Members of the Crew on set for Compulsions

I know I’ve been jumping around in blog topics, but I’m trying to address subjects that can be understood without seeing an episode yet (December 1st!).

Another one of the frequent questions I’m asked is ‘how we put this team together’. The quick answer is that we know people that know people, but really it’s not that simple. It’s true that Cinematographer  Jason Raswant, Production Designer Rachel Payne,  and all the other principals were friends of friends, but you just don’t get them to devote weeks and months on a project as a favor. These are quality crew members that work professionally, doing this is how they make rent, and it’s gonna take a little more than “calling in a friendly favor” to sign on to a project like this.

What’s the secret?  Well one big one is to think about what your crew gets out of it from doing your show. In our case it was about the chance to really cut loose in their respective specialties. A series like this gives every one on the crew a chance to really sink their teeth in. In reality, even if Compulsions were to flop (knock on wood), every member of this crew at the very worst has an incredible addition to their reels. I’m not saying that everyone did this for their reel. I’m saying that their were many elements (from the sets, the multi-leveled characters, the intense scenes) of this series that made it incredibly appealing to the team members which transformed this into a grand passion project. It went from one person calling in favors to form a team… to a team of people going “I am doing *insert job* for this project, end of discussion!”

- After writing this, Producer Michael Tohl wanted to chime in below

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“Bernie makes a good point… and as co-producer I would like to add to that.  A major factor in getting people inspired, to get involved in projects like this, is that they see it being worth their while and having potential.  But how do you do that without showing them a finished product?

It always comes down to the script.  You have to be able to recognize what has potential and will be appealing to people… if you don’t have a good script it will be less likely to get a good team, especially on this level.  Nobody wants to work themselves to the bone, for less pay than a studio project, if they don’t believe in or love the project.

The story HAS to be good.  It takes hard work, grinding it out at the keyboard, and enough time to develop the story.  It’s like making soup.  After you’ve thrown the ingredients together, the longer it simmers, the better it tastes.  And just before it starts to get old, and just when the flavors are right, start letting people sample it.  If they like it, and want more, that’s when the project will take on a life of its own and start attracting people to it.”

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We’re launching in one week. We hope you’re just as excited to see it as we are to show it!

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