Unfortunately, film & video making is not a one person art form. You need to find like-minded beings that believe in your vision and have the time to devote to it. By avoiding wearing too many hats and delegating jobs along the way, you may manage to keep from burning out before you get the thing in the can. I recently got an email from a would-be filmmaker who had things fall apart right after his first read-through. This is not that uncommon. The hard part is the fact that almost everyone loves to be on the set when things are rolling but are not so willing or able to help get it to that point. This means it just may not be that good of an idea attempting to put together a full crew too far ahead of the actual shoot.
Start out with three or four key personnel in place. I suggest you find a line-producer (he scouts out and lines-up locations for the shoot), an assistant director (he helps take care of problems that arise, so you can focus more on actually directing the project), camera person/director of photography (DP), and a sound guy/gal. The other location personnel such as grips, gaffer, production assistances (PA) ect. are crucial but can be found closer to the first day of shooting. In fact, I've found that rookie PA's often turn out to be great grips, etc.
Ok, you've got your core crew together so now you can start thinking about casting. There are several ways to find talent. You'll need to checkout what's available in your area and then decide what way to go. 1. If there are acting work shops near where you live, you might want to ask the instructors to send promising pupils to your casting call. 2. Consider putting an ad in the local paper or on line giving an address to send photo/resumes or the date of an open (cattle)call. 3. If you know someone willing to do it, delegate the position of Casting Director to someone else. Chances are you won't have enough of a budget to hire one. 4. Make a bunch of your friends the stars they always dreamed of being. That includes members of your crew! The important thing to remember, don't let yourself get too hung up in the process and lose track of the main goal, finding actors that can take direction and you can live with for the duration of the shoot.
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