Project Greenlight Episode 6

The beginning of this show started off well. John set up some rehearsals before shooting and the cast and crew were having a good time. The next day it went back to business as usual. Tensions were very high and John in frustration told the DP and the Assistant Director to do what ever they wanted. John did seem to be learning something finally. Some some jobs you do for the money. Although you can still have some fun with them I think.

John still seems to be stuck on that he's the director and he should be able to do anything he wants. He keeps complaining that they treat him like a contest winner. Actually, they treat him like a first time director. In a sense, he is just a contest winner. He has never made a feature length film before. The only job that he's been paid for is for wedding videos; that doesn't make him a director. He says that nobody trusts him. That might be true. Again, he hasn't done anything before. Trust has to be earned.

This reminds me of two things. The first is Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. He wanted to make the movie his way. So he funded it himself. He was the writer, soundtrack producer, director, and the producer. When you fund your own movie you can do what ever you want.

The second is from a film class that I took. Let's say I want to make a 20 million dollar movie. To do that I need to make a 10 million dollar movie that makes money. To make a 10 million dollar movie I need to make a 5 million dollar movie that makes money. Etc. So for John to get more money (which means more time to shoot) he needs to make a smaller movie that makes money. If Feast does well then they'll trust him a bit more and he will get more.

There was one incident though that was completely uncalled for on the crew side. John wanted a certain shot and was told there wasn't enough time to do it. That's fine. John really wanted that shot and kept pushing for it but to no avail. When John decided to quit for the day and told them to shoot whatever they wanted they started to set up the same shot that John wanted. This is completely uncalled for. If there's no time then fine. It's a low budget film so some things won't get shot but don't tell the director there's no time then set it up yourself. The DP and Assistant Director are coming off like selfish brats and if they keep this up should be replaced.