Quotes

I once asked a film student on set where the slate was, to which they said that one of the perks of digital filmmaking means we no longer need a slate. I replied that just because we all use Google maps it doesn't mean we should get rid of street signs.

A film production is like a snooker table. During a game of pool the balls roll around the table and bounce off of each other, but this cacophony is a natural part of the game. And the thing that prevents the balls from rolling off onto the floor is the four barriers surrounding the perimeter of the table. Likewise in a production, by the very nature of the process, there's a tendency for there to be a natural amount of disorder - problems arising, issues with money, long and stressful days, actors or crew colliding with each other etc - but what prevents descent into complete chaos is certain barriers put in place - a good grasp of the budget, good scheduling, well-structured script, solid crew etc. When you examine films that historically had horrendously difficult productions with myriad problems, a lot can often be attributed to the removal of one or more of these barriers (for various reasons) and as a result the "balls rolled off onto the floor".