I've been making short films for about four years now of varying quality and content, most on a self financed, shoestring budget. The one thing I have learnt, apart from the expedential technical stuff, is things seldom go to plan. Despite months of screenplay rewrites, story boards, securing locations, sourcing props and costumes, actors have almost always been my bigest problem. If you ignore the fact that they only get paid if the film makes any money - unreliability is top of the list and will kill any project stone dead. Here are a few gems for you.
After weeks of auditions and rehearsals we began filming in a cafe with several actors, two Canon XL2 cameras and a myriad of lights and sound equipment. All the actors turned up late including the lead female character. The leading male character was word perfect in rehearsals and in a number of dry runs before we turned the camera on. The instant the cameras rolled he began to speak at a hundred miles an hour which immediately threw everyones timing completely out the window. Despite taking costume, continuity stills some of the actors turned up in different clothes - one had even dyed her hair a different colour. To be continued.
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