Welcome to this week’s Sunday Evening edition of The Backlot. These versions of the newsletters will include stories from my recent experiences working in indie filmmaking, helpful resources for emerging filmmakers, and other posts covering topics in the film industry.
NOTE - This is the free version of the newsletter. This version will continue to be free, with the Wednesday version moving to a paid subscription in May….
This week, we’re discussing a few things about budgets and working in the industry. Before we get into the post, let’s take a look at the agenda…
🎞️ Perks of a Smaller Budget
🎬 Why You Need a Community To Make Movies With
🗞️ Weekly Movie Recommendations
The Perks of Having A Small Budget
Okay, hear me out.
The honest reality in this industry is that having a budget is something of a luxury that is earned over time. As emerging filmmakers, writers, and artists, we often have to start with little to no financing for our ideas.
This isn’t easy. Making low-budget and micro-budget films requires a lot of dedication, sacrifice, and, truthfully, resilience.
This often means working for free, getting others to volunteer their services, asking for money from family or friends, or self-financing the project.
Personally, I hate the idea of working for free and working for “exposure.” No one should be living the broke artist trope, barely scraping by and going into debt to make their dreams a reality. There are better ways to build a career and live a life.
Still, making a film on a micro-budget teaches you a lot about yourself as an artist, filmmaker, and individual. It also helps you hone your skills, get creative with your ideas, and can actually be beneficial to your career.
Learning to Write for a Budget
Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a number of scripts with friends and fellow filmmakers. A couple of these are short films, and a few are feature-length projects.
As an emerging writer and producer, I am still in the stage of my career where my budgets are small or require extensive networking (and convincing) in the industry.
With this in mind, though, I’ve learned to use this mindset to filter my ideas and write with the purpose of making a film on a smaller budget.
The way this works is simple. For each concept, you consider the size of the crew, the location, the number of shoot days, and how viable the concept is in terms of financing. This puts constraints on the world you can create and forces you to hone in on certain elements of the scripting, filming, or producing process.
Kevin Smith did this for his hit film Clerks, which was made on a roughly $27,000 budget. In many interviews, he’s noted that he made use of his surroundings, writing with the intention of spending as little money as possible.
If you can learn to tell a powerful story and produce a good film on a tight budget, then you’ll have the mindset and confidence to make a great film when you have more money and resources in the future.
Getting Creative with the Budget
Over the years, I've gotten some of the best insight by hearing from other producers and filmmakers who made movies on a tight budget.
Their insights into the ways they got creative with their money, cutting out certain costs, and getting frugal when producing their ideas can be incredibly inspiring. Sometimes, they are downright hilarious too.
For example, during the production of Robert Rodriguez's famous low-budget film El Mariachi, instead of renting a dolly for moving shots, he had crew members push him around in a wheelchair with a handheld camera.
This type of out-of-the-box thinking happens when you make a film on a micro-budget and have to be wary of costs.
It activates an entirely different creative process. You can no longer have major names for actors, massive sets and designs, or beautiful locations. Instead, you get creative within the confines of the budget and find innovative ways to make the film work.
In filmmaking, this is a priceless skill. Because when the day comes that you do get recognized, and you find yourself with more financing, you’re ability to get creative and save money on a budget will open up a world of possibilities.
We’re Going to Need a Bigger Budget
Now, there will definitely be projects that require a bigger budget. This is just true. Some concepts are not viable or worthy of producing with the necessary resources to produce the project.
I don’t think Christopher Nolan could’ve produced Interstellar on a micro-budget without it looking like a poorly made science fair project. I mean, Nolan and his crew planted $100,000 worth of corn fields outside Calgary just for the film - not exactly budgeting.
Realizing that some projects need more resources is one of the hardest things in filmmaking. It’s incredibly difficult to give up or postpone a project, and it often feels like failure.
In reality, postponing or scrapping a project due to a lack of resources has nothing to do with your personal abilities. It’s just the way the world works.
When deciding, ask yourself, “Will this benefit my life and career? Or will it just put me in a dangerous place, and would be better served to wait a few years?”
To make this decision, you have to look through your own filter because everyone’s mindset is different. Only you know what you need to bring your concept to life.
Take a step back, look at the project from the outside, and decide what's best for you and your team. There’s no wrong answer.
A career in filmmaking is like an endurance sport. Sometimes, you have to take things slow in the beginning so you can run in the end.
Finding a Community to Work With
On the topic of working on a smaller budget, fighting to get paid, and establishing your name in the industry, one thing is true - you need a community,
In the early years, the community around filmmaking is what keeps you going. The ability to talk with others about your work and share the ups and downs of the journey is absolutely priceless.
These connections you make, and the people you meet in the beginning are also the ones who will help you the most along the way. They help you learn, create, and develop as a filmmaker.
They read your scripts, give feedback on your shots, help you get jobs, network in the industry, and will be there when your project finally gets greenlit.
They are also the ones who will be there after a long day on set, when your film is rejected from the latest festival, and when you need someone to tell you to keep going.
This industry is built on relationships, collaboration, and community. Without that, no script would ever be read, no director would ever be famous, and no film would ever be made.
So, cultivate that community as soon as you can. Whether you live in Los Angeles, New York, or a small town without a filmmaking community, find people to support you along the long and winding road toward success.
As the old proverb states, “If you want to fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
Three Films to Watch
Every week, I want to start shouting out three films that have helped me in my filmmaking journey.
Sometimes, I will share a film because of the creativity of the project, the structure of the script, or the interesting story behind the production. Other times, I will share because films are fu**king awesome, and every movie is a miracle.
Here are this week’s recommendations.
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023)
This micro-budget film about a group of eco-terrorists coming together in heist fashion to blow up an oil pipeline was easily one of my favorite films of last year. The intensity of the storyline is a mix between the savvy of films such as Ocean’s Eleven and the real-world anxiety of climate protests.
This indie movie is not only a good film for the modern era but also a great film for writers and filmmakers. It’s an incredibly ambitious and radical story adapted from a much more radical book. Daniel Goldhaber, the director of the film, has said they were rejected by many financiers. Yet, the film was successful, grossing over a million, and currently holds a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bottle Rocket (1996)
In the last few decades, Wes Anderson has become one of the most famous American filmmakers on the planet. Films like The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom are instant classics, and his curated style is so recognizable it’s become a TikTok trend.
For those reasons, I think it’s always interesting to visit a filmmaker’s breakthrough work. Bottle Rocket, which follows a group of friends who try and fail to become crime robbers, was Anderson’s big break.
The film is arguably still one of his best and highlights the early days of his creativity and style. The film also includes performances from Anderson’s college friends, Luke and Owen Wilson, who went on to become quite famous themselves.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Many in the filmmaking world know the story of the Blair Witch Project, which was shot for less than $70,000 and then went on to take Sundance by storm and gross $258 million worldwide. It’s widely considered one of the most profitable films of all time.
The Blair Witch Project is the perfect example of getting creative. The film’s innovative online marketing campaign included creating a website indicating that the footage and characters were real, which sparked a cult following around the film. In addition, cutting out the use of big-name stars, using inexpensive equipment, and employing borderline questionable working conditions helped the film keep the project costs down.
It’s an incredible achievement that kickstarted the “found footage” genre and serves as a pinnacle of indie-filmmaking success. I would only watch this one if you like horror, though; this film scared the shit out of me the first time I watched it when I was younger.
On Wednesday, we’ll be taking a look at the meaning of a blockbuster film and looking ahead to this year’s summer schedule…
🎞️ What Does It Mean to Be A Blockbuster Film in 2024?
🎬 The 2024 Summer Movie Schedule
🗞️ Other Latest News and Updates from the Industry