Fast Cheap or Good: Pick Two.

I missed this last month, but Washington Filmworks posted a nice write up by producer Colin Plank about his experience producing “Eden,” which I worked on last year.   Worth a read if you’re interested in what it takes to successfully produce an independent film.   Click here to read the article on the WFW blog.

One of Colin’s key points is “You can never have enough prep.  Start the essential people: Director, Director of Photography, Line Producer, and Location Manager as soon as you can for as much time as you can afford.”  I’m in the early stages of another feature right now and can attest to the truth of that statement.   Location scouting is almost always rushed.  The earlier you can start, the more deliberate and thoughtful the process can be, which ultimately benefits not only the creative aspect of the scout, but also the budget.

There is an adage of project management known as the Triple Constraint, which illustrates the relationship between speed, cost and quality.   It’s difficult to achieve all three. The saying goes like this:   If you want something good and fast, it won’t be cheap.  If you want it good and cheap, it won’t be fast.   And if you want it fast and cheap, it probably won’t be very good.