In your most recent posting you mentioned your assistant Chad. Someone in the comments made a crack along the lines of “oh boy, sure would be nice to have an assistant,” and that got me thinking… What does he do for you? Is he more of a secretary, or does he actually help with the writing, reading drafts, etc.

I know your previous assistant went on to become a director, so I’m sure that Chad doesn’t just sit around all day answering the phone and filing his nails. Do you guys work out of your home, or have a separate office?

--Alon

Back before he wrote and directed Dodgeball, Rawson Thurber worked as my assistant, and was nice enough to write up this article for my site. So, first, I’d point you there. Typically, a Hollywood assistant does a lot of what you’d normally call secretarial work: answering phones, scheduling appointments, arranging travel, and dealing with the clutter of office life. In the case of my assistants, they also proofread everything I write. Sometimes, there’s plenty of work, but more often they’re on their own, which is why I make it a habit to hire screenwriters. If someone is going to be under-employed, sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day, they might as well be writing something that can further their career. That’s how Rawson wrote Terry Tate and Dodgeball.

My other fantastic previous assistants include Emilie Sennebogen, Sean Smith (who is now writing on "Summerland"), and Dana Fox (who wrote The Wedding Date).

Chad, who’s been with me for about two years, has a project set up at Warner Bros., and takes a lot of meetings around town. Before too long, he’ll move on and become a full-time screenwriter, and the cycle will begin again.

As to your second question, our house has a free-standing garage, and I work in a space attached to that. It’s ten feet from the kitchen door to my office, but it’s a crucial ten feet – enough that it feels distinct from home life, but close enough that I can still run in and get whatever I need. I could probably get an office at a studio, but I’m sure I wouldn’t like it as much.

I am currently writing, producing and directing my own film, and in it we needed small explosions and gunfire, etc. Is there a limit on how much we can safely do before we need to hire a professional pyrotechnician or call the fire department? And do we need to call the fire department for anything relating fire? We are planning to use flash powder and things of the sort that give a good looking explosion without all the danger of debris. What is the best way for going about this?

-Kevin

This is one of those questions that make me wonder, “Uh-oh, are we too late?!” I am not among the majority of directors who get all excited about on-set special effects or stunts. Matter of fact, I dread them. My mindset on any special effects shoot day is: “What a bummer, we have to burn the house down today”, or “It’s so nerve-racking to have to wreck three cars today”, or “Why couldn’t this devastating explosion just come from a stock footage library?” No, it’s not because I’m a chick, but more because I have an underlying philosophy that there is enough violence and destruction in the real world. Why should we create more? And if somebody already blew up a building the looks of which will work for our building (because I asked the Production Designer to make it look that way), why should I be so wasteful and self-indulgent as to do it again?

But some of you do get all excited about pyro, etc. and I know you must have good reasons for doing so. So, let’s address fires and explosions on the set: Even small ones present a clear and present danger (no pun intended) and should be strictly supervised by trained individuals. The firing of any firearm (even fake ones with rubber bullets or blank loads) should be supervised. When you think about the fact that your entire production could be shut down if there was an inadvertent accident to persons or property, you may realize that the chance you take by breaking the law is just not worth it. It is a tremendous liability and it is the law (and the Union rules) that fires and effects of these sorts must be supervised by trained County or City individuals and executed by trained and licensed professionals. I know, many of you are probably non-Union, but still the consideration should take place. Perhaps extremely low budget or no-budget independent filmmakers may be operating without the required filming permits and/or location permits and may be reticent to hire a fireman or a cop with worry about getting cited for non-compliance. If that be the case (here’s the rebel in me), then wait till the end of your shoot for your special effects, get a one-day permit, hire the licensed technicians required city representatives and hopefully prevent any accidents and/or problems. Ideally, however, you are operating with permits as this will also off-set liability.

When I think of pyro I always recall the time when I was directing We Sold Our Souls for Rock ‘n Roll, a documentary on The Ozzfest tour. As with all my docs, I was shooting one camera. I was on the stage behind Black Sabbath as they were performing their final song. As I started to run to the other side of the stage I got tackled and thrown down by a really huge, gnarly roadie-type guy. I was totally shocked until I heard the boom of the fireworks and realized I was just about to charge into a huge explosion. Thank God Ozzy and Sharon had the required pryo safety dudes in place or I would have been fried toast.

Is the Digital Intermediate output to film process an economic hardship for the low budget film?

I have not seen many, actually only one smaller budget film with the DI process--that was The Machinist--the rest have rather large budgets.

-Jay

John Mathieson (who shot Kingdom of Heaven recently) wasn’t very impressed with the DI process which must have rattled a few people! Whilst it’s considered “essential” like the iPod, you have to remember that Lawrence of Arabia and about 10,000 other great movies were all shot without the DI process. No, it is not available for a small budget movie but SO WHAT!

Having recently done my first DI movie (Casanova), I have sympathy with John’s comments, but would add that it is a great tool in the right hands, and those hands are the cinematographers hands, with tech help from the colorist whose role exactly parallels that of the lab timer. Like many techie things, what is just an option somehow becomes ESSENTIAL in people’s minds, whereas the age old element of storytelling is what is essential: good script, good actors, good director. The rest is just detail.

I have heard that in Canada and the UK, there is a union Camera Trainee program in place. Is there anything like this in the US?

-Jodie

No there isn’t although the camera department has one more member: loader, 2nd AC, 1ST AC and Operator so in a sense the loader is the trainee.

However, I do find it strange that the union does not encourage people in this way, but then a lot of things the camera union in the USA does are strange. At least they still have a union with some power, which is not the case in the UK.

John August's screenwriting credits include Go, Big Fish, Titan A.E. and both Charlie's Angels movies. His current projects include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tarzan, and Corpse Bride. He also maintains a screenwriting-oriented website at johnaugust.com.

Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, John earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa, and an MFA in film production from the Peter Stark program at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles.

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