Pre - Production: Independent Producers and Screenwriters

Adele Romanski is an indépendant Producer who in the last year has built up her filmography quite a lot. She has worked on ''City on a Hill', ''The Myth of the American Sleepover'', and ''Leave Me Like You Found Me'' She begun as an Editor, went on to screen writer and produce, and then tried out Directing.

''As a producer, I work primarily with writer/directors so when I came up with the idea to shoot a film set in a national park, the logical next step in my mind was to sit down and write it''

When asked how Adele worked with two characters to integrate them together Adele said,

''We would get together and talk about the script – make decisions about who they were, how they met, how they had changed, and how they’ve grown apart – because very little of that is presented at face value in the film. There’s so much baggage and shared history there, and yet the film exists in this one week vacuum where very little backstory is revealed.''

When producing the low budget film ''The Myth of the American Sleepover'' Adele has given some tips on how to resource things and use what you have.

''David and I sat down and typed up this really long list of everything we need – these are the locations we’re looking for, we need help with food, we’re looking for this one particular prop item, this kind of car – and then we shared this list with friends and family, and little by little, we got things checked off.” 
''“I think it’s about exploiting the resources you have,” Romanski explains, “and working with your means. People ask me a lot, ‘How did you did you make a movie for so little money? How can I make a movie for nothing, too?’ I don’t think it’s about what you’re spending the money on as much as figuring out ways not to spend money.”''
''“The best example that I’m really proud of is that Labor Day parade,” she continues. “We knew we didn’t have money to stage a parade, so instead I called the Clawson Fourth of July Parade, which David knew about because he’d always go to it as a kid. So I asked, ‘could we insert a float or two into your parade and film it for our movie?...We got this amazing parade at the end of the movie. So try to think just really far outside the box.”''

Adele has made some interesting points, as a producer I definitely need to think out side the box more and really think of how I can create a great film with such a low budget. Using resources close to me is something i'm going to look further into as I want to try get everything for as low as possible so I can put more money into making the actual film with things such as the props, equipment and any additional items that will make the film look so much better.

Here is 'The Myth of The American Sleepover' trailer for the film Adele Produced.

“When you don’t have money,” she explains, “you really have to know that everybody – cast and crew – is 100% a part of the team, and feels invested in what’s happening in order for it to be successful and a positive experience.”

http://filmmakermagazine.com/41715-five-questions-with-leave-me-like-you-found-me-director-adele-romanski/#.VidexlxVhHw


Mynette Louie is an independent producer from New

York City.

She co - produced Andrew Bujalski's 2004, ''Mutual Appreciation'' and produced several short films. Her most recent feature film she produced is 'Children of Invention''In an interview, she describes the battles of Indie Filmmaking''It’s been hard for the indie world to learn to really, really shrink budgets. And while some technological advances have brought production prices down, like the cost of digital production and post, other prices have gone up, such as labor, food, guild rates. It becomes very difficult to determine how to preserve the money on screen when you’re stretching your budget that way. And that’s why it’s so hard to do genre films in the indie world. That’s why we usually see comedy and drama, because there isn’t the money to pay for effects and stunts.There are a few very innovative filmmakers who can do that. And the studios are looking at those filmmakers as well, because they’re looking at ways to cut corners as well. But that whole middle section has been gone for a long time, and with it the auteurs who emerged when those films were still being produced. There is a whole generation of lost auteurs, some of whom are turning to TV, because that is where they can tell their kind of stories.''

''We’ve had to say, there are too many characters, there are too many locations, and I have to figure out how to cut costs without hurting the integrity of the film. ''

This is really interesting to read as I need to consider different options when screen writing and producing if in the case I do have to either take out locations or characters to create a good film. I need to prepare myself as even on the blog Mynette agreed that not all budgets are as they seem as sometimes you do go over even if you don't expect it.

http://www.themarysue.com/interview-mynette-louie-gamechanger/

I watched this interesting video on Mynette discussing tips and how she goes about producing films.

Mynette reminds us as producers to be 'very realistic' on what we can produce, to always remember if it's the only thing you're doing to have a second job and to save the money so you can put it towards that film. 

http://moveablefest.com/moveable_fest/2015/11/laura-heberton.html

https://tribecafilm.com/stories/tribeca-film-festival-2015-producers

http://www.orionthemovie.com/

http://marketingconfessions.com/2013/02/what-is-the-best-website-platform-is-wordpress-king/

http://filmmakermagazine.com/41715-five-questions-with-leave-me-like-you-found-me-director-adele-romanski/#.VidexlxVhHw

http://nofilmschool.com/2014/07/list-of-100-indie-producers-mynette-louie

https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=zV0nVs28Ionj8wf-0ZuIBA#q=adele%20romanski