Shoot First: The Trials and Errors of a Wild 2023

In our last article, we broke down the project that got started this whole thing. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the wins and losses of its predecessor, The Oracle.

Part II: The Oracle

After the underwhelming [tangible] results of my first project, I was determined to get right back on that horse, take what I learned, and make another one; it was a revenge game. I picked a date just before MDW (a sacred weekend in my calendar) and got to writing.

30 days later, after writing the script (based on the true story of a friend of mine), finding and booking the locations, casting the actors, and hiring the crew, we shot our 30 page script in just 4 days. For people outside the industry, the rule of thumb is typically ~5 pages a day.

Besides the mere fact that we finished the project without any hiccups, here are the primary wins:

Win #1: I showed myself that I can make something solo

Okay, you got me, there’s no such thing as making a movie solo. The greats will be the first to tell you how heavily you lean on your cast and crew. I guess what I’m trying to say here is, on Help Me I’m Stuck!, I was fortunate enough to find a great co-producer to hold my hand through the process and show me how it’s done. From the positions to fill, the appropriate rates to pay, the dreaded paperwork, I was guided step-by-step through the process. For The Oracle, it was really up to me to handle, and I only had 30 days. It was a crash course on independence and, upon its successful completion, I was given the confidence, not only that I can do it again, but at grander scales as well.

Win #2: My co-stars started dating and are currently on month 7 of their relationship

*cue the sitcom audience: “Dawwwwwww"* :,)

Remember what I said about filmmaking bringing people together? If this is the only tangible thing to come out of this project, then it is still a huge win. I could’ve casted anyone in the world and these 2 people’s lives would be completely different, p crazy to think about. The only payment I need is a 30 minute speaking block at the wedding, I don’t think thats too unreasonable an ask. That or @unrealsherwynofficial QR codes on every place setting.

The Loss: 7 months later, the project is still in post-production

Yikes. If this was a 90 minute feature and there were hundreds of hours of dailies, foley, deliverables, etc. to think about, then this would be a pretty standard timeline. Only its a 17min short and all we have to do is edit the mother effing thing.

I had a fantastic time on set and met a lot of great people, but this was a project where the off-the-field wins far surpassed the on-the-field ones (at least until its finished). This primary loss encompasses an array of micro-failures that I learned from and never, and I mean never, will repeat again. There are 10,000 filmmaking lessons to be learned here, but I’ll narrow it down to what a general audience would find interesting. Here is what we got:

Lesson 1: Respect the process, don’t rush.

Like I said, I crammed the conception of the idea, writing, producing, and shooting the script into just a 30 day span. This only allowed one time for one true rewrite which is obviously not nearly enough work. I became so consumed with the production process and physically making it happen, that I lost sight of the product itself. This sparked a long quality control checklist that I will use on future projects to ensure a smoother transition from page-to-screen. If you’re going to dedicate time and money into something, best not to take any half-measures, even if it means slowing down a bit.

Lesson 2: Don’t compromise on the wrong things.

We wrapped The Oracle the weekend before Memorial Day Weekend, and it was time for me to leave LA and head home for the summer. This meant I would have to find an editor in New York City to sit with and edit all day. The only thing is, I couldn’t find an editor that was willing to work in person with me. I absolutely despise remote work, especially with something that requires such close collaboration like an edit, but with summer travel starting to ramp up and bigger fish to fry, I said screw it and hired an editor to work remotely.

This ended up being one of my worst professional decisions to date, leading to a 6 month long edit resulting in pure unmitigated garbage. They say a movie is made 3 times - once when it is written, once when it is shot, and the next when it is edited. This experience smacked me in the face with that truth. Had I stuck to my guns and didn’t compromise on something very important to me, this thing would be in the can already and we would be having a much different conversation.

Lesson 3: I am not an actor.

Not that I thought I ever was or could be per se, but I figured I could handle a single line of dialogue. How hard can it be, right? The answer: very hard.

I thought I could get cute with it and throw myself a cameo in my own movie like so many of my heroes do (Todd Philips, Kevin Smith, etc.). The result was a stiff performance that makes me appreciate every “bad” performance I’ve ever seen that much more. Acting is very hard, and I have a newfound respect for the profession after taking a crack at it.

I ended up firing 2 editors before finally bringing someone new on with personal stake in the project, and hope to have a finished product soon. I wish I had more for you here but it is too soon to give a final judgement on The Oracle, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, however, I have been going 1000mph on a slew of different projects which I will tackle in my next article, which you can read here.

Help a brotha out: