That film cost me $100 for catered food. Nothing more. The equipment was all purchased (I spent about 20K total on gear)so that it can be re-used over and over.

I knew every role of every crew member. I taught the sound mixer and the boom operator their jobs. Only the DP side of the fence was handled by my wife (who is a pro photographer by trade and DP via UCLA extension).

Now I have experience with the technical side of doing an HD film and my focus becomes one of pure story. At the end of the day, it’s just common sense.

When will indie filmmakers learn that being a director means being a storyteller! Write a compelling story with fully realized characters and audiences will flock to see your movie even if it’s a slide show.

If Kevin Smith were like these guys he would have neer made Clerks. Fortunately he was not. He chose badly shot B&W 16mm with bad acting and virtually no directing ’style’ and yet an entertaining story with characters we’d love to spend a whole day with let alone the 92 minute running time of that film. And it launched his career; which is the frequent goal of a first film, no?

It’s about the story not the toys we use to tell the story.

Vegas is a mature, high-quality product. “Professional” is, I still contend, a denigrating word, dismissing someone’s choices and work. I am sure you don’t mean it that way, but that’s how you end up clogging the pipes in a discussion. Firing off “Vegas, Meh.” achieves nothing but to divide people who should be in the same basic camp into highly divided ones that any director, screenwriter or non-editing crew member would be sneeringly nauseated by.

Do lighting people do this? Say that if you use one brand of lights you’re not professional, or say there’s only one real light in use out there? Do sound people do it with microphones or recorders?

It spins wheels instead of travelling forward. Let the Vegas people be aware they’re not industry standard, but calling them not professional (which quickly contracts to “unprofessional”) creates animosity out of thin air.

As a working commercial/music video producer I was able to bring in an amazing crew at very low rates as a favor for an up and coming director and band.

We rented all the equipment because a $6000 video camera does alot more when it comes with Prime lenses, 2×8gb cards, a firestore, full matte box, professional tripod, steadicam, remote head crane, 3 HD monitors etc.

Most of our budget went on crew, and talent, plus a decent amount on catering. Pizza is for kids parties and football games. Get breakfast, lunch and snacks and you’re crew will not only be happier but have the energy to work better.

We also spent a large proportion paying an editor with a full edit suite to cut the video.

The two most important things for me as a producer is to get the most experienced crew and give them the best equipment to perform their job. Always work within you’re budget. We could have bought an edit system for close to what we were paying an editor, but an edit system does not come with 15 years of experience pre-loaded.

Just because you shoot HD doesn’t mean that the project is worth being shot that way!

If you are starting out I would suggest using the following: Final Cut Express (or equivalent), a $350 DV camera, a cheap laptop. Spend most of you’re time in pre-production and experimenting. Once you can tell a good story with these tools then think about going with more professional gear.

Lastly if you are going to spend a year raising money to make you’re epic movie then take a little time out and work in the lowest position on a set. That way you can watch what everyone does and learn how a real crew works. All crew members love telling you stories of what they do and how they do it. That experience is invaluable.