Production notes

Over the last week, in between filming, shmoozing with grade-A celebrity film makers and, y'know, learning, we've finally been having our Introduction to Production classes with Abigail. It's always been somewhat of a mystery to me what the role of a producer actually is, and I'd semi-considered it being a path I might follow in the future. My number one passion is writing, but unfortunately often I feel like once a script has been commissioned, the writer's role is done. Sidelined. In a "d'you wanna maybe mark up the tapes" kind of way. Soooo, I figured production might be the kind of interesting, hands-on role I've been looking for.

I was wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I've learned more about production in the last week than I have in my whole 23 years. Abigail is incredibly thorough, explaining in detail every potential obstacle the producer might come across (and the form to fill out just in case). There's so much more to the job than I could ever get my head around; my organisational/budgeting skills can best be summed up by a familiar phrase including the words 'hangover', 'brewery' and 'couldn't even organise'. Financially, I am an absolute mess, and would love the kind of discipline it requires to fund even a student short film. There is far more involved than I ever imagined, but the whole thing seemed to technical and..well.....un-creative. It's left me feeling more than a little bereft of ideas, and somewhat lost for what to do. I'm by no means the best in the class at camera (seriously, I'd be lucky to be in the Top 11, although not for lack of trying). I like editing but I cannot keep up with even using Macs instead of Windows and my attempts at editing our Home film left me with a killer migraine and a seriously depleted sense of self worth. And now, it appears that producing will find me out of my depth also. It's good to be learning the complexities of the job, but I simply don't feel like I have the savvy or know-how to muddle my way through a production checklist. As far as producers go, I'm probably more likely to be coming up with the next Springtime For Hitler. So where do my actual talents lie then....? I only wish I knew.....