Pre-Light: lighting setup at a glance

Lighting for film and television is an tiring and time consuming process. It often involves a great deal of manual labor and much running back and forth. I recently had the great pleasure of being presented with an opportunity to manage the lighting for American Dance Legend, produced by Karma Butler. For the first time, I was forced to bring on another crew member due to the scale and scope of the lighting for this production. My new crew member had no idea quite what he had gotten himself into. This was a new and interesting experience.

Budgeting: things to keep in mind

A big part of being a movie producer is understanding numbers. More specifically its understanding financial numbers. The producer of any film is directly responsible for finding funding for the project. In order to accomplish what seems like an impossible task there are a few things to keep in mind.

Revolution: 15 years after the blackout...they will light the way.

Revolution got a second season! This post-apocalyptic drama has already had one hell of a ride. I’ll be honest when I first watched the show I was excited. Finally there is a post-apocalyptic story that actually reverted to the dark ages. But as the season went on I started wondering when they would start telling us what is going on.

MPAA and CARA: What Does it Mean for You?

The MPAA has a great deal of influence over the fimmaking process. Particularly CARA, the Classification And Rating Administration. These are the folks who decide based on a films content what rating to give it and why.

J.J. Abrams - Master of Mystery

J.J. Abrams is arguably one of the most influential and successful producers in Hollywood today. From Cloverfield to Lost to his most recent endeavor Revolution, he has proven a mastery of the mystery drama.

People & Personalities

As a producer you will have to work with many types of people with varying personalities. A good producer knows each of these personality types and understands how to work with different people and how to motivate people with different personalities. There are two very excellent tools known as DiSC Styles and Jung Typology. Both give a good breakdown and description of different personality types.

Step One: Find a Story

As a producer you are essentially the general in the war that is the filmmaking process. With so many tasks that need to be accomplished where does one begin? Well let’s be honest, you don’t have a movie if you don’t have a story to tell. There are many ways a producer can acquire a story for a film.