What To Do When Your Film Shoot Fails?

If you never know failure, you will never know success – Sugar Ray Leonard

It’s two weeks after we wrap from the shoot and I’m finally able to ship the footage to the editor. She sends me a text a few days later letting me know that she’d received the footage, and she’ll need a few days to send the first rough cut.

As the days go by, the editor explains that she’ll need extra time because the director needed to send over a list of the best shots, sync the audio properly with the footage, place the music where it needs to be etc. Then finally, I get a text letting me know that the first rough cut is ready to view.

My stomach immediately drops. I wait a few minutes to slow my breathing and heart rate down and then, I finally hit play.

I watch the 2-minute clip all the way to the end. I couldn’t understand the story line. After an hour of pacing, I had to fully accept that I made a major mistake before going through with this production. The shots that we chose to film were not for the “end consumer” but were for us, those who already knew the story.

After a few days of feeling down I decided to pick up the pieces/harsh lessons and start again. Luckily, I’d been stashing some money away and had a small budget to work with for a very small shoot. I was going to get it right this time.

A few days later, I meet up with Ihana (the videographer who worked on the trailer) at a Starbucks in DC. After she put together an amazing behind-the-scenes video I knew I could trust her judgement. Since there was no seating in the Starbucks we then went to a nearby café. I muster the courage to show her the rough cut. She confirms my thoughts about the lack of understanding of what was being shown.

Then I ask her if she could help me re-shoot the trailer. She asks for some time to think about it and respectfully, I agree. A few days later she gets back to me agreeing to take on the re-shoot of the trailer. Yes!!

Next, came the task of asking people who’ve never read the script, what shots they would need to see on the screen to fully understand the story based on the logline and the little bit of background information I gave them. The answers started pouring in. I even book a one-hour session with acting coach, John Judy from the Theatre Lab in which we spent 2.5 hours breaking down what he thought would need to be shown as well.

Finally, came the challenge of figuring out how to embody the character that I would play. My brother suggested I watch the film, “The Unforgiveable” starring Sandra Bullock. After watching it, all I could think was, “I’m going to have to make myself look rough”. And that I did.

How did the second shoot go? Well, you’ll have to stick around for the next blog post to find out.

Until next time.

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The author is not liable for any losses or damages related to actions of failure to act related to the content in this article. If you need specific legal advice, consult with an attorney who specializes in your subject matter and jurisdiction.