At first thought, the idea of a stress free film shoot sounds appealing. I mean, who wouldn't want to have the perfect production experience. But then again, does this sort of thing even exist? And what would “stress free” even look like?
The truth is, filmmaking is inherently stressful. To complete production (on time and on budget) a gazillion elements like sets, cast, crew, money, props and more need to be sourced and scheduled. And if even one of those elements are out of whack, the entire film can fail. That's stressful.
A Stress Free Shoot?
Having a stress free film shoot is “like a unicorn,” because it does't exist. To be totally stress free, your production would be one where everything goes perfectly and works without friction. Even if this sort of situation did exist for your indie film, would you even want that?
It's been my experience that when your production is too easy, the film usually becomes a major dud. I don't know why this is. But I remember first hearing about this from Peter Guber. Peter is one of the biggest and most successful Producers of all time. And he said something about film shoots “without the drama,” turn out to be snooze-fests.
Art takes passion and creativity. And many times that unearths egos and feelings and sensitivity. In other words, the most stressful film shoots may just be that way because of all the passion and creativity involved!
I'm not saying you should seek out the drama. I'm saying that you should throw yourself passionately at your project, whatever your role is, and watch how other people will start to do the same thing. But that combination of lightning in a bottle creates sparks and friction and energy. And if you want more tips on the right way to make a movie, check out the filmmaker action pack.
