Building Your Film Production Around Your Budget

I often meet filmmakers who are stuck behind the idea they need funding to make a “professional” film. The fact is, a good percentage of the directors who broke into the industry did so by funding their first production.

I’ve already written a long and popular article naming 10 great directors who funded their own feature film. I even funded one myself.

Essentially, we got to the point where we decided to beg borrow or steal our way to making a movie. My feeling, at the age of 42, having sold and optioned screenplays, having had endless industry meetings which promised much and delivered little, was – I will make a feature film before I die.

First I had to write a screenplay. I set my mind that this time I would be strict with the script. I would write a story including only scenes I knew I could shoot in free locations.

Like any movie, you – now you’re wearing your producer hat – have to build your production around your budget. Ask yourself, “how much can I afford?” Set the budget before you write the script. Or change the script to fit the budget.

Then ask yourself – what do I have access to? Do you work in an office, or a hotel, or a public swimming pool? Could you get permission to film there? If not, could you just sneak in and film anyway? Work out what you have access to and then write your story.

There’s an interesting article here by filmmaker Tristan Convert, who shot his debut horror feature SCRATCH on an iPhone. He was challenged by Eli Roth “to make a feature—a slasher movie—where I’d do everything myself”. He talks about having a script which was too expensive to shoot for $10,000 so he wrote another one.

What’s interesting for anyone thinking of funding their own film is how Convert designs the story around what he has to hand. He found an abandoned zoo (free location).

“I couldn’t rent a camera; therefore, I shot on the iPhone. I just had a laptop; therefore, the HD format would be light enough. I didn’t have time off; therefore, this would be the story of a hustled shoot. I didn’t have time to sculpt light; therefore, we would shoot outside during the day. “I would tell the story of a clumsy filmmaker, and the film would be composed of his footage. The conditions depicted on the screen would be as close as possible to the actual conditions of the shooting.”

If you’re new to low budget filmmaking and find the idea overwhelming. Or if you’re thinking of taking the leap yourself but don’t know where to start, the article is well worth a read, as Convert goes on to write about the steps taken to build the production.

You don’t have to follow this, of course. But it might give you some ideas. Plus it will give you an insight into the thought process you need to get going yourself.

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