- When you're a writer you're writing creatively,
you're not thinking about production necessarily.
The most part you want that to be something that producers go,
"Wow. This is something I would want to see."
But you have to get the most out of the dollar amount you have
because we want to have a triumphant experience with this film.
Hey everyone, my name is SC.
I'm a writer and producer here at StudioBinder.
So about a year ago, I came up with the idea for a single-camera sitcom.
A young woman
who inherits the CEO ship of a mental health empire from her father.
Has to find a new chief of medicine
because her's is caught up in this big PR scandal.
So she heads to the nearest clinic to poach their head of medicine
and in turn gets confused and ends up running into a doctor.
Who'd she then hires and then later she finds out
that he's actually a schizophrenic man.
He's not a doctor, he's the patient.
Some of the show's I might compare to are "30 Rock"
or could compare to "Arrested Development."
"- You said he was all right.
- Yes, he's lost his left hand so he's going to be all right.
- You son of a bitch."
The script's 23 pages.
There's a number of different characters as a Father character,
a Mother character.
The assistant character I'm very excited to write for,
she's got a lot of comedy opportunity.
We've got something like four or five locations in it.
And when I came to work at StudioBinder,
I brought the idea with me and I pitched it to the CEO.
And he actually proposed a really great idea.
We do the proof-of-concept and film a short film.
And they do a behind-the-scenes making-of.
Yes. Exactly.
This is how I dress every day.
It's going to start with budgeting the film.
Getting locations, hiring crew, casting auditions.
This whole documentary is essentially
step by step taking you through the filmmaking process.
And you're going to see it, all right here.
Okay, so I want to start by breaking down my script.
Let's talk about breakdowns.
So what a breakdown is
is it's where you take your script
and you actually go over all the needs of your production.
The report of all the elements of your scene.
Elements are things like props, wardrobe, set dressing, special effects,
whatever it is that you might need on the day.
Danielle steps in the foreground downs to double of scotch.
So I need to make sure that I mark this Scotch
not only as a glass for the day
but also as some sort of liquid
that we're going to want to bring.
In my experience both at school
and just in the production world generally
creative people don't do breakdowns.
But the breakdown really sharpens you both as a writer and as a director
because now you're being thoughtful about every little piece of your script.
For instance, with our project
we had a situation where one of our characters throws paint
on another character.
And we sat there and we thought do we need pink?
Could we have him slap him in the face?
And the reason that we landed on the paint was because
we needed to force him to have to change his clothes
so that it would be motivated as
to why he transforms into this doctor character.
You know, that is invaluable that process.
Not only do you gain perspective
on the production has to physically take place.
It makes you a much more whole filmmaker.
So we're going to mark the group of journalists as extras.
You do this reports
so that you have those things on the day,
but also so that you can get an idea of the budget for your project.
- Today, I am working on the budget for "Mental Mistakes."
- Herman's our producer
and another writer here at StudioBinder,
he's a good friend of mine.
He is the most cartoonish and wonderful human being
you will ever meet in your entire life.
- That's where I come in.
Let's say you need a grip, a gaffer --
Are you going to ruin every take?
So what do you need to begin creating a budget?
First and foremost, you need to understand the parameters of the production
that you are about to attempt.
Is it a pilot?
Is it a series?
Am I working on a million-dollar film
or a $5,000 proof of concept?
It's very important to know this number upfront
so that you don't get grandiose dreams
let's just say smaller and less grandiose project,
After reading the initial full script,
I have come to the conclusion that we could bring this in
if I had everything going my way.
For about fifteen thousand dollars just a little bit over.
However, I'm going to try to cut
that down as much as possible in anticipation
of our budget actually being cut as much as possible.
There are a few things in every budget
whether you're an independent filmmaker or a studio producer.
There are certain unavoidable costs that come with every film production.
Everything from craft services to your camera.
You know, you're going to need insurance and permit
also talent fees and crew fees.
All of these are inescapable.
For my lead cast, I have them at $125 day rate.
The next big cost is our location aside
where we're going to film everything
because right now I have in my budget $2,000.
When I go through my budget line by line and see where I can get it down
because I know we don't have $15,000 to spend.
And I have a few red flags right from the get-go.
We have more than 30 characters, 15 speaking roles, 16 extras.
We have 7 locations in 23 pages.
We're going to have to cut this way down.
So the great news is you got a great script.
It's really funny.
I think it's really, really doable.
The bad news is I would love to get it all in the can for about five grand.
- Herman's coming from a place of caring about the production.
He wants us to be able to do this and he wants us to be able to do it correctly
and he want to be able to pay the crew correctly
and he wants to be able to get the right camera.
But when you hear that sort of number you start thinking,
Okay, something's going to have to get cut.
- The biggest way we can cut down on our expenses right now
is going to be in our talent.
- I mean by "talent" you mean
cutting out characters of the entire thing
or do you mean not having them like come two days in a row?
- If there are characters that that you do not need to introduce
let us know right now.
Another thing is location.
It would be great if we could do it all in one place
and for the smallest amount of money.
The last thing I want to do is curtail any creative freedom
in any of those elements
that attracted me to this story
and this script in the first place.
- If it's getting it down to two locations
that's a little easier.
But your ask is that I need to get it or that it would be easiest
budgetarily to get it down to one.
Because what it means is cut a critical part of the script.
- But as a filmmaker and a producer,
I know that we have a very strict budget.
We want to make sure that what we're filming is
only the elements we need to get the point
of the proof of concept across and nothing else.
We can't afford it, our budget can't afford it.
I guess it's important for us to sort of back up here and say,
how long do we want this proof of concept to be? - Right.
- And what is essential?
We have three characters, right now...
- I knew he was taking it seriously.
I knew he was going about it in the most professional way possible.
But that's never a great feeling at first,
especially if you've devoted real good hard work
and sweat into a script.
So you need me to cut actors?
- Yes. - And you need me to cut locations?
- Yes. - Yeah. No, I understand.
The feeling can be scary at first
but it sharpens you as a writer
because you're now forced to actually consider what actually does matter
which characters do matter, your strengthening those characters
because you only have the money to pay five actors
rather than nine.
Is an opportunity to get to write the script a second time
and to get it right.
Failure is not an option.
You just buckle down and figure it out.
So then we go down.
Press star now...
Otherwise, please wait and you will be joined into the conference.
This is going to be the super fucking loud conference call bullshit
while she sits there and everyone goes, "Hey, this is Tim."
Tim's on the line.
Hey everyone.
Do you have a great idea for a film or a television show?
Want someone to help you produce it?
We're looking for writers and directors for season 2.
So if you have a script that you want to direct
click the link in the description and submit your project to StudioBinder today.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next video.
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