so I comply with the book rules) is my personal account of the film shoot from hell—an experience that pushed me to the very brink of madness, emotional frailty, and created a deep-seated resentment for the movie industry. This is a brutally honest account of what happens when everything goes wrong during a production, and nothing goes right. But most importantly, this book is a tribute to the determination of our director and those dedicated crew members, who against all odds, saved this production from self-destruction and carried it over the finish line.
Film is a battleground, and this is the incredible story of the greatest war ever waged in cinematic history!
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