One cannot make a movie by oneself. It has been said that it takes an army to make a movie and this is certainly true. One of the hidden lessons in moviemaking is how to work as part of the team required to get a project made. The hallmark of professionalism in this industry is the ability to work as part of a team regardless of how much or little you like those you are working with. I have worked on productions where two of the department heads despised each other, yet would still be working with their hands as they were arguing with their mouths.
One way or another, you must find a way to get the job done. You are best off getting along with everyone but there will be personality conflicts on most projects. If you are new to the business and you are part of the conflict, you will be cut out like a cancer. No one wants trouble on a production and those who cause problems are not hired more than once by the same team. This would go a long way to explaining Hollywood has the reputation of superficiality that it does. People need to be nice regardless of their true feelings if they want to work. I can tell you quite clearly that if you cannot figure out how to work as part of a team, your time in this business will be short.
Keeping that in mind, let’s discuss the members of a production team. To draw some distinctions, we should look at “the line”. A top sheet budget is an executive summary of all the sections of the budget, aggregated for someone to scan quickly without looking at every single line item. On this top sheet is a line. Above this line in the top sheet budget are certain positions which are considered the creative positions. These are the positions which are some of the most highly sought after. They are:
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
- Actor