Digging through the files this afternoon, I came across this document I’d written for The Nines three years ago, which outlines a lot of my production philosophies at the time. To complete my process-geekery, I thought I’d annotate it to show what we did versus what we planned.
You can download it here (.pdf). Note: Attentive readers will notice some mild spoilers, particularly in the visual effects breakdown.
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December 11th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I am curious as to what stage in development this was for. Was this for securing financing, planning budget, scheduling, or just a general outline of more business-y things involved with the filming. Is this a standard practice among independent, or otherwise, movies? And would something more in-depth be required somewhere along the way, more like a comprehensive business plan? Gracias.
December 11th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Are there choices outlined in this document that you wish you had made differently?
December 11th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Mmm process geekery, I finally have a name. I love to know all that stuff, and if I could interrogate people constantly I would. I have a hard time convincing anyone that someone could be interested in how things structure together, I’m not sure why.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Sweet.
Thanks for sharing this w/ us. Dream into reality.
I know you directed The Nines as well but… Very cool to see your (more than) writer’s thinking on actual execution.
Nice you really thought conceptually about reasons for shooting scenes in a particular format, color corrections as well.
I want this on DVD… will there be an HD version? And did you have to do several grades for diff. formats?
I swear John, you give us pearls every once in a while. This is one. I’m going to copy this geekery for a short I’m shooting next year.
Cheers
ps: true that Part II involved a lot of improv? And if so, was that planned as well?
December 12th, 2007 at 2:55 am
John –
thanks for that. It´s a really interesting document. After reading the screenplay I can only say I´m more than ever interested in getting the film on DVD – the trailer, the music I´ve listened to, the clips for the contest… gotta be a great piece of art.
Then – John, you have posted quite a few interesting documents concerning your TV show efforts. Is there any chance to get more of that? More character sheets, perhaps a couple of initial idea outlines? It´s just so fascinating to have such an insight!
And last, not least, I have to congratulate my good friend Alan who frequently reads this blog (and this blog only, he´s a bit of a no-interet-guy) – he just received the message that the grade for his doctoral thesis is “summa cum laude”. Congratulations, lad!
December 12th, 2007 at 3:22 am
Thanks John for sharing so much of your work. Yesterday we had lessons about “preproduction”… I think your outline came at the right time :)
December 12th, 2007 at 9:08 am
@Andy:
This was written when we were first drafting up a budget. The script was written, and the producers had signed on. We needed to figure out the shooting schedule, along with a lot of general production decisions, such as which formats we would be shooting, and how far outside of Los Angeles we could go for locations.
@Rich Dahl:
The DVD isn’t HD (i.e. Blu-ray, since it’s Sony). It’s possible they’ll do one in the future, but there’s nothing planned at this point.
If you look at the script (in the Downloads section), you’ll see that a lot of Part Two is left unscripted.
December 12th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Thanks very much for posting this. While the film that my partner and I are producing is not nearly as complex as “The Nines”, this provided some insights into the production planning process that we may not have considered.
December 12th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Follow up: Are there any documents like this floating around in th ether somewhere for major motion pictures. As in, are there similar business-y documents for movies larger in scale. Thanks Andy
December 12th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Spotted your “The Nines” script on imsdb.com. It makes for a great read and I can imagine will translate brilliantly into pictures.
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Nines,-The.html
Does it bother you that your script is out there? It’s a shooting script so could have been “leaked” by anyone I suppose.
Do most writers mind if their scripts are online if the movie is in production or complete?
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December 12th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
If you check the download section you´ll find the shooting script published by John himself.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:15 am
Hey, John, which program did you use to write this document? ;-)
December 13th, 2007 at 6:17 am
That was fascinating. It is amazing how closely you were able to stick to “the plan”. Thank you for sharing.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
This sounds cool, but I’m apprehensive to read it prior to seeing the movie so I will politely ask you to remind us of it after the DVD relase. I’m really looking forward to seeing it in Jan!
December 16th, 2007 at 2:56 am
Aaargh Spoilers! I didn’t see the movies yet. Could you please add a spoiler warning to the article? Thanks! :-)
December 18th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
dude, sweet!