Preparing For Takeoff

Chapter 16

Hiring the Crew

FIGURE 16.1 Hiring the crew. From the set of Helena from the Wedding. (Photo: Brendan Mason.)

Films are very much handmade creations. Even when the computer is doing a lot of the “fabrication” of the image, that machine is being guided by a ton of programmers, compositors, artists, IT managers, and all the people who support them. On an indie film, resources are stretched even more thinly, the crew works even harder with less sleep, and yet the results can be magnificent. So what makes a “good” crew? How do you pick the best people you can afford? How do you deal with the different minds, each with a slightly different ...