Bad filmmaking advice in NYC
This might be a hot take but I’ve grown to understand that the indie scene here is dead. Or maybe it was never here. Everything from huge egos to sloppy hiring practices, I think New York filmmakers should take a look at themselves and maybe think of another career path. What I’m about to say is all from my experiences and aren’t changed expect for the names for privacy reasons. I’m not going to out anyone since you know who you are.
Call sheets: So early on my freelancing career I would usually get them the night before a shoot. And slowly I don’t know why people started doing this they just stopped. Now it’s thru texts or calls. I know it does take time to fill one out but we have templates now. Even if you have a ton of people in the cast and crew it’s just simple copy paste. Also I got the ones sent at 4am the day of. Usually people are asleep during that time and wouldn’t check their emails until the morning.
And locations are a mystery until you get that sheet. So you have no idea until you read the email. I mean I get it you have a lot on your plate but just get an assistant to help.
Job requirements: So this has been going on pretty much since forever but don’t put high level jobs with entry level pay. You might apply to a job with 1–4 years experience and they decide to test you with a test that would make professionals blush. This is predatory and creates an unhealthy standard for the work force. If I apply to an entry level position the standard should be entry.
Your just going to get high turnover since the professionals will just quit after a few weeks or months. With someone new you could train them and they will probably stay longer.
Contracts: So I had some clients try to get me to lower my rate and/or do other jobs within a job. It was my fault for allowing it to get further. So before things get out of hand draft a contract and have them sign it.
Phonies: By no means am I an expert on stuff but when your employer keeps getting things wrong even on a basic level something is wrong. Haven’t come up with a good solution other than nodding and ignoring them. One example is using their equipment and when you have a question they can’t answer. It’s your camera and you can’t tell me why the settings is this way?
Advice: This is probably going into rant territory but if your client asks for your opinion on something they can’t just tell you your wrong. A client asked for a good microphone and I gave them options. They did their own research and picked the one they liked. They specifically avoided the one I recommended and kind of blamed me for wasting their time.
And I’m thinking why ask me in the first place if they were not going to ignore my input. Unless I know the client very well I am never going to give my opinions again. And by the way I did this multiple times and didn’t get compensated for my time. They asked for other random advice and spent my time looking up things I normally don’t look up.
So your mileage will vary but I do have hope in things getting better. Theses are just a few things that annoy me over the years.