Texas Lullaby -- Prep

[Alex Ellerman]

wow, david. that is a harsh and helpful lesson in the reality of dealing with actors and their reps!

Thank you.

ae

[David Mullen ASC]

Is this situation a definite "it's all over" or has the production just been placed in limbo whilst agents scramble to make deals?

 

Good question. While some say that something will work out, it seems rather dramatic to actually close-up the office within a few hours and buy everyone plane tickets home for the next day, plus telephone all crew people hired that they can start looking elsewhere for work, if there is a chance that a deal can be reached in a few days, because it would be a mess to start the ball rolling all over again.

 

Usually in these cases, they just close the office for a week and hold onto the key people, just in case. Two years ago when I did "Shadowboxer", they shut us down for two weeks just before production was to begin, then slashed a million from the budget and started up again. But the last time a production of mine actually was cancelled was maybe five years ago when the day before the start of shooting, a lead actor had still not been hired, but that was a much lower-budgeted film. I was immediately offered another film, but the director of the cancelled film paid me sometime to decline the offer because he was sure he would get up and running within a few weeks, but ultimately didn't.

[Ram Shani]

david

 

Iam sorry to here what happen to the project

 

when you go to the first interview with the director how you preper yourself?

 

what you are you asked ? do you talk about the scirpt structher or more about what is your prspective

 

about the project and your vision

 

do you think " i also need to sell my self" a specialy when you weet with director who work with big names

 

in the first meeting do you meet with the producer to?

[David Mullen ASC]

It's partly a social meeting, you talk with each other about your backgrounds, your tastes, etc.

 

You tell them that their script is great, you suggest any ideas you have for it visually, you ask the director how he sees it (sometimes I ask that first so I don't go off on the wrong track if they have a strong opinion, but 90% of the time they don't yet.) You show them any pre-production work you may have from other projects to show them how you like to work, or any reference art if you feel it will help in the interview.

 

You ask about the schedule, budget, locations, cast. You talk about the logistical problems (while not sounding too gloomy.)

 

Sometimes after the interview, you decide that you don't actually want the job now that you've met the producer and director and heard more about what's involved. Then you have to start planning an exit strategy.

 

You also have to be enthusiastic yet non-committal, which is very hard to do. That's why it's good to have an agent -- they can play hardball for you.