Collection Day 3: First Pre-Production Meeting

This past Wednesday, the core crew for my grad thesis film, Collection Day, got together to go over a basic production timeline and discuss how we're going to get this project made. Producer Scott McEntire had already broken down the script and had a list of characters, locations and props.  He is very thorough and had lots of questions for me, which is great. Movies don't get made in a vacuum and there needs to be interactions between the producer and all the department heads to make sure things get rolling.

We also talked about the uber-important (and often neglected) marketing aspect and how we plan to raise the money for this mini-monster. Our associate producer, Stephanie Stephens, is not only an accomplished makeup fx artist (which will come in handy), but also a graphic artist (she's the one that came up with our first teaser graphic). She is wise to the marketing ways of Facebook and Twitter and was placed in charge of the upcoming Kickstarter campaign.  Smaller productions often have people wearing many hats and Collection Day is no exception.

It's in print, so it must be real!

We established some very important dates and deadlines, especially auditions. I'm a big fan of actors and really want to find some great ones to fill these roles. Our lead is a complex character and will need to have a certain range, both physically and emotionally, to be convincing. I know we can find her, but don't yet have any idea of who she might be.  Auditions and callbacks will remedy this.

Another important landmark we set was the month of shooting.  While it is still too early to set specific dates, it looks like the coming October will be when the camera starts rolling.  It seems like a a long time from now, but so much has to happen in the meantime, that it will be upon us very soon.

I say something "relevant", while co-producer Michael Carpenter looks on.

This meeting was very productive. Everyone had good input, important dates were agreed on, and we all parted with confidence that not only will the movie get made, but that it will be a good movie, worth watching.  Okay, that's how I felt when the meeting was over.

*Special thanks to Eric White for taking the meeting photos.