What’s the one tool/process you cannot start your pre-production without and why?
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The screenplay.
Not a shot list, not a mood board — the screenplay itself, reading it slowly, more than once.
Everything I need to know about light, rhythm, and space comes out of the script and the discussions I have with the director. Before I think about lenses or locations, I want to understand what the story needs — and how the director wants to tell it. What is the film really about underneath?
I've built my entire prep workflow around that principle — keeping the screenplay at the center rather than letting it get buried under technical decisions. I actually ended up writing a small app for myself called CINEside that lives inside the script: you annotate scenes directly, build your shot ideas in context, add photos and sketches while you brainstorm with the director — all without leaving the text. It grew out of frustration with the moment when prep starts to feel like project management instead of filmmaking.
But the tool is secondary. The real prerequisite is: reading the script and getting familiar with the director's approach and the reasons behind it.
Not a shot list, not a mood board — the screenplay itself, reading it slowly, more than once.
Everything I need to know about light, rhythm, and space comes out of the script and the discussions I have with the director. Before I think about lenses or locations, I want to understand what the story needs — and how the director wants to tell it. What is the film really about underneath?
I've built my entire prep workflow around that principle — keeping the screenplay at the center rather than letting it get buried under technical decisions. I actually ended up writing a small app for myself called CINEside that lives inside the script: you annotate scenes directly, build your shot ideas in context, add photos and sketches while you brainstorm with the director — all without leaving the text. It grew out of frustration with the moment when prep starts to feel like project management instead of filmmaking.
But the tool is secondary. The real prerequisite is: reading the script and getting familiar with the director's approach and the reasons behind it.
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