“Good, fast, cheap pick two,” is our unofficial motto. (Our official motto is “It must be 5 o’clock somewhere, let’s have a drink.”) I am constantly surprised by how many people do not understand this simple concept. It is a rule we live by- and something I tell students all the time.
Your film can be good, you can make it quickly or it can be made inexpensively- but not all three. Everyone wants a good film so that leaves fast and cheap as the other options. If you want to work fast and get it made in a hurry, it ain’t going to be cheap. Conversely, if you don’t rush and perhaps shoot over a series of weekends, rather than consecutive weekdays, you can save some money and make your film less expensively. This rule applies to everything- building a house, going to a restaurant (Peking Duck takes time to make, so it will cost you) buying a car- compare prices between a Focus and a Maserati lately?
We are currently making a documentary about teen parents. We began work on the project last summer and probably won’t be finished until this summer. Our client didn’t have a lot of money, but we liked them and thought it would be a good opportunity so we cut our fees. The client bought into our “pick two” approach and allowed us to take our time to finish the film. In the interim we have been able to knock off a couple of other projects and the extra time spent thinking about teen parents has allowed us to refine our idea and make a better film.
But now it’s 5 o’clock and time for me to stop.
PeterH
