Grassroots Moviemaker: Building a Moviemaking Team

by Timothy Rhys | Published July 21, 2008

A couple of years ago, the first night I landed in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, my friend and I were sitting at a lively little bar, minding our own business, about to order dinner. Next thing I knew we were talking to a group of very sharp young people about grassroots moviemaking and the various projects they were doing. We ended up hanging out with them all evening and before it was over I knew that when the time came to do my next movie I wanted to try to work with them if the project seemed right. More than two years later one of those Sundancers has agreed to come aboard as the DP on Rufus Rex and one has become the producer.

That’s the thing about networking—you never quite know when you’re going to want to call on someone from said network, so even if you’re a natural solitudinarian, have a habit of losing business cards and would never dream of joining any of those dozens of online networking sites like “Linkedin,” make good mental notes anyway. However you file them, they will become the best “rainy day fund” you could ask for when it comes time to building your grassroots movie.

So now we have a lead actress, a UPM, two producers, a DP and a stack of names and resumes that we’ve gotten without yet officially putting the word out that we’re seeking crew. Moviemaking, for all its uncertainty, is still a business that gets people excited.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have only 10 weeks to go before the start of principal photography. Yikes. There’s still a seemingly endless series of logistical hurdles to get over in that time and these summer weeks fly by so quickly. We have yet to hammer out all the deal memos, never mind order the equipment and secure the locations and lodging for cast and crew. Oh, and I’m still scrambling for part of the financing. It’s a huge challenge, but I’ve been down this road before (albeit as a younger guy who blissfully didn’t know then what I know now) but I’m confident we can get it all done, and done well. If I didn’t believe that were true, I wouldn’t be doing it. (And I’m usually only about 15 percent delusional, so that bodes well...)

Speaking of delusional: I took the family to see The Dark Knight this weekend and Heath Ledger as The Joker is as good as we’ve all been hearing. We also watched The Pursuit of Happyness here at home, which I had somehow never seen. These are two movies that couldn’t be more disparate in terms of human scale (to say nothing of budget) and I enjoyed them both, but the sweetness and simplicity of Pursuit really touched me. I know that its themes will stay with me long after the sound and fury of Batman fade away. I’m hoping that we can capture some of that magic with Rufus Rex.

This week’s goals are to nail down the final budget, get deal memos signed with key crew, finish the next draft of the script and begin the casting process in earnest, which includes setting up at least one open call.

Our movie train is about to crest the hill and will soon start screaming down the other side. I can feel the adrenaline already starting to do its thing, which is to motivate you and make you a little sick at the same time. I know that feeling’s not going to subside any time soon.