Interview with "Between the Walls" Filmmaker Nick Staron -  1100 days ago

 

Nick Staron, one of the producer/directors of Between the Walls, recently talked with me about the film, distribution efforts, invaluable gear, and a slew of other topics pertaining to the life of an indie filmmaker. Today I’m posting the first part of the interview. The rest will follow on Thursday:

Behind the Scenes What is your filmmaking experience & background?

Chris and I have made over 100 shorts. Practice is always the most valuable training. You’ve got to get your bad films out of you so you can make some good ones. We attended a secular film school and got to work with actual 16mm film with some really nice cameras. This helped us to get stronger in our faith because we had to defend it while also reaching out through film. Then we moved out to Los Angeles to work in the secular film industry for a while. We’ve worked on television shows like “The Bernie Mac Show”, “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Rodney”, along with movies like “The Visitation” and “Unidentified” as well as commercials for major clients. We’ve seen a lot for only being 25.

I currently work for the Cleveland Indians baseball organization as a cameraman for their scoreboard. I just adore that job.

I would like to note that Los Angeles is not for everyone. A lot of people are destroyed by the industry out there. A lot of faith lost. I’m not suggesting people take the same path that we did.

What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses?

Chris and I have each other. That is a huge strength. We can share the workload and have a common goal. I think Chris is a marvelous writer who is almost prophetic. Sometimes he’ll write a script and I just know it is what we are supposed to make. Even if it isn’t an easily marketable film, it will affect people because it has a power behind it. It is almost like God is allowing us to do this to speak to someone who needs it through his scripts.

We have a lot of weaknesses. One would be worry. We got physically sick during the making of “Between the Walls” because the stress was so high. Our necks were on the line and we were the only ones who could make the tough calls.

Tell me about your budgeting process. How did you determine what was needed and what mistakes did you make?


Budgeting is tough. But once you get a good budget done, you can use it as a template for the next project. The trick to budgeting is to get actual quotes in writing from each place you are going to utilize. Do not try to guess, use old numbers or just go off of someone’s verbal quote. This could really bite you in the end if you haven’t prepared. All rental houses are used to giving quotes. When you call you need to know the length of your shoot, the days your are going to take off (they may not charge you for the days you do not shoot) and what kind of insurance they require. The surprising thing is that most houses do not charge everyone the same amount. They may be willing to work with you on the price.

The reason I said it is easier the second time you make a budget is because you can use your old budget as a list of things you need to look up for the next project. However, you need to know your needs for the project at hand because there will be things unique to that shoot that the other film did not have. Do you need to paint the walls? Do you have to purchase breakaway glass?

I highly recommend putting everything in your budget that you are going to need. Do not assume that there will be money to cover things like envelopes, postage, carpet cleaner, gas, food and insurance. Do not try to skim these things out to make your budget look lighter.

As the original budget plan evolved into the final working budget, what corners did you decide to cut?

Originally for “Between the Walls” we wanted to pay people for their services. After we could not find investors or get a bank loan, we did not have enough money to cover the cost of paying people. We also had to cut out some higher powered lighting, professional dolly equipment, paint for the walls and a new computer to edit the project on.

It is always hard to cut things out when you feel they are necessary. But sometimes God wants you to go into battle with only a slingshot and some rocks


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Part of the challenge of producing a low budget indie film is finding crew and talent. On Thursday, I’ll post Nick’s account of filling these key roles, plus his thoughts on invaluable film gear and filmmaking stress. As they say in the business, “Tune in next time to find out more…”

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