The Process:

How a film is made

Prof. P.V. Viswanath
EDHEC
June 2008
What are Studios today?
 We start with the notion of a studio – which is a primarily
a service organization – a clearing house.
 It might contract with a producer to buy a produced film
 It might act as a financial intermediary for the financing
of the production of that film
 It might arrange for advertising of the film and its
distribution
 It might enter into contracts with distribution companies
or directly with exhibitors.
 It usually outsources the actual production and financing
of films to corporations.
 Revenues flow into the studio and are paid out to the
various participants
The Studio System
 Before today’s studios, there was a studio system.
 The studio system refers to a means of film production
and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early
1920s through the early 1950s.
 Under this system, large motion picture studios
 produced movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots
 with creative personnel under often long-term contract and
 pursued vertical integration through ownership or effective
control of distributors and movie theaters, guaranteeing
additional sales of films through manipulative booking
techniques.
 The Paramount case, a federal anti-trust case essentially
ended the studio system in 1948.
The Six Studios
 Today there are six major studios:
Paramount Pictures owned by Viacom
20th Century Fox, owned by News Corporation
Universal Studios owned by NBC Universal,
which is owned jointly by General Electric and
Vivendi
Warner Bros. Pictures owned by Time Warner
Columbia Pictures owned by Sony, and
Walt Disney Pictures owned by the Walt Disney
Company
Genesis

 A movie starts with one or more of the

following:
An Idea
A book
A magazine article
An original story that could be adapted
An old movie or play that could be remade
The pitch
 Most ideas that eventually become films are
presented to studio executives orally in what is
called a pitch.
 Studio chiefs look for
 Suspense, Laughter, Violence, Hope
 Heart, Nudity, Sex, Happy endings
 They look for what is likely to attract/repel
 Equity partners/financiers
 Merchandisers, Video chain stores
 Foreign pay-TV outlets, toy licensees…
Developing an idea into a film
 This is the realm of producers.
 Though these producers may be
independent, studios often give them
Offices on their lot
Money to hire writers
Money to option books
To cover other expenses
 In 2002, the six studios had 2500 ideas in
some stage of development
The Script
 If an idea is sufficiently distinctive and attractive,
it must be converted into an acceptable script.
 The script is the blueprint for the making of a
movie.
 The script is written, revised, polished – and
sometimes, completely reconceived – this is
called development.
 If the script is acceptable to all parties, it gets
green-lighted, i.e. it moves into pre-production.
More about conversion to a script
 Projects that fail to get green-lighted get put into
turnaround – this gives the producer the right to
sell them to another studio
 Screenwriters work in teams and produce a
script on speculation or “spec.”
 They get paid in stages
 Some portion on signing a contract
 Some portion on the completion of the first and second
drafts
 The balance contingent on the story being actually
filmed as a movie.
Green-Lighting
 In order to get green-lighted, it must be
acceptable to a director, who will then be willing
to commit to it.
 To do this, they have to have some control over
the script.
 Often they get credit as the author or coauthor.
 They often modify the script to suit their own
directorial strengths.
 Often producers may need to get one or more
top stars to act in the film in order to get the
script green-lighted.
What Green-Lighting means

 Green-lighting is a big commitment

 Directors and stars usually have “pay or
play” clauses to pay their full fixed
compensation, once a film is green-lit,
even if it is then abandoned.
 The average commitment for a studio
green light in 2003 was about $130 million.
The Budget
 Before green-lighting, the producer has to
develop a tentative budget based on a shot-by-
shot breakdown of the script.
 It specifies the total days of shooting and
estimates all expenses.
 The above-the-line costs include agreed-upon
payments for buying rights, developing the script
and compensating starts, directors, producers
and writers.
 The below-the-line expenditures include all the
daily expenses during the actual production and
postproduction periods.
Above the line with Terminator 3

 $70.5m in above-the-line expenses

$19.6m for the story
$29.25m for Arnold Schwarzenegger
$5m for the director, Jonathan Mostow
$10m for four producers
The remaining for supporting actors and perk
packages for the star and director
Above the line with Terminator 3
 $57.4m in below-the line expenses to account
for 100 days of shooting for the actors unit and
67 days for the second units.
 Second units shoot scenes not requiring the
appearance of the major actors.
 Stunts are usually filmed by second units.
 They photograph backgrounds for shots in which
actors are later added by the lab
 They film landmarks, crowds, traffic and other
scenery that show the audience what the
characters are supposed to be looking at.
Below-the-line budget
 $12.1m for constructing, dressing, operating sets
 $7.7 for special effects
 $2.6 for lighting the sets
 $2.4 for the camera crew
 $359,000 for sound
 566,000 for make-up
 $1.6m for wardrobe
 $5.4 m for second units
 $4.4m for locations
More below-the-line
 $3.9 for transportation
 $1.5m for stunts
 $2m for the production staff
 $395,000 for extras
 $1.6m for the art department
 $1.2m for buying and processing the film
 $1.9m for renting studio space
 $28m for 200 days of post-production work –
digital effects, editing, dubbing, music and for
the opening and end titles.
General Expenses and Insurance
 The general part of the budget was
$13.4m.
 $2.4m for the completion bond
 $2m for cast insurance
 $2m for legal and accounting expenses
 $7m for unforeseen contingencies
 $5m for 3600 prints
 $45m for advertising and publicity
Other cashflows
 Major merchandise tie-in partners also help with
advertising.
 For example, the James Bond film Die Another
Day had $120m in merchandiser advertising.
 Merchandisers could have long-term contractual
agreements with studios, as well.
 In addition, box-office revenues, video revenues,
merchandising revenues all have to be forecast.
On to the actual movie making
 Once a film is green-lighted, the studios
executes contracts with the producers, co-
financiers, directors and other principals in the
production
 The initial installment of funds is deposited in a
bank account set up for the production.
 A team of executives is assigned to complete
the film.
 The film is set up as a separate corporation and
hires hundreds of temporary employees
including actors, artists, technicians,
constructions workers, drivers, caterers and
personal assistants.
Producer hierarchy
 The line producer or production manager who,
on a day-to-day basis ensures that the director
has what he needs to make the movie.
 The first assistant director (AD) who schedules
the arrivals and departures of actors and
technicians on the set so that the director can
efficiently shoot the movie.
 A director of photography (DP) who supervises
the camera and lighting crew
Further down the hierarchy
 A production designer responsible for creating
the visual illusion on sets and locations.
 A wardrobe head responsible for outfitting all the
actors
 A location manager responsible for the logistics
of all the shooting done outside the studio
 A unit manager, whose staff tracks the
expenditures, keeps the books and makes sure
the bills are paid.
Shooting Schedules
 A detailed shooting schedule is established,
taking into account the stars’ schedules and the
most efficient use of expensive locations and
other time-sensitive resources.
 Stars limit their availability to a specific number
of weeks, called the “guaranteed period” after
which they get paid a huge increment.
 All scenes in a given location are shot at the
same time, regardless of when they take place
in the story.
Storyboards
 The first step in the pre-production process (prep) is
storyboarding.
 A film storyboard is a large comic of the film or some
section of the film produced beforehand to help film
directors visualize the scenes and find potential
problems before they occur.
 Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that
indicate movement.
 A storyboard provides a visual layout of events as they
are to be seen through the camera lens.
 Storyboards allow visual thinking, planning and
experimenting, particularly when working in groups.
Casting
 The next step is casting the speaking roles.
 A casting director is used who acts as a specialized
consultant in suggesting actors for movie parts.
 Sometimes directors want to work with specific actors
whom they’ve worked with successfully previously.
 If a director believes that an actor will contribute to the
success of the film, the script may even be rewritten to
suit the actor.
 After a screen test, the selected actors are offered
contracts specifying the periods they will be available for
principal shooting and then for dubbing and reshooting.
Creating the Setting
 The third step is creating the setting in which the
story takes place.
 The production designer designs the sets, props
and clothing for every scene.
 These are incorporated into the storyboards.
 Engineers, carpenters and other specialists then
create the necessary ingredients to transform
these designs into three-dimensional full-scale
reality.
Technical Details and Logistics
 Technicians must simultaneously be hired for
the camera manipulation, for sound and for
lighting
 The producer needs to hire hairdressers,
makeup artists and wardrobe dressers.
 Location scouts find locations that fit into the
production design
 Then logistical arrangements must be made for
the arrival of the technicians and actors.
Shooting the film
 Every day of shooting is expensive – the average daily
running cost of a film in 2000 was $165,000.
 Directors depend on their first assistant directors to act
as their executive officers.
 After actors take their place on the scene (a given
camera position is called a setup) and the director of
photography (DP) is satisfied, the scene is shot – this is
called a take.
 The director views a digital version of the take and if he
is dissatisfied will do several more takes.
 Sound engineers and DPs may also request re-takes.
 After a successful take, the director moves on to the next
setup.
Continuation of the Shooting
 At the end of a day, the director, the AD, the producers,
the DP, the production designer and editor go into a
projection room to watch the unedited dailies from the
day’s shooting .
 The director determines whether he has the shots
necessary for the film.
 The studio executives also look at the dailies and make
their own comments.
 The unit managers send lists of each day’s expenditures
to the head of physical production, who keeps costs from
exceeding budget.
 When the last take is completed, principal photography
is over.
 At this point, computer graphics are added and missing
sounds (such as crowd sounds) are inserted.
Editing and Film Completion
 Finally the film is edited by the editor.
 The director closely supervises the editing, which can,
sometimes, drastically change the nature of a film.
 This procedure is done on a computer.
 Once the editing decisions are all made, the director’s
cut is produced.
 The studio usually has final control of the film before the
final cut is made.
 At this point, the accountants come up with the final
computation of the “negative cost.”
 The film goes into inventory awaiting a decision as to
when it will be released.