ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

10 years, 5 months ago - Marlom Tander

My personal opinion - get a good grip on what exactly will be needed to make it happen.

1) Shooting Schedule - shot by shot breakdown and estimate as to how long each will take and in what order.

2) For each shot, who is needed - cast and crew.

3) For each shot, what resources are needed ON screen - props, costumes, duplicates for retakes - how many white shirts do you need for that great "red wine thrown over her" shot.

Cost them - what have you got? What do you expect to hustle? What will you probably need to pay for? How much?

4) For each shot, the kit requirements, and again, what you got, what can you hustle, what will cost?

5) Now you do the maths - how long will it take to shoot? How many people bed food days at a sensible figure. Costs of stuff on screen and to shoot it.

But also work out you GOT and HUSTLED stuff.

You can now have good conversations with producers - who will see you get their problems. You can talk to money "guys, we are putting 100K movie together, but it will only cost 25!". That might not get you the money, but it certainly makes you worth listening too.

It will also hone your BS filter :-)

10 years, 5 months ago - Marlom Tander

Paddy is right, math accuracy is important.

I suppose I was thinking of cases where "my mate owns a caravan park and we can stay for free all November, and film in the woods, all for free, plus I've wangled all the kit from the local college as we can use students as crew, (not heads of department)".

Things that normally have a clear price, and can be clearly ZEROED.

The first - 20 days, 10 cast, 10 crew, 4 catering/logistics normally overhead of say 30 for the bed and 20 for the board trims to perhaps 0 and 10, so saving 40*24*20 = 19K. The second might another few K in kit and if 5 students on free as coursework, replacing bodies normally 150 a day, 5*20*150 = 15K saved.

It's logistics and wages that most people forget about until it bites them :-) But if you can make savings here it is a real saving that doesn't impact the film quality, they way that compromising on sets would.

10 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

On top of Marlom's great advice, be aware it's possible to under budget and come across as terribly naive. If you could make £100k films for £25k, they'd be £25k films. Producers are savvy about spending money and probably know the corners your can and cannot cut already ;)

My suggestions? Look at your motivations - shooting a short version to attract talent and crew isn't great reasoning. Talent is plentiful, you'll always find cast. Crew work for money - get money, you'll get a crew. The best reason to make a scene is for you to 1) practice/show what an ace director you are and 2) to help you cost up the full feature. You'll need both of these to be taken seriously for any kind of finance.

That said, Elliot Grove mailed out tonight about Raindance's new micro budget feature development scheme, they're looking for scripts that can be produced for £50k-£500k all-in (be aware, that's nothing in movie terms, so scripts like yours set in one place, limited cast, written to a budget are ideal). Have a look http://www.raindance.org/rawtalent/about-raw-talent/, maybe it's what you're looking for?