How to Make a Short Film: Dealing with a Difficult Person

How do you deal with a difficult person on your film team who doesn't do their job but it's all volunteer and you have no money to pay anyone ?

Because running is not always an option. Believe me, I wish it was.

I’m going to be honest: I don’t like dealing with conflict. But as a filmmaker, the filmmaking business requires you to work with lots of people, and it attracts some people with egos the size of a small planet. (Including probably you.) If you are going to make a short film, or any film, conflict is liable to come up and it is good to know how to deal with it. 

Because you never know when an unassuming person will start kung-fuing you because why not?

So what do you do if you butt heads with someone who you can't just talk things through with? A lot of conflict is just creative disagreement and can be worked out. As long as everyone knows their job and is willing to do it and believes in the movie. But sometimes people just don't want to work out the conflict. If you can learn to spot trouble beforehand and don’t invite them on that's best. But if they slip past you, do these things:

Free these words of wisdom these are. Welcome, you are.

1. Make sure you are communicating clearly with everyone what your expectations for them are--and those expectations are public--so no one can say “You never told me to do that"

2. Try to make sure you know people who can fill in for the role if need be. So you aren’t stuck with them or not getting to make the movie.

3. Confront them about their behavior privately.

4. If they have complaints, figure out if there is legitimacy in them.

5. If you have to get rid of them, do it as early as possible.A difficult person will continue to add stress to a filmmaking experience that is going to have its own stress anyway.

Also bring a suit of armor. And shield. Just in case.

On my first short student film Kelly vs The Philosophers, I brought on an assistant to help out my main costume manager. I knew the girl was a bit snarky but I found that more charming than anything. I explained what we needed her to do and when and she was on board. But for weeks after the girl didn’t do any work and tried to pass her work onto other people, then complained when we were only a couple weeks out that we didn’t have enough time.

When even Loki can't make excuses for you.

The night before shooting I asked her where she was with things. She still hadn’t done them and was blaming me again, so I reminded her—someone sarcastically—that she had been blowing me off. At this point she threw a fit and quit.

Sorry not sorry?

What should I have done differently? I should have confronted her earlier about her blowing off the project. I should have confronted her with more love and less sarcasm—even if she deserved it. But I am glad that I solved the problem before shooting. And I'm glad we had someone else who could do costumes. Because it would have been a nightmare otherwise. 

And that's my first major conflict as a filmmaker not knowing what I was doing. Really, God was covering my back and I can't take much credit.

Do you have any stories about dealing with conflict in film? Any advice that you can share? Leave a comment below!

Why Being a Filmmaker Might Mean You Don't Like Captain America: Civil War

Does being a good filmmaker mean you won't enjoy films like Captain America: Civil War?

Four years ago, I was about to enter college, I hadn't I started being a filmmaker, it was then I saw what is still one of my favorite films: Marvel’s The Avengers. Now, this year I am about to graduate from college and just saw Captain America: Civil War. A massive disappointment to me. Just like Batman vSuperman. Is it me or is it them?

On the one hand, I think I’m holding both to a consistent filmmaker standard. I've always been super critical of my superhero movies. I hated Spider-Man 3 and Iron Man II and III I am a longtime superhero fanboy and loved Marvel’s the Avengers because it was faithful to the comics: Superheroes being superheroes, bickering, fighting each other, then fighting the common threat. Captain America: Civil War was nothing like the comic book Civil War. The comic book was a dark story about two good men on opposite sides who so believe they’re right they are willing to do whatever it takes to stop the other. Stories that tell deep stories in a compelling way are important to me and I think the superhero genre is capable of doing that and it's sad they aren't. 

But on the other hand, maybe I’ve just changed as a filmmaker. The difference between then and now is that fans and critics agreed that Spider-Man 3 was bad. But critics and audiences love Captain America: Civil War. Yet I don't. Like I’ve written about elsewhere, I have been told by my friends with increasing frequency that I am always disappointed in movies. The first of the Avengers films I was excited at a giant love-letter to superheroes. Have my standards for filmmaking become so high that I can’t enjoy normal movies?

If so, maybe it's worth it. In the past four years I've really grown as a filmmaker. I've made great short films that I'm proud of (like Kelly vs the Philosophers). I've changed as a person. That's what you expect when you go to college.

You may like Captain America: Civil War. But regardless, I think the lesson for aspiring filmmakers is that if you really have the high standards you need to make great films, you’re going to be disappointed in a lot of movies along the way. Which is going to be rough, because we want to make movies because we love watching movies. And it makes it harder to watch movies.

I wanted to love Captain America: Civil War just as much as I loved Avengers all those years ago. But if it means I become a better filmmaker it’s worth it.

Cinematographer vs Director: Who's Job is it Anyway?

People told me I was doing the cinematographer’s job.

I was between shoots on making a short film when that night my editor informed me people on the shoot were calling me a control freak. Like, everyone was. Not just a few people. But everyone. I was confused, because I had actually given a lot of leeway and given up a lot of what I wanted since other people had really good ideas. So I didn’t understand what he meant.

Turns out that people were expecting that as director I should only have a broad vision of what I wanted and that the cinematographer would be in charge of deciding specific shots. The fact I wasn’t doing that made me a control freak.

I was like… says who? Anytime you hear about someone critiquing a director’s work, they talk about shot choices. Wes Anderson’s whole style is built on—among other things—style of shot choices.

But some of these people were more experienced than I was. And I didn’t want to cause any problems. So the rest of the shoot I laid off some.

But I wasn’t done with this. I immediately began doing research online about the particular divisions of roles between director and cinematographer. It didn’t take long for me to find several interviews on the subject. And they all validated my assumptions but also taught me new things.

Ideally, the director and cinematographer are collaborators on shots. Ideally. But ultimately the director is in charge and what he says goes. Regardless, the most important thing is that the director and cinematographer work out the shot list before you start shooting. That is the piece that my friends were getting right. You should be—basically—letting the DP alone to do his job on the shooting day. He’s an amazing craftsman who knows his job better than you. That’s assuming, of course, that your cinematographer’s actually read the shot list or script before filming that day. Which ours hadn’t. Still, it gave me a good sense of what I did wrong and what I could correct for the future.

Still. This was the internet. I preferred better confirmation.

Not long after, long-time cinematography veteran Ralph Linhardt came to my school for a private chat with our big aspiring filmmakers. There, one of my school’s minor celebrity student cinematographers asked: “What happens when you’re working for a director who wants the shot done a specific way, but you know it would be a better way? What can you do?”

Ralph said: “Ultimately, he’s the director. It’s his film. If he doesn’t know what he’s doing and you can’t deal with that you just probably shouldn’t work with him.”

Did I find this slightly gratifying? Yes.

So directors, make sure you respect our cinematographer enough to get them on board with your vision before shooting. DPs: make sure you can live with the director you have.

And have a breathing professional and internet army on your side.