Making Films Are Hard

...anyone who tells you it's fun and easy either is full of shit or makes shit.

Making films is a tough endeavor full of mental olympics that leave your brain overheating. It's not "fun" or "easy" It has fun moments. Idiots can't tell the difference. Or they don't care.
When you're young and starting out...you are that idiot. I was that idiot. An idiot doesn't know the reality and just does things. Young people have the privilege of making mistakes. And so do you. But yours become more costly.

There are just so many pratfalls that come with making films that very few consider. Because on the the no to low budget world, most people think they can just run and gun.
For the most part, this is true. Filming without a permit and dodging police has been the staple of many productions in Los Angeles. Because as I've griped in the past, this fucking town wants a permit to breathe. And all of it costs money. This is the thing young filmmakers don't care about. Or think about. I didn't. Doubt you do. Because the reality outside of institutional learning has consequences. There is a ton of arrogance and blind faith when you are young to wear the "student" badge as if it were a "get out of jail free" card. I used it. In the world, no one cares and quite frankly, you try them. There has been a weariness for decades. And I bite my tongue when I want to warn the newbies in the business. Some have the benefit of hearing it from their parents (my workshop has a young guy whose father works in the business) but no one ever understands the constant door slamming when you want to make YOUR movie.

Even in "the real world" I had this one movie I was shooting where we had an entire stunt crew, pyrotechnics, special effects glass, and the scene called for the hero to get blown out of the window. The preparation took all day. The 1st assistant director had a sidebar with the producer about having paramedics on hand for the stunt. Insistent, in fact that they did. So we waited. Until finally I blurted to the 1st AD "what's taking so long? We're READY!"
the 1st AD's face scrunched up, took me aside, and calmly said we were waiting for the paramedics in case anything bad happened.

Boy did I look like a total newbie. Because we weren't in film school anymore, and someone could've got seriously injured.

I shot a student film at remote cliff in Lake Tahoe where the lead actor and actress (who is now really famous on a t.v. show) had to jump off a cliff into frigid waters. It was about 40 feet. Luckily they were young. Because hitting water at that height is shocking (I never did it, the director did). Had anything bad happened, there were no paramedics. No divers to rescue. Looking back, this was reckless and I have anxiety thinking what could've been.

For those celebrating those who buck the system and risk other people's lives for cinema, good luck with you. It's been done. And filmmakers seem to champion it. But if it's dangerous...or remotely dangerous. NEVER risk lives for this. It will haunt you.

Filmmaking is hard. So many moving parts that no one ever considers.