to work for free for eighteen weeks. My crews are loyal to me because I gave them a chance when no one else would. One of my camera assistants just got his letter from F.T.I.I. He was one of the lucky few who were accepted this year for the cinematography course. When a crew member cannot work with you because they have to make money you have to respect that.
Your key personnel have to have experience there is no doubt about that. Everyone else can be a volunteer. I worked on a lot of volunteer shoots when I was making the transition from corporate videos to film. The keys were always experienced and were always usually paid (usually below scale). You can do this on shorter format films but not on a feature.
Film is not only an art. It is also a business.
Executive Producers tend to not invest on inexperienced people such as the director