There are, at least, five different stages a movie must go through. Some people will say there is six or seven of them. We won't dispute that. But our way is the 5-stage one.
Throughout these phases the people working on the film will differ. Some of them will stay longer, some not. Only a few will be there for the entire movie's life cycle.
Films take years to complete. And we're not talking just about two years. Let's think more of 3 to 7. Sure, there are films made in a year and even less, but in general, that is not the way. Take a look at Stephen Follows' article, if you're interested in some numbers!
Development
This is where you either get the idea, and develop it, or you find a material worth filming. That's the first step. Then, you get into working out the story, writing the first (most probably shitty) draft of the screenplay and do all your rewrites. You start thinking about how much money will this endeavour cost and where to get such amount.
Development is tricky – it can be done in a few months, but it can take even more than a decade; remember Aaron Sorkin and his The Trial of the Chicago 7? Steven Spielberg approached him back in 2006, two years before another US Presidential Elections, asking him to write it (and he did), so Spielberg could shoot it before them (he did not, obviously). But if you ask me, it was worth the wait.
Jazz Tangcay
Pre-production
Alright, now we're talking. You got the script, you got the funding and you're ready to take on the world! This is the stage where you plan & prepare the shoot.
You have to finalize the script, lock it, find locations, secure all the cast, crew, figure out shooting schedules, transportation, equipment. You will do a lot of preparations and you will employ a lot of people (that is discutable, because if you're going micro/low-budget, you might not be employing that many people).
When you got all that, you do need to make sure you fit into the budget you set before (or find some new finances). One way or another, make sure you get a great Line Producer to handle this!
Production
Production, sometimes reffered to as a principal photography, is when you actually start filming. This is where you all meet on set, make those #setlife instagram photos and spend 8 to 16 hours a day on a location, working your ass off.
It's actually the shortest stage of the whole filmmaking (in most of the times), but, one has to say, it's the most intense one. Stakes are high, emotions fly and money are leaving the account so fast you don't even want to know.
It's partly because this is the stage where you have the most people to work on your film. Script supervisors, hair & make-up stylists, costumers, prop masters (okay, okay, okay, I know you'll hire them already in pre-production, but you know what I mean), etc.
Production is why most of the people love filmmaking. They love being on the set, making the movies. Enjoy this stage, even though it's the shortest one, because it's probably the most rewarding (and stressful, FIY) one for majority of the people.
BTS tip: Don't you ever forget to organize a wrap party! It's like... mandatory.
Producer's note:
This is also the part where you have to be flexible. The better you're prepared the less you'll have to adapt. Plan for fuckups and worst-case scenarios. Make sure you got a great production team and awesome 1st AD, so the filming runs smoothly.
Post-production
A lot of people have love/hate relationship with post-production. It's the stage where you get your audio & video files to an editor, they cut them together to create the film, send that to sound & color specialists to finalize and your VFX team adds any effects you desire (or fixes anything you fucked up on the set).
The editor assembles the footage, adds music, some basic sound effects and work with director to finalize the film. If you run into some issues, you might do some ADR, pick-up shots, or maybe you'll have to reshoot a whole section. But when you lock the picture, add your VFX, mix the sound and grade the colours, you have finished. By the end of this stage, the movie is ready to be distributed to your audience!
BTS tip: If you want to learn more about post-production, we recommend Frame.io Insider and especially their Post-production Workflow Guide. Amazing piece of work!
Distribution
Some may say that distribution isn't a stage of filmmaking, and I think they're wrong. If you don't distribute, then there is nobody and nowhere to watch the film, so... I feel that leaving it out of the discussion doesn't make sense.
Distribution is the final stage – it can not happen unless you got your movie finished. Other stages can overlap more or less, but this one stands alone.
This is also the time in movie's cycle where you do the most of your promotion and marketing, so do not forget to keep some money in the account! Depending on your distribution model, you can release your film to theaters, festivals, sell them online or publish them on a numerous VOD platforms.
Alex Ferrari
Wait! What about Marketing?!
Yes, I hear you. We haven't mentioned marketing. That's because I don't believe it's a stage of filmmaking. I believe it's a process that has to be handled separately and throughout the whole life-cycle of the project.
Some movies won't be promoted until they're finished. Some will be promoted a little. And some start marketing campaigns even before the script is fully finished.
Marketing is an extremely complex, complicated and time-consuming thing and I recommend you to find somebody who enjoys it and who can take over this task. Do not try to do it all by yourself. You don't want end up fucking it up like these guys.
Ash Jurberg