"Welcome to your new home – Opening the Production Office"
©
When Stan Bickman, a mentor of mine who I have talked about in these columns, passed away, his daughter sent a picture of him to us as part of a memorial. It was a picture of Stan, smiling, on a pay phone.
One of my favorite production photos of me is one taken by a production manager I worked with: I am seated with a phone in each ear. I'm not smiling.
The production office will become your home. In the beginning, it will hold just a few people. As production nears, 40-50 people will be walking through the door every day. This is no small family.
The first people through the door are the producer, line producer, and director. The production office coordinator should be right behind them.
The Production Office Coordinator (POC) is the office manager, and much, much more. Few businesses generate as much specialized paperwork as film production, and the POC is at the center of all of it. Once principal photography began, the POC will be the link for the Second Assistant Director and everyone else on the set to the office. Since I became a line producer, I have never interviewed a POC. I only bring along coordinators with whom I have worked. Yes, there are a few among my usual suspects.
If there is a production manager (UPM) working with the line producer, they should be part of t small unit as well.
The first priority is going to be casting, and the search for a casting director should have already started before you even moved into the office. Many producers and directors have casting directors they regularly use.
Many people assume that because independent films have lower budgets, they will not be able to get certain actors. I worked on a number of films on the Modified Low Budget SAG contract where our first choice of actor was willing to work for the SAG minimum, which, on that contract, is $248 a day, or $864 a week. If you believe in your script, have your casting director submit to the people you really want. The worst they can do is say "no".
There are few hard-and-fast rules about casting, but the process goes something like this: the casting director submits the script to the Breakdown Services, along with a breakdown of the cast with descriptions of the characters (you knew there was a reason they were called Breakdown Services, didn't you?). Agents will then submit actors for roles. There will be personal drop-offs at your office, as well as Fed Ex and mailings.
