ISOLATION
produced by Isabelle Pope
ISOLATION Trailer
film premiering summer 2021
communicaTE
There were a lot of people on our team, and one of my jobs was to make sure we were all on the same page.
budget
We raised $7,338 to produce this film. I made sure it was spent in the right places and that we did not exceed budget.
problem solveR
When the unforeseen challenges came, I worked with my team to put out those fires quickly.
SERVE
Serving is a privilege.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
Producers do many things but to sum it up, we make sure things get done.
Within an hour of launching, the campaign was made one of Kickstarter's #ProjectWeLove, highlighting it as a brilliant example of creativity that is honest and clearly presented.
communicaTE
I worked closely with the director, cinematographer, and 1st AD. In our meetings I took detailed notes of what was discussed, and at the end I would relay back to the team a list of everything that needed to get done, delegating tasks. Through clear communication, everyone was on the same page about their roles, and we experienced a smooth production. The core team members had access to a Google Drive folder to access all meeting notes in Google Docs.
I worked as a middle-man between the cast and crew, operating as their base of knowledge for all questions related to the film, whether that be questions on scheduling, budget, payment, or getting a ride to set.
I communicated with the AirBnb owners regarding getting their permission to shoot in their locations. I also handled getting them to sign location release forms and guarantor forms.
All communication with our executive and associate producers who financed our film was handled by me.
I answered all of their questions concerning the film, encouraged them to back our project, and communicated with them to receive the necessary information to fulfill their Kickstarter rewards.
I also had the opportunity to Zoom call our one of our executive producers who is from the United Arab Emirates while we were on set. It is important to me to have a positive relationship with clients and partners.
When everyone feels heard and understood, an energizing atmosphere of teamwork is fostered, cultivating relationship and lasting connection.
detailed
liaison
BUDGET
We raised $7,338 to produce this film. I made sure it was spent in the right places and that we did not exceed budget.
I budgeted that we would need a minimal of $4,000 to produce the film, but we raised almost double that. We received $7,338 from a total of 85 backers, which to this day blows my mind!
The majority of our budget went towards location rentals, gear rentals, talent, crafty, art design, and Kickstarter fees. Through all stages of pre-production, I was constantly reviewing and revising our budget to make sure we could spend money and that we were not exceeding our limit. I was the one who had to decide if we could spend money on a certain area or not.
My strategy in budgeting was to round up in areas where I felt like we may need to spend more. For example, I rounded up on crafty services because a fed crew is a happy crew. Since we didn’t spend $500 that I budgeted would go towards crafty, we spent that money on extended gear rentals.
Because we ended production with ~$1,000 leftover, we have chosen to spend it on an in-person premiere at Ludlow’s Esquire Theatre this summer, which I am in the process of planning.
review
revise
PROBLEM SOLVER
We shot this film during the pandemic, which called for much problem solving. To keep the cast and crew safe and give us a healthy environment to work in, I took on the COVID supervisor responsibilities making sure we were practicing all safety protocols on set. I also hired an assistant producer to take on these responsibilities for when I needed to focus on other things.
An example of a last-minute problem I had to solve was needing a large, abstract painting that fit the aesthetics of the film within less an 12 hours. Due to our crunch on time, we didn't have the chance to see the location in person before filming but relied on the photos online. We came to the AirBnb to find a painting of a boat right where our actress would be standing in our sci-fi film.
Weeks before I had just sold one of my abstract paintings to a close friend of mine. I called her up and she was happy to lend it to me for the week. This is an example of where my background in Fine Arts and Video Production had the chance to collide, and even better to have one of my paintings in one of my films!
I thought ahead of everything that could go wrong, and made sure it didn't happen.
Then when the unforeseen challenges came, I worked with my team to quickly put out those fires.
Through creative problem solving and thorough planning in pre-production, I was able to make sure we finished production on-time and under budget.
This still was taken by our cinematographer Garrett Satow.
think ahead
crisis management
SERVE
Serving is a privilege.
I see my role as a producer as an opportunity to serve. By handling all the logistics and what one may consider ‘busy work’, I remove every obstacle and create space for the team to interact, experiment, fail, try again, and grow as creatives.
Examples of where I got to do this in Isolation would be when we ran out of gaff tape, I drove out 20 minutes to get some. When our actress’s Uber ride fell through, I didn’t hesitate to go pick her up. Due to the pandemic, we had a reduced crew, so I was the one picking up food and setting up crafty tables.
remove obstacles
MAKE IT HAPPEN
In my opinion, the core of the producing role is to make things happen.
It was my job to keep things moving along, avoiding halts or plateaus. By keeping up with scheduled goals, proposed dates/calendar, we always new what the next step was which kept our momentum going until we finished the product.
