Producing : Have you guys made similar mistakes? by Frank Romano

Thank you for sharing that—it takes a lot to be so open about your missteps, and I really appreciate your vulnerability. I'll definitely check it out! As for me, I think my biggest mistakes have come from rushing things without trusting my gut. Slowing down and staying true to my vision has been a huge lesson for me with time!

Sydney S you're 100% right. You can't rush things. I think many of us have the right instincts, and we feel when something's off. But when you're first starting out, you don't necessarily have all the tools required to diagnose problems quickly, so we need to give ourselves enough time to work through problems. But, instead of giving ourselves the time we need, we stretch ourselves too thin and end up rushing.

This is such a valuable read for all filmmakers, Frank Romano. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm batting 1.000 - I've made all 5 mistakes! What I really appreciate about your blog is that you don't just identify the mistakes you made, you thoughtfully discuss each one and put them into a clear perspective, which is powerful. On my first indie production, I misplanned the food and it almost cost me the crew and, thus, the production itself. We put a lot of energy into fixing that, energy I would have preferred to put elsewhere in the middle of an ambitious production schedule, so I always share that lesson. A fed crew is a respected crew nd a respected crew is a happy crew and a happy crew does their best work. Thanks, again, for this awesome blog!

Wow, this one (below) makes sense - like music, one has to have some room for creative change to make a good product.

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I Should Have Remembered On Set That Every Stage of Production is a Rewrite.

Great Blog, Frank! Honest and insightful. Thank you for sharing this.

Sam Sokolow thank you for reading, I'm glad you liked the blog. The catering issue on your first film sounds like a nightmare. I was very lucky to have a great producer who took care of the catering and a lot of other details. He really hustled. Between him and other members of the crew, including my excellent DP, I really didn't have any excuse to make the mistakes I made, haha.

Frank Romano just watching it now, Frank.

Geoff Hall thank you for watching the film. Excited to hear your feedback (and happy to send you your money back if need be, lol).

Hi Frank Romano I enjoyed it, thanks. No refund necessary, ;-) hahaha! The only problem was with the sound in the garage, with a humming noise, around the time when 'it's only a game' occurred. It happened twice, short intervals.

As for the guys, I think I would have knocked their heads together. I liked the performances of the cast and had fun watching it through. I loved the cinematography of the street scene at night. That was well done. Thanks for the share and I'm glad that I could help with the Romano economy!

Thanks for the kind words, Geoff Hall. Glad you enjoyed it. I'll have to look into that humming issue, good catch!

Frank Romano how did you find working with a Streamer, Frank?

Hi, Frank Romano. Hope you're having a great week. I just watched Rematch, Here's the review I submitted to Amazon:

Five stars

"One of the Best Short Films I've Seen!"

I really enjoyed this short film! The movie's funny, but it deals with deep issues that a lot of us face. The cast and crew did an excellent job on this film! Definitely check it out!

Definitely one of the biggest mistakes i made on a short film shoot was forgetting the sticks we needed about a 1.5 miles away in the car. We were shooting on a nature reserve and only had limited time where the sun was right, so even a jog to the car and back would've been a half hour lost. Instead we made a quick rig out of sticks and a gear bag to try and stabilize the camera at a decent height for the shots we needed. Obviously not a massive mistake, but we made the best out of it!

Geoff Hall, this is my first time trying to distribute on a platform that isn't YouTube or Vimeo. I didn't have much confidence that I'd actually make any money, I just mainly wanted to experiment with uploading content to streamers. You're very limited with a short, since many streamers won't accept them (oddly, even Amazon Prime Direct claims they don't accept shorts anymore, but they took mine after it sat in review for a long time). The first thing I did was upload to FilmHub, which didn't amount to much. Only a tiny handful of their streaming partners will take shorts. Then I uploaded to Prime, and I was surprised they accepted. The lowest I could set the price was 99 cents, so that's where I put it. I realized any kind of paywall was going to be a tradeoff to getting more eyes on it, but I just wanted to see how it would perform and experiment with the process. I will likely still upload the short to YouTube at some point in the future. The short answer to your question is: I don't know yet, it's still very early (it was only recently accepted). I might put some marketing behind it, just to see. But I'm happy with the overall presentation of the movie on Prime.

Maurice Vaughan, thanks for watching, man! Really appreciate it. That's an incredibly glowing review, far better than we deserve, haha. Thanks for posting it on Amazon. I'm sure getting reviews on the film helps with exposure.

Pat Alexander Man, that sucks. I've made stupid mistakes like that all the time, so I can definitely relate. Were you happy with the final cut of the scene?

You're welcome, Frank Romano. Happy to support indie film.

Frank Romano thanks Frank. It’s always good for the community here at Stage32, to know how the beast works.