OK… Repeat after me:
“I’m the producer. I’m the leader. I am responsible for EVERYTHING that happens on set, whether or not I was directly involved in what occurred.”
Even in moments when you completely, wholehearted disagree with the above statement, you must live and die by these words if you are truly going to take this position on.
Memorize the above statement and say it to yourself when a PA spends petty cash irresponsibly (you brought the PA on to the project so it’s your fault), and actor doesn’t know her lines (you chose to cast the actor), or the camera breaks (you chose to rent that type of camera from that rental house.)
Most importantly… you never get to blame anyone else, no matter how tempting it is or how justified you feel to do so.
You get this concept down, and you will be an excellent producer (or producer/actor, producer/director, producer/ballet dancer, whatever).
Your job is to roll with the punches, deal with the problems and still get the job done at the end of the day. YOU MUST NEVER TAKE YOUR EYE OF THE PRIZE (the prize being getting the film done).
On bigger sets, you have people helping you do this, like assistant directors and producers, but on a short, it will probably be just you. And unless you got money from another source, the sheer fact that you’re plugging your own money into the project should be enough motivation to keep it on course and on budget. No self-funded producer wants to see the project shoot another day because the crew felt more like schmoozing than setting up shots.
Besides, everyone is looking to you to see what protocol is. If you lose focus, so does everyone else.
Another good thing to remember is to be discrete when correcting people. The golden rule, which you might have heard before, is “Praise publicly. Criticize privately.” No one else needs to know except for the person you’re having the conversation with.
If the person is doing a great job…then tell the person… loudly… in front of everyone.
