Well, if you've been following the adventures of our little movie project, you'll remember that we had a couple of conflicts. Mostly, these were related to my allowing chaos to reign supreme by not properly assuming command early on. You see, in this production, I am one of four producers, and I am also director and DP.  This in itself isn't too unusual, and wouldn't cause any issues, but I wasn't firm on duties and responsibilities for the rest of the producers and crew, and we ended up with a crowd in control, which rapidly became "mob rule."

From the outside, this whole thing must seem like a huge exersize in futility, wrapped in an orgy of self-absorbed amateurs all working out their personal agendas as pretend-producers, not realizing they are all "bit parts" in each others' screenplays.

The resulting drama created angry actors, hurt producers, (not me; I've been in the industry too long to have feelings any more), and a director that had to finally say "stop!" That would be me.  This project got out of control for a number of reasons, and the biggest was that we have a small crew.  Now, normally, I'd say that a bigger crew and staff would be more difficult to manage, but the situation changes drastically when your budget and your crew size forces so many people to wear so many hats.  Our ability to manage specific departments was compromised from day one, and we let our friendships get in the way of proper producing.

Many Lessons Learned
I've done a lot of projects much larger than this, but I botched this one, big time.  The biggest lesson: Even when you're starting with friends, keep everything professional.  Contracts must be in order, job descriptions must be clearly defined, and above all else, keep clear divisions between positions, and allow no unauthorized overlap.

The Solution
Are we done? Not by any means.  We are left picking up the pieces and re-structuring.  Is all lost? I don't think so.  We did lose an actor and a crew member, and for that, we will suffer.  Our relationships have been damaged, and we have to repair those.  In my mind, our reputations only need repair if we can't seem to get a grip on the next go-'round. So, we're developing a plan to make sure we never go through this again:

1. Get out our handy-dandy job-description list, and assign positions.  It's OK to change some of the job assignments down the road, but ONLY when our tiny amateur crew understands clearly what those jobs are.
2. Develop and sign working relationship contracts with everyone involved in the project. This one step can save infinite heartache by simply defining the relationships.
3. Dis-include any actors from our planning meetings until roles are assigned, and then only when they are required to be there.

The Caveat
Now, keep in mind that we tried starting over twice, and failed miserably. This production had to be completely shut down to truly start over, and we've had to lecture each other repeatedly about leaving the past in the past.  This ONLY works if everyone can truly start over.  It will help having a single producer in charge.  The buck really does have to stop somewhere...  it might as well be with me.