David King's Blog April 28th 2007Many low-budget film producers like to hire one key art department person, and flank him/her with PA's. My opinion is that while this can work, it's not the best way to do things. If you are a producer making a low-budget film, allow a props budget and an art department budget. Art department tends to be a department frequently overlooked by low-budget and independent film producers. They think camera, talent, locations, lighting, then go out and get money based on just those things, then about a week before their scheduled shoot date, someone makes mention of how they're going to get all the props and set dressing. The producer thinks "oh yeah!" and the scramble is on to find someone, free up $1000 to $2000 dollars, and get the art department to pull off miracles to make the sets look as much like the description they give in the script. In the long run, it will only help your production to have good scenery. Nothing's worse than a great moment on film captured with a big, blank wall in the background. Or when you see the same plants or pictures over and over. Don't be too scared of art budgets. Most prop houses will work with low budget productions, but you have to tell them BEFORE you rent, what you can afford. If you go pick out or tag some items, then tell them what you can afford to pay for them, they many times will make deals with you. They are in the business of renting equipment. The stuff's been paid for within the first three rentals, so they're just making profit by the time you go and rent those items. Profit margins are negotiable. What's not negotiable is the value of the item if you lose or damage it. Since they are private businesses, they can set any price they want for the replacement of the item. Many times people look at the replacement value as unfair, but you figure they are making their prices based on how many rentals they can get out of the piece, not how much it's worth to sell. Okay, to get off that tangent, let's get back to production value. Most good movies are good because of a few things: good writing, good actors, good editing, good camera work, and good production design. What makes certain directors look like geniuses is actually the work of a few different department heads and the folks who do the actual legwork. Of course the director is the person who puts the vision together though. It may sound like I'm trying to give production design too much credit, but I'm actually just making a plea to up-and-coming and would-be producers to think about art department before you make your movie budget. It's tough on production designers and art directors to give a film the type of look that all parties involved can be proud of when we're working with little or no budget and little or no prep time. The more time we have, the more work we can do, and the more options you have too. For instance, stage or location? Much of it depends on prep time and budget. Stage can be a little pricier, but it gives the director so much more freedom because the walls don't confine you. When we take last minute jobs, with little-to-no art budget, it means using items that belong to the producers and/or director, using items that belong to us, and possibly no rentals. Most rental houses require that you have an account with them, which gets set up through the production company. Designers and art directors may have relationships with rental houses, but we go in only representing the production company that is making the film. We do not rent items and then get reimbursed by production. Setting up an account with the rental house is pretty simple. Just fill out the application, give them a credit card or check or cash deposit, and give them time to process. The time to process is why I say many last minute jobs may not be able to rent items. Many times, at least in Los Angeles, it takes the rental houses a full day just to process the paperwork. If you get started early, you'll be better off. So what do you get if you don't get rental items? You get stuff bought at Ross, Marshalls, Mervyns, Target, the $.99 cent store, thrift stores and whatever else happens to be open. I'm not saying that your production can't work with things from these stores, just don't expect the production value of a film that's renting quality items or buying from higher-end stores, or actually choosing color schemes to go with certain characters or settings, or any of the other intricacies that production design brings to a film. Until next time, keep making films. David F. King
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