An Overview of the different Stages of Pre-production (Part

One)
By Sareesh Sudhakaran

Disclosure: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
Please help support wolfcrow and buy from Amazon . It won’t cost you anything extra.

Believe it or not, pre-production involves every stage of the filmmaking process. If you ignore any
particular aspect ‘for later’, you’re asking for trouble. I’ve already covered this inWhat is Pre-production?

Rule of thumb: Wrap up everything in pre-production.

There are six fundamental divisions to pre-production, all related to one another, but they don’t know it 
yet:

Management – This is the core, the only part that knows everything
Administration – The paperwork
Writing – The ‘Plan’
Talent – The people who feel they are the most important
Location – The work that needs to be done but nobody wants to do it
Production – Everything else
 
In this part I’ll look at the first four. In Part Two I’ll cover Location and Production. This is how they’re all
related:
Management
Management is the focal point of any production. It is the first to form, and the last
to disband once production is complete. It includes key positions such as the
Producer (and all its variants), Writer, Director, Unit Production Manager, First
Assistant Director, etc.

Here are the steps involved in Management:

Office Setup

The first thing you do is setup an office space from which the management team
can operate. At the bare minimum this includes a room with four walls, a
computer, and optionally a printer. A full-fledged production office will have space
for meetings, charts, posters, files, and many other functions.

An office keeps you focused, and more importantly, it ensures your team is all in
one place.

Scheduling

Scheduling is traditionally decided by the First Assistant Director in tandem with

Of course, most of this power is an illusion, as there are many factors that affect
the schedule. A schedule outlines the basics:

Where do we meet?
What do we do?
Who has to show up?
When do they have to show up?
 
There is a schedule for pre-production, production and post-production. This is a
critical task, as many other factors depend on its accuracy.

Budgeting

Based on all the other factors, a full detailed production budget is drawn up. The
concept of dividing pre-production tasks as outlined in this article demonstrates
how complicated setting up a budget really is.

Big budget studios can afford to overrun their budgets, independent filmmakers
cannot. Underestimating the budget is one of the greatest causes of production
failure, and it is usually the result of the inability of the filmmaker to acknowledge
reality.
The responsibility of preparing the budget lies with the Production Manager.

Production Management

Production Management is the running of day to day operations of a movie. The

While the creative departments focus on the art, the production team runs the
machine.

Meetings

Meetings are the most time-consuming parts of pre-production. People from every
department have to meet, at some place or another. It doesn’t always have to be
at the production office.

Catering

Catering begins as soon as a production is green-lit. Everyone has to eat, and this
responsibility is handled by the production team, headed by the Production
Manager.

Everyone has to be fed well (doesn’t mean greasy comfort food). A well fed crew is
an efficient and motivated crew. If you can’t afford to treat your crew well, get
ready to face hell.

Administration
Legal and Accounting

Every production must have a solid legal foundation. The day-to-day accounting
tasks are carried out by the production team, but at the end of the day all debits
and credits will flow through certified accountants, who will minutely inspect every
detail.

These are checks and balances that are in place to ensure everyone’s doing their
job, and no money is being wasted or robbed.

Permits

Permits will have to be obtained from locations, individuals, agencies,

These permits are not scraps of paper, they are legitimate documents valid in the
eyes of the law. They are usually prepared by the legal team, and enforced by the
production team.

Contracts

Contracts are also prepared by the legal team, and they have to be duly signed.

Writing
Screenplay/Script

The ‘finished’ draft of a screenplay is the basis of any production. This draft will be
scrutinized in minute detail by many individuals, from every angle imaginable.

Before this happens, scene numbers are etched in stone, and then never changed.
If more scenes are added, they are given new numbers or letters (like 3a, for a
new scene between 3 and 4, and so on).

Breakdowns

A script is ‘broken down’ into the following documents:

Location breakdown
Cast breakdown
Crew breakdown
Scene breakdown
Effects breakdown (if any)
 
There are no limits to the types of breakdowns you can do, but the above are the
most common and important.

A breakdown is just a list of items of that particular type, organized, sorted,

Research

At every stage of the production, the research ‘team’ finds and distills information
to ‘scannable’ form for the director or writer, especially where detail is necessary.
It’s like someone else doing your homework for you.

Previz or Storyboarding

Storyboarding is the art of drawing or rendering frames as visualized by the

When it is done on computer, you call it Previz, or pre-visualization. This can take
the form of still frames, presentations, motion, 3D animations, and anything else
that catches the director’s fancy.

Shooting Script

Once the director is locked in on how he or she wants to tackle a production, it is

The shooting script is the screenplay with ‘shot’ information.

Talent
Auditions and Casting

Auditions and Casting are managed by the Casting Director and Director.
Sometimes, these are filmed for later scrutiny. On most productions, the director is
present during auditions.

Casting is critical. There are very few directors who think casting isn’t the most
important part of any production.

Rehearsals

Once the cast and crew are in place, it is time to rehearse. This period might be
one reading (a day), a week or a month. Depending on availability of talent, and
what the director feels is required, this period may vary.

Rehearsals are an excellent time for everyone to study the structure of the
production from a safe distance. Changes can still be made without loss of time
and money.