Birth of a Web Series
Since it’s fuckballsass early here and I’m wide awake thanks to a coughing jag, time to clue the rest of the FYWH community in.
In case you missed it, I’ll be filming a web series in March 2018 starring my original character, Stytch! In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of writing, forking over of money, and a few meetings. Here’s what I’ve gotten done.
Legal Stuff
Yes, I said legal. Turns out an LLC (or Limited Liability Company) is a must have if you’re doing your own filming. Why?
it protects your ass in the event you could get sued
You may be able to write off production expenses on your taxes.
I asked around in several professional groups and it was unanimously said an LLC was a must. In New York State, it was $200 to file online. The state actually as a free form available online. Depending on your state (or country) you may have different rules, so be sure to do your research. As a result, Billion to 1 Productions was founded on December 16, 2017.
If you’re in college or are a student, a theater departments or professors may be able to guide you, so you may be able to forgo this step.
Meetings & Roles
Last week, we had a pre-Production meeting. While I was there, it was mostly my three friends ironing out who will be doing what. Namely, Director, Assistant Director, and Script Supervisor. So what do these roles do?
The Assistant Director is the person you’d think is the director if you stumbled on the set. They’re the one making sure everyone is in their places, lights, camera, action, etc.
The Director’s sole responsibility is making sure the actors know what the hell they’re doing and the overall creative vision for the piece. Depending on a variety of factors, they may or may not discuss anything with the writer(s).
The Script Supervisor has the script out and keeps track of notes for the Director (which takes had good audio vs. visual. Which actor had which prop in what hand, etc.) and will call lines for people.
Executive Producer might as well be called Money Bags. Your job is to throw money at problems and make them go away. (That may or may not be true, but that’s what it feels like already)
Now, my dear friends and colleagues all have a very strong theater background where there’s a saying “The Playwright is King”, which sort of emphasizes the primacy of the writer. In film, not so much. At all. Most production companies buy a script and that’s it. They’re taken over. That writer no longer has any control or say over that piece.
For Stytch, we’ll be trending more towards the theater standard, but not as rabid. While I put a lot of thought into my pieces, I’m generally open to feedback and ultimately want the best possible story. While that may sound like a very common sense approach...well, let’s just say that you’d be very surprised how rare it is in both theater and film.
In Indie film, people tend to have multiple roles and things tend to be more collaborative. In larger Hollywood type things, not so much. Have such specialization can make things on large productions run more smoothly, or so I’m told.
What’s next?
More revisions, and in January, Location scouting!
- Graphei
