The Producer's List - Part Two

This is a continuation of The Producer's List - Part One, a bullet-point list of big and small details that might get overlooked, particularly by independent filmmakers working in major cities like NYC.

Regardless of the size of the production, there's always the chance that some important detail will be overlooked, unless the producers have their eyes open and their toilet brushes in hand, for when the on-location bathrooms are too disgusting for the cast and crew to use and the unpaid PAs are all off running errands. Suck it up, producers, and soldier on.

• A responsible film crew leaves a location in slightly better condition than the location was found. When on location, be sure to have plenty of trash bags and trash cans. Most importantly, know where the trash needs to be taken out and which days the trash is picked up, and any other trash collection restrictions that may apply.

• When shooting on location, know how much electricity is available - not just for the film lights, but for everything that might need to be plugged in. Prop lights. Heaters. Air conditioners. Fans. Battery chargers. Lights for the green room. Blow dryers. Coffee makers. Never forget the coffee makers. All the electricity in the world won't be enough if there's a shortage of outlets and extension cords.

• When shooting on location (especially in older buildings), make sure that the electricity has been properly grounded. If there's no record of the building's electrical history, have an electrician or someone qualified check out the wiring. If faulty electricity causes any of the film equipment to short circuit, most likely that will be deemed neglect by the filmmaker and insurance will not cover the loss.

• The general advice is never to feed pizza to your crew. Never say never, of course, for sometimes pizza makes excellent, quick comfort food after a long day of shooting. The most important thing to remember is balance in your catering and craft services. For every bagel, have cereal or fruit as an alternate. For every chocolate bar, have a vegetable or cheese platter. For every cup of coffee, have twice as many bottles of water. Find out in advance the dietary needs of your cast and crew. If there are any vegans or vegetarians, lactose-intolerants, diabetics, or people with severe food allergies, plan accordingly.

• Check the weather religiously before the shoot begins, and then every morning afterwards (keeping note of the weather is usually an assistant director's responsibility when preparing the call sheets). Have alternate shooting schedules if weather conditions prevent the exterior scenes from being shot first. Be prepared with plenty of tarps, umbrellas, and plastic raincoats should foul weather spring up unexpectedly.

• When shooting on weekends or in particularly isolated areas, know what's available to you and when. Most rental houses are closed on the weekend, though some may have a weekend emergency contact. Local businesses may have shorter hours or may not be open at all. Film is hard to come by on the weekends, but especially hard to find anywhere outside of the major film metropolises. Have an emergency film backup available to you or plan accordingly and don't run out.
  

• Have everyone's number stored in your phone or at least immediately on hand at all times. EVERYONE. Cast, crew, AAA, location owners, rental houses, taxi cab services, any emergency contacts other than 9-1-1, the state department, etc. You never know what may come up.
  

• Have plenty of actor release forms available and at least one person in charge of collecting signatures, from the lead actors to the background extras, to the random passersby who happened to stumble into the last shot. Do it before you have to track individuals down or resort to blurring out faces in wide shots. Make sure that all legal points are covered in the releases and that a minor has a legal guardian signing in his or her place. Don't leave any room for a lawsuit if you can help it.

Well, that's all for now. Though there's plenty more to remember, so be on the lookout for The Producer's List - Part Three!

The Producer's List - Part One

A producer's responsibilities are many and varied, regardless of what medium they are working in, whether they are producing a film, television series, or an art exhibit. Producers must macro- and micro-manage, overseeing the big details - assembling the people, the places, the how and the when - and they must also look out for the small detail specifics, planning for every potential Murphy's Law disaster, allowing nothing to slip through the cracks along the way.

From conception to completion, a producer's responsibilities are all-encompassing.

While attending NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in film and television production with a minor in producing, I produced a number of student films. Through my varied experiences, and often thanks to trial and error, I've gathered up quite an extensive list of the dos and don'ts of independent film production, the must-not-forgets for anyone who finds themselves as the head of production on a shoot where if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Many of these bullet points are especially paramount when producing in a big city like New York with more rules and regulations and parking tickets than item lines in the budget.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that part one of this list has to do largely with transportation concerns. Driving and parking in NYC on a normal basis is a bitch, but dealing with the needs, size, and limitations of production vehicles on top of everything else is a bloody nightmare.

• When working with oversized production vehicles, from cargo vans to 24' cube trucks, be aware of the weight, height and width restrictions on city streets, bridges, and tunnels. If your vehicle is 12' tall, you need an alternate route not involving the 11' high tunnel. Do the math.
  

• Keep a list of all of the parking lots or garages able to accommodate your vehicle and know their hours of operation and restrictions. Be sure to make reservations in advance if the lots are likely to fill up fast. Have plenty of cash on hand - parking is often more costly than the vehicle rental.
  

• In NYC, commercial vehicles are not allowed to park on residential streets overnight. As far as parking tickets are concerned, a vehicle is commercial if it has a commercial license plate or visible lettering on the vehicle's sides, advertising a service. Even if you rent a U-Haul truck for a personal reason, the truck is considered commercial. If your move (or movie) takes more than one day, be aware of legal parking around your residence.

• It's near-impossible to find legal street-side parking for a compact car in Manhattan, much less legal parking for production vehicles. It's a good idea to pad your production vehicle budget to account for the price of parking and gas - but also the expense of parking tickets. You're bound to get at least one. Those meter maids are merciless.

• Map Quest driving directions are misleading, especially estimates for how long it actually takes to get anywhere within city limits. Always account for rush hour traffic, road construction, traffic accidents, getting lost, and finding parking. And then some.

• Leaving anything of value in production vehicles overnight or unattended is taking a big risk. Insurance won't cover theft or damage deemed to be the result of neglect (aka: leaving shit in the van), so if your equipment in stolen, you'll likely be in for more than the deductible, but for the replacement value of everything that's ended up on the underground Panasonic, Kodak, and Arri black market.
  

• While the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, & Broadcasting can secure permits for parking and for shooting on city-owned property for your production (all you need is insurance and permission), the smaller your production, the fewer parking laws you are able to ignore and the less traffic you can interfere with - pedestrian or vehicular. Parking permits are only available for production vehicles, not for personal use.