Filmmaking / Directing : Ask Me Anything (AMA) 11/11 to 11/12 by Ryan Little

Hi Ryan! Love having you in the community! I’m curious about 2 things 1) with so many things on your plate do you have tips on how you juggle it all? 2) what are 3 tips of you’d give to directors to ensure running a smooth film or Tv set?

Great questions! When it comes to working on multiple film projects at once you have to be organized. You CAN NOT be a slob. I have folders very neatly organized on my computer for each film. In my office, on the wall I have a calendar and every project is assigned a different color so at a glance I can see what meetings and what things need to be accomplished for which project. This is a huge time saver. I’m also a sucker for 3x5 cards. I like to write down all my “To Dos” for any given project on a bunch of cards and throw a rubber band (Bongo Tie) around them. Then I can shuffle through them daily and throw away the ones I have completed. The stack slowly gets smaller. It’s old school I know, I know, but it works for me. What works for one person might not work for another, so try different things.

In respect to running a “SMOOTH SET” here are a few things I do: 1) Set the tone! You and the number #1 (actor) on the callsheet are the cheerleaders of the project. Be positive even when things go sideways. The rest of the cast and crew are looking at you guys for leadership. You’re steering this thing. 2) Tell people all day long that you appreciate them and are grateful they are there with you in the film trenches. Don’t yell, but be assertive. You need to be in charge, have an opinion, but appreciate others ideas, especially when they help move things along faster. And 3) Manage yourself. Don’t just assume the AD is going to keep you on time to make your day. Watch your clock. I wear a wristwatch and look at it constantly. For every scene I have set a time I want to be out by, BUT I set a goal for myself to try and get it done 15 mins faster than planned. Do that enough times in a day and you won’t be rushing to get that last shot before wrap. When I can see we are pretty close to rolling cameras or at least when I feel like we should be rolling I nicely say “I am ready. Who is not?” This is a nice reminder to the crew and cast they are not waiting on you and they need to stay focused on their jobs so we can make our day. It works great!

Hello Ryan Little such a blessing to meet a multitalented film maker like you here at stage32. With your success over the years, may I know the best way to ask fund for small productions like for independent short films that you think would be effective in all forms of investors or producers?

Direk Bee good question for independent short films since it seems a particular type of investor and project.

Ryan, I appreciate your 3x5 card idea, as a visual person I often find that I need the hands on, visual and real elements to be helpful. This is a great tool too because you get the dopamine hit when you delete a card. Sometimes the old school ways are still the best.

Ryan, Thank you for doing this! I really love your tips on keeping a smooth set, especially the "I am ready, who is not". I imagine it really helps the cast and crew get a feel for how you work right off the bat, gives a good sense of structure (and support to the AD), and is a nicer reminder when needed to get your shit together, lol. Having experience as a cinematographer, director, and producer, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the working relationship with the cinematographer and script supervisor as a director. What is your working relationship with those roles like in prep and production?

Hi Ryan Little - of course, the roles of Producer, Director and Cinematographer can be very complementary to one another but if you had to pick a favourite role, which would it be? Are they equally fulfilling or does one get the creative juices flowing more than the others?

Hey Ryan. Thanks for being here and for being such an important member of the Stage 32 community. I wonder if you could speak to the importance of relationship building toward forging a successful and long standing career in the industry. We have many people on the platform that either feel that networking should be a secondary consideration or, in some cases, might not even be worth their time or effort. Love to hear your thoughts on this subject and how you cultivated relationships over time that led to jobs, opportunities, or collaborations. Thanks!

Thanks for taking the time to do this AMA, Ryan Little. "I have folders very neatly organized on my computer for each film." I do that with my scripts. I CAN'T have things all over the place. Haha What are some tips for keeping costs on set low?

Kristy. I certainly love doing all these roles, but my favorite has to be directing. I am a storyteller and I love that aspect the most. Cinematography is a very close second of course because "painting with light" is so magical. Sometime there are too many moving parts and I have to hand the DP side off to someone else. And that is really okay. I can speak their language and speak clearly to what I want as a director visually, but still allow them to be creative and not step on their toes. I love working with DPs who understand how to edit and can visualize how it will cut together as we are shooting. When I am not directing I LOVE being just the cinematographer for other directors. I learn something new from everyone I get to work with. The film world is ever evolving and you have to embrace the changes or you'll get run over by it.

Hi Ryan! Thank you so much for coming to Stage 32, and sharing your experiences with us. Truly valuable information. I am always fascinated about the process to secure distribution, and how to go about setting that into motion during pre-pro to secure funding, actors, etc. Curious if you have any insights on how to best approach this process? Cheers!

Hi Ryan! Thanks for being such a fantastic Thought Leader! I'm curious, creatives are often told they need to find their "voice," and with writing I find that a lot easier than with the visuals of a director or cinematographer. What would you recommend up-and-coming directors do to find their personal visual and tonal style?

Hey Ryan, appreciate you doing this AMA! Curious to know how you got started in the business. Was entertainment the industry you always wanted to work in from that start? Also, did you begin as a director and expand from there?

Direk. Short films are awesome to work on, but as you probably have found out, hard to get funding for. Most times filmmakers will just fund their own short films with credits cards and personal savings. However when someone does have the means to finance it themselves they have to get creative. The nice thing about short films is they cost a lot less than features length movies. So raising money over something like GoFundMe or similar crowd funding platforms seems to be more successful than raising funds for something larger. Most people know putting money into a short film is more of a donation than anything and with only a small amount of capital needed they seems to give more freely since the finical goal seems much more reachable. There are also grants and other funds out there you can apply for you just have to search around. My first short film was a WWII film and I was able to get a couple grants to help pay for it since I was honoring veterans. I recently directed a short film and the producer who wrote it and wanted to see it get made did three things 1) He put in $2,000 of his own money. This is called "putting skin in the game." It shows people you are serious. 2) He looked for "Angel Investors" to help out. This can be family members or friends who just want to help out. And 3) He ended with a crowd funder and told people he had raised most of the funds and just needed a little more to make this happen. And it worked. I hope this has helped.

Rosemund. Yeah there is something much more fulfilling for me to see a physical pile of 3x5 cards get smaller than just deleting a line off a "To Do" list on a computer screen. 3x5 Cards and Sharpies are my jam!

Niki. When it comes to working with the Cinematographer and Script Supervisor the first thing I try to do is to learn their language. Everyone on set speaks a different language in a way. A Casting Director look at films different than a Production Designer. Cinematographers are more about the visuals and the Script supervisor is all consumed with continuity. So you need to be aware of what each person is most interested in and what gets them excited and what puts them in bad mood. If you tell you Script Supervisor that you could care less which hand someone was holding a glass in the last shot, then you probably will not have the best relationship on set. Just like if you tell the DP it will look fine to shoot a scene when it's noon in flat light. They hate that. So with the Cinematographer I take time to discuss the locations. We talk about what time of day would be best for shooting the scripted scenes. Or why looking one way versus another will be less stressful and easier to light. That way they feel like they have been heard. Then I tell them I will do everything I can to schedule it that way. And also tell them not everything is going to go 100% according to plan, there are simply too many moving parts to win on every scene. And they get that and know that you care and will do you best to fight for what is important for them. I take this same approach with the Script Supervisor and what they might see as possible challenges while we are shooting. People like to be heard and know that you have their best interests in mind. One thing that the Script Supervisor and I talk about a lot is figuring out which actors need more time to get their lines right, who is good at hitting their marks and who is good with continuity. Then just between us we discuss ways to minimize the damage if you will. Like "Let's not give this actor as many thing to do with props." Or "Lets let shoot this actors lines second since they are still messing them up. Having them go second give them time to practice, so when we turn around for their CU they have it down. When I have a take I like I never immediately say "Moving On!" Rather I will say "That was great! Give me a second." Then I will look to the DP and the Script Supervisor to see if they give me a smile. When I see that then we move on.

Maurice. Some of my tips for keeping cost down on set are these. 1) I think it is cost effective to pay more for a great looking location than to find a cheap location and have Art Dept come in and make it look good. That will always cost you more in the end. Find good locations that is basically "camera ready" and you'll save time and money. No one has to do anything to make it better. You can just shoot. 2) Do your heavy lifting in pre-production. Meaning do a shot-list and plan your day out and prioritize your list. Which shots are "must haves" and which ones can you lose and still tell the story. Go to the locations and spend time there, alone. Just you with no time pressure from anyone else. Take video and pictures of camera angles you want to do on the day. Track the sun and see what time of day is best to shoot there. On the day of the shoot go to set early and and review the days work before other show up and consume your time with their 1000 questions. If you are prepared before you shoot then shooting will go faster and you won't go into overtime. Overtime is the kiss of death. 3) Try to plan out shooting a scene with more interesting shots and blocking than choosing angles that require huge re-lighting to finish the scene. Lighting sucks up more time than anything else on set. So pick your angles wisely so less lighting needs to happen. Again saving you time. And we all know time is money.

RB. Thanks for your support and great question about networking and cultivating relationships. After doing this for 20+ years I have to repeat the simple words of actor Kristopher Polaha who said "Go where the love is." That is the key! Not everyone is going to be right for you to work with. For the longest time I thought networking meant to go to really loud parties and shake hands with established industry professionals, who had never heard of me. And then hope they would remember my name the next day and magically call me up and offer me a job. That is a waste of time, or least it has been for me. Rather try this....

Be nice to everyone you meet in this industry and expect NOTHING in return. Even go one step further and see if you can do something to help them. Even if it is to introduce them to someone they want to meet or maybe give them some information about something they are trying to do that you happen to be an expert on. Again expect NOTHING in return. They will remember you and if they truly like you the relationship will build over time. They'll start to follow you back on social media or better yet at a film event they'll come over and say hello. As you go around and build others up eventually some of them will reciprocate. That is why I love hosting the "Filmmaking Friends" podcast. Not everyone who comes on the show is a good friend of mine. I invite new people to come on and share their stories. We bond over that experience and they remember me as the guy who did that cool interview. We are now connected. Not everyone who comes on my show is going to move into my inner circle of film friends, but some do. And we try to help each other out. Eventually after many years I realized that networking really means "friends hire friends." People are much more willing to give a film job to someone they know (who is perhaps not that talented) over someone who is much qualified, who they simply don't know. Film people don't give out many chances especially when money is on the line. It's tough to sell yourself to people who don't know you and have them buy into believing your hype. But you get someone they trust to talk you up and you have a much better chance of turning that person into a film friend. When you finally make bonds with people make sure you are loyal to them. Don't be a fair weather friend. Loyalty goes a long way.

Shoot enough arrows into the sky and one will eventually hit the target. Relationships will come from your efforts. Show people you are there to help them first (expecting nothing in return) and the good ones will turn into allies and do the same for you. The good people that are right for you to work with are out there. Take a good look at your circle of film friends you have and see how you can build that circle together. Strength in numbers. Remember "Go where the love is."

Great tips, Ryan Little! Thanks! You said, "Go to the locations and spend time there, alone. Just you with no time pressure from anyone else. Take video and pictures of camera angles you want to do on the day." I haven't done that, but it's similar to what I do when I outline scripts. I look up pictures and videos of locations, which helps me write scenes.

Hey GiGi. Thanks for asking a question. Getting distribution in place during pre-production is hard. Especially if it's your first film. I made a film called "Saints and Soldiers." We did not have a distribution deal in place. We had no big named actors attached. We had no track record. We were completely unknown. It wasn't till we did the film festival circuit and won a ton of awards that people started to pay attention to us and wanted to distribute the film. I am NOT suggesting that as a healthy distribution plan. But what that film did was when we did the sequel to it, "Airborne Creed", we were able to do pre-sales because buyers had seen success with the first film and wanted in before someone else grabbed up the rights. So that is how we funded it. Here is something to consider. Do your homework on different sales agents out there. See if you can buy them lunch. Sit down with them and tell them you would love to bring them a film to sell. Some of these sales agents also want to be producers, and if you have a script they can sell then you have their interest. They can tell you what their buyers are looking for. That will give you a better idea if what you want to make can sell and who you need to attach to get someone to buy it. A good sales agent might be able to get some buyers to come on before you ever roll cameras. It's hard but it can be done.

In respect to securing cast, that gets easier as your career goes on because you build street cred the more you do. Finding a good Casting Director with strong relationships to the actors you want is a smart move. They are friends with these people. Especially if this Casting director was the one who got them their big break out role. They might have a lot of influence over the actor you are interested in. Once you start working with actors who are more established they most likely will be willing to come back and work with you again. You can consider offering them a part, producing credit and some backend participation in exchange for trying to get a named actor that they are friends with to look at your film. Friends hire friends in this business.

Sam. Thanks for the question. I come from a family of photographers. I always assumed I would be a photographer for a living. I took a video class in high school and loved it and then I wanted to become a Cinematographer. I started shooting as much as I could to get better at that. Then eventually I had ideas for short films and started to direct and shoot those films. Then I was lucky enough to meet a fellow filmmaker who wanted to make a feature film with me and we made "Saints and Soldiers." That got the ball rolling and as the budgets got bigger I stopped doing both jobs and focused mostly on just directing.

Maurice. That is great. Collecting shots of what you want a scene to look like can help a ton. Have you ever used the website "SHOT DECK?" It's a great resource to pull from when you are trying to find examples of things you want in your film. Check it out.

Thanks, Ryan Little. I signed up for Shot Deck a few weeks ago. I plan to download some of the pictures for pitch decks. And you're right. I can use the pictures on Shot Deck to find examples of things I want in my scripts. I say "scripts" because I actually don't direct movies, but I like learning about different areas of the industry.

Maurice. Awesome! Excited to see how it goes for you.

Hi Ryan. My name is Josiah and I’d like to know how can I really succeed as a screenwriter. I love writing and telling stories, but I want to be taken seriously as writer? I’m networking and trying to put myself out there, but it hasn’t been easy. What do you think?

Josiah. Yeah networking is hard. RB asked me to talk about that in one of the other questions. Go look at my answer on that one for some more insight. Also Consider looking for filmmakers close to where you live. Maybe their is a film group near you. There are filmmakers and actors out there who are just starting out making short films. I bet you could find some to work with on some shorts. To be more helpful perhaps I should ask you this: What is your ultimate goal as a filmmaker? What is the film job you want to be paid to so?

How do I effectively research film comps? How should writers choose the right studios or streaming services to pitch to?

Hey Ryan! Thanks for finding time to ask questions and posting great resources. Shellie Schmalls and you did great by the community on yesterdays INSTAGRAM LIVE video. Enjoyed that one. Cheers!

hello!i am a screenwriter and i wanna sell my scripts!

I'm pretty sure it's the same question from all of us screenwriters. Is there actually much/any chance for someone not connected with the industry getting the trust and confidence to have a pitch picked up or in reality is it swimming against the tide?

Hi Ryan Little My Question - Most talent agencies/agents have a "No Unsolicited Material" rule. Then how does one who might have a killer script and is literally from a different continent so to speak get through them??

Ryan gave you some great advice, Josiah. Also check out this post: https://www.stage32.com/lounge/acting/A-collective-of-Actors-and-writers

Hey Ryan, here's a little question, if you have the time.

What is the best way for an emerging filmmaker who's seeking financing for his first feature and he's got the backing of his agency, to the break through that first door and get investors and/or financiers or production companies involved in the project? Especially if you feel you've developed a killer film project, how do you get it out there? How do you let the right people know its potential? Thank you!

Ryan Little, great AMA! So many great questions, I'll still attempt one. Thanks and greetings to all! Ryan, I've written, directed and produced three short films, I've multi tasked for all three, which includes animations, editing and more, which certainly benefits with cost factors, one of my films is posted on the website, now extended to twelve minutes. I've seen you mentioned in basic description, about multi abilities and relevant cost factors. Can you further add, describe and reiterate your experience and advantages with multi tasking and multi talents, concerning general cost factors on projects and of course "feature films". Thanks!

Hello Ryan Little thank you so much for taking time to respond with such inspiration. I will definitely absorb whatever suggestion and options you've shared. You are all on point, I guess we need to show them first our capabilities so that we can build trust and support. Appreciate it a lot.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions, Ryan Little. Have a great week ahead! Same to everybody!

great, what is your recommendation for a new filmmaker? and the first film?

Thank you Ryan Little your Directing tips were great!