In my artistic process, procrastination has always reigned supreme. I am the writer that mulls over her ideas for many moons before bothering to put pen to paper. I often wander aimlessly about the Internet looking for creative ways to break myself of this habit, but as any indie filmmaker worth their mettle knows, magic bullets aren’t common in filmmaking.
But hark, I think I’m onto something, or at least something that works for me. Last year, I decided to lock myself away for my birthday and commit to a single idea that needed some serious plot work. First, I set a schedule. I would write in two-hour bursts and allow for “office hours” in between each session so that friends could come wish me happy birthday, feed me cake, and fluff my ego. Second, I identified a goal. In this instance, it was to end the day with an outline for my first feature, a zombie comedy based on a short film I’d already done well with.
Last and most important, I spent the days leading up to my lock-in preparing my writing environment, dividing blank wall space into three areas. As a visual person with a background in the arts, this is where this process started to gel for me.
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The Director’s job is insane. Let’s face it, you have to be a little bit insane to even attempt it, and when you look at the list of things for which a Director is responsible you could easily talk yourself out of trying. The following is a list of four things to focus on as you enter production. If you can’t do it all, you can at least do these:
I have been with Scary Cow for a year and prior to that I led and worked with many volunteer groups for a variety of projects and fundraising. I have developed some strong and highly successful attitudes and tactics for building volunteer teams and for assessing what team leader is a good one for me to follow as well.
Maybe you’re new to filmmaking. Maybe you don’t know which aspect to explore first. Maybe you’re dying to get involved, but are embarrassed because you don’t know the first thing about making a movie.
If you’re looking to add a bit of CGI to your movie and don’t want to shell out the $3,000-$4,000 for a high-end package, Blender may fit your needs.
As a Director/Producer, my greatest asset during production (and pre-production, as a matter of fact) is my A.D. As a no-budget, indie filmmaker, you end up doing everything yourself unless you get competent help. If you don’t have a go-to 
