Your Filmmaking Horror Stories

[the_sneaker]

I recently had a terrible experience with a writer/director. Actually, it went on for like three weeks and I was felt like I was living in hell. You see, at the beginning of the month, I was looking for a new apartment to move in to. Anyway this guy who I knew through friends told me that I could live with him for free until the end of August as long as I helped him out with shooting a script that he had been trying to make for a year. He and I had previously talked time and time again about filmmaking and wanting to just stop worrying and just shoot. Anyway, he said that he had a script that was really great and, along with his roommate, he had acquired some great filming equipment (2 XL-1's was what he said), plus a free time at a sound recording studio. He just needed help getting it all set up. Well, I jumped at the chance, because A) it was free rent! B) it sounded like things were already solid.


Oh was I wrong. The script was terrible. It was the first one he had ever written and he did it on Word. Now, the first scripts I ever wrote were done on Word, but I took the time to make macros so the formatting looked as good as possible. His script however, had hardly any punctuation and the dialogue was so cheesy it felt like he pulled it straight from a bad 80's cop show. However, the idea behind it worked, and with some tweaking (actually a lot) the script could work. So, for a week straight, I worked on re-writing the script (but he didn't like the term re-writing cause it made it sound like his version sucked, or at least that's what he told people). I started from the ground up and did it on Final Draft Pro, which is a God send by the way.

So there's a problem out of the way. While the new version was by no means A-material, it was at least good enough to shoot with. I mean, I wasn't kidding myself by any means: there was no way that movie would make it big at all, but I just wanted to get some time in on shooting a feature length. By this time, I start to realize what kind of person this guy really was. He is a manic-depressive glory whore, and that is putting it lightly. Not to mention that he is a compulsive liar, but I didn't find that out until later.

Anyway, to make a long story short, almost everything that this guy told me was a lie, except for the sound recording studio part, which was fucking awesome. He basically wanted to be in charge of the entire thing, but did not want to do any of the work. He wanted credit for writing and directing, but wanted me to do all of the work involved. At first, I was going to go with it, because I had already invested too much time into it. However, by Sunday night, I lost it and went off on this guy. I told him I was off the project and he lost it as well and starting loosing his mind, literally. He was jabbering by the time all was said and done.

The icing on the cake was, however, when he promised me that the movie would get made, his way, and be fantastic! Of course, what God wasn't counting on (yeah, I call him God now because that's how he acted) was that everyone who I had brought into on the project and even the people he brought into the project all revolted the next day. They kept asking me why I left, so I told them, and my story didn't match up with the version he had told and when most of the people realized he was lying through his ass, everyone dropped him like a bad habit.

So, what's the point behind all this? I just wanted to know that I'm not alone here, that everyone has some either humorous or horrifying tales about the people they have worked with in filmmaking that drove them insane. Or just some crazy stories that has happened to you.

[david_bussell]

I wrote a short script once which was filmed in California. I live in London.

In the script I refered to a 'zebra crossing', forgetting that it's an English colloquialism for a pedestrian road crossing.

I found out when I watched the rushes that the Director had taken the script at face value and hired an actual zebra to walk across the street.

As it was, the choice turned out to be rather interesting, and not all that misplaced given the post apocalyptic setting of the scene.

so not really a horror story, but one worthy of a mention I think.

[Silverload]

Trying to quickly film a scene involving a gun at a public area without a permit or any kind of authorization. On the very day of shooting we were surround by like 30 cops! But they were there for a memorial service and were completely oblivious to us. It scared the hell out of everyone (especially the actress with the gun) and it killed our entire day. Ah, guerrilla filmmaking, so fun and so dangerous; I don’t recommend it to anyone.

And no, we did not use a real gun or even a blank firing gun (I would never use any of those in public without a permit and a professional on set), it was just a replica and even that was dangerous.

[Brendan M.]

I got in trouble with the cops once for using a plastic cap gun!

I did a film class project and we were shooting the scene in this alleyway behind a stripmall of stores. I guess someone driving by saw us and decided it would be best to dial 911, and sooner than later a cop pulled her car up right by us and my friends and I cooperated before she could even say anything. She asked for the guns, inspected them, lectured us about making movies in public places with toy guns, asked for our IDs, then gave the guns back and sent us off.

[Brendan M.]

Originally posted by david_bussell
I wrote a short script once which was filmed in California. I live in London.

In the script I refered to a 'zebra crossing', forgetting that it's an English colloquialism for a pedestrian road crossing.

I found out when I watched the rushes that the Director had taken the script at face value and hired an actual zebra to walk across the street.

That's hilarious! Whats the name of this movie?

[david_bussell]

It was a short called Five Minutes about a man trying to find a smoke at the end of the Earth. I gave it to an especially eager student to film.

[the_sneaker]

Originally posted by Silverload
Trying to quickly film a scene involving a gun at a public area without a permit or any kind of authorization. On the very day of shooting we were surround by like 30 cops! But they were there for a memorial service and were completely oblivious to us. It scared the hell out of everyone (especially the actress with the gun) and it killed our entire day. Ah, guerrilla filmmaking, so fun and so dangerous; I don’t recommend it to anyone.

And no, we did not use a real gun or even a blank firing gun (I would never use any of those in public without a permit and a professional on set), it was just a replica and even that was dangerous.

Hey, you know what? For how frightening it can be at times to shoot without permits, guerrilla filmmaking can be extremely productive and efficient, because when you have ten minutes to shoot a scene, and there's a cop just around the corner, you know everyone's going to make sure they're gonna do it right!