Overview
Prep meetings are a key part of the FC development and pre-production process, bringing students and faculty together to review projects, evaluate readiness, identify potential concerns, and coordinate planning across departments before production begins.
For directors in their Capstone projects, there will be 4 major meetings. Some meetings include other creative partners, particularly Directors Prep meeting, and in a lesser scale Casting and Locations.
- Story Meeting
- Casting and Locations Meeting
- Directors prep
- Director Prepares/Storyboard Meeting
These meetings help productions address creative, logistical, technical, and safety issues early enough for meaningful adjustments to be made before filming. They also give students experience presenting projects professionally, responding to feedback constructively, and learning how collaborative production planning functions within larger filmmaking environments.
Story Meeting
Required: WR/DR • Optional: PR/PD/DP/ED
This meeting is an opportunity for writers/directors and the Writing & Directing instructors to reflect upon the story. It’s an opportunity for the director to convey their vision and explore it with the faculty. The meeting will be primarily conceptual — more about dreaming than practical logistics — but we will touch on production elements where relevant.
Post the latest draft of the script to the show’s Teams channel at least 24 hours in advance.
Optional: Any visual references that might be helpful.
Optional: Any casting hopes or possibilities.
Casting and Locations Meeting
Required: DR/PD/PR (if available)
This meeting will begin the work of bridging the gap between dream and reality: how a creative vision of the story world might translate into the practical mechanics of building it, and how a mental picture of a character might be brought to life through the casting of a specific actor. It is still an exploratory meeting, but one tailored towards how you might accomplish the grand vision — especially with regards to locations and casting possibilities.
• ASAP, but no later than 1 week prior to meeting, post and display Casting Breakdowns in Motion
• By 2:00pm the day before the meeting, post pictures and/or videos of possible locations and actors to the show’s teams channel.
• In the meeting, show and discuss video auditions of possible actors. Make sure videos are in a playable format. Regarding locations, a clear, and distinct collage of pictures, frames, ideally taken by one of the ATL members. Google images may not be an accurate representative of the project.
Director’s Prep Meeting
Required: DR / PR / PD / DP / 1D / 2D / AR
The Director’s Prep Meeting takes place on Day 2 of pre-production with Directing and Cinematography faculty. Because the film is still early in prep, a fully resolved production plan is not expected.
The purpose of D-Prep is to evaluate the film’s creative vision, production readiness, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking, while identifying the most important issues that must be resolved before Greenlight.
DELIVERABLES:
REQUIRED D-PREP PACKAGE (Director, Producer, Production Designer, Cinematographer, 1st Assistant Director)
The Producer is responsible for assembling all presentation materials (see below) into one presentation document/presentation (Canva, Keynote, or PowerPoint). The file naming convention should follow: ##FC_DPrep_Package. The package materials must follow the presentation order below and be ready for use at the start of D-Prep.
REQUIRED DIRECTORS PREP SCRIPT (Director) Submit a numbered script with a title page clearly identifying it as the Director’s Prep Version and including the show number. Submit to the show channel no more than 24-hours before Prep.
DAY-OF EXPECTATIONS
All participants must arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled start of D-Prep. All technical checks must be completed in advance, and the ##FC_DPrep_Package must be ready to present on the designated room monitor.
D-Prep must begin on time.
1. PRODUCER — Opening | 2 Minutes
Present:
* Show title and show number
* Shoot dates
* Introduction of ATL team, Art Director and 2nd AD.
2. DIRECTOR — Creative Vision | 10 Minutes
Present/Deliver:
* One-page Director’s Statement clearly articulating the vision for the film
* Casting choices
* Clips from actor rehearsals
* VFX plan and/or tests, if applicable
3. PRODUCER — Logistics Status | 10 Minutes
Provide a top-level assessment of the film’s overall production readiness and major logistical issues.
Present/Deliver:
* Casting status
* Location status
* Major production/safety logistics
* Outstanding challenges or concerns
* Items requiring action before Greenlight
The report should demonstrate that the Producer is actively communicating and collaborating with the film’s ATL team and builds upon the logistics framework established during the summer semester.
4. PRODUCTION DESIGNER — Art Department Delivery Brief | 10 Minutes
Present the Art Department’s current readiness for production, emphasizing what is Ready, At Risk, or Unresolved rather than simply presenting design intent.
Present/Deliver:
* Overall Art Department status
* Current location/set photos
* Ground plans with north/sun orientation
* Set dressing/redress and access/setup needs
* Scene-by-scene status of wardrobe, props, set dressing, HMU, and SPFX as applicable
* Continuity, multiples, resets, transportation, personnel, and departmental dependencies
* Three Threats to Delivery: challenge, consequence, and proposed mitigation
* Decisions or approvals required from the Director
* For story-critical environments, the “last layer” still needed to strengthen character, history, mood, theme, or verisimilitude
The goal is not to prove that everything is finished. The goal is to demonstrate that the Art Department has communicated to the ATL what remains, confirmed approval on what matters most, and plotted out how it intends to get the film ready for production.
5. CINEMATOGRAPHER — Visual Execution | 10 Minutes
Present/Deliver:
* Brief visual references/look book communicating the intended mood, tone, and photographic approach
* FC Workshop footage from Summer B
* The two biggest concerns related to executing the Director’s vision
6. 1ST AD — Schedule & Production Plan | 5 Minutes
Present/Deliver:
* Preliminary setup schedule
* Daily call, lunch, and estimated wrap times
* Shot/setup estimates
* One-line setup schedule in preliminary shooting order
* Major scheduling or production concerns
7. FACULTY Q&A / WORK SESSION | 45 Minutes
Faculty discussion may address:
Story, casting, production design, VFX/SPFX, stunts, intimacy, cinematography, scheduling, logistics, and other production concerns.
The 1st AD is responsible for taking notes throughout the meeting, documenting faculty concerns, decisions, required actions, and proposed resolutions.
8. 1ST AD — Action Plan Review | 5 Minutes
At the conclusion of D-Prep, the 1st AD will review the resulting Action Plan with faculty to confirm:
* Required action
* Responsible person/department
* Expected resolution or deliverable
* Deadline, when applicable
ADDITIONAL REQUIRED DELIVERABLES
D-Prep Action Plan — 1st AD / 2nd AD The 1st AD records and reviews the Action Plan during the meeting. The 2nd AD must post the completed Action Plan to the show channel within 24 hours of D-Prep.
D-Prep is not considered complete until the Action Plan has been posted.
“The Director Prepares” Meeting
Required: WR/DR
In this meeting, the director of the capstone project will discuss the visual plan for the film with the directing faculty. This meeting will take place a few days after pre-production has started to allow the Director and DP time develop a language and advance the vision of the film. The hope is that by the time the meeting takes place, there will be a robust visual presentation of the film, enabling discussion of key elements of the story and allowing for fruitful conversation about the film.
Required elements:
- Coverage plans for each scene: e.g., storyboards, overhead diagrams, and any other materials that the director may think are helpful in conveying their vision (e.g., photoboards or previs of key shots).
- Any rehearsal footage considered relevant.
- If any locations have changed since the previous meeting, please bring pictures.
- If any of the actors have changed since the previous meeting, also bring materials for them (reel, pictures, audition, rehearsals.)
- Any other elements discussed during prep or before, such as: a stunt, a particular element of a scene (prop, animal, etc..), any other visual elements essential for the film for which a visual discussion might be helpful.
