It’s so expensive…
The only thing that holds me back from making films all the time is money. I write, I direct, I edit, I can even produce and if it came down to it shoot my own work, but the one thing that stops me is money. Filmmaking is expensive and though it’s never been cheaper to make a film, to make a film well does still cost a decent amount of money, even on an indie film level.
Why?
The Indie Film
The most important thing on an indie film set is how you treat your people. You need a tight team that will go the extra mile when the going gets tough. So, you have to pay your crew and feed them. Even if you pay everyone minimum wage (which really isn’t a fair wage to compensate talented people but we will just use that as an example), each person is at least $150 a day (for a ten hour day at $15/hr). Food for each person is probably $20/day. So let’s put that together at minimum of $170 a day per person. Let’s say there is an average of five actors on set each day and a crew of ten people (which is a small crew), that’s 15 people. So 170 x 15 takes you to $2,550 per day. With an average of a 21 day shoot (which is a short shoot) comes to $53,550. So you are well into five digits with just people and food at VERY low level pay without taking anything else into consideration.
I’m not going to break down every aspect, but consider that equipment (camera, lights, dollies, etc.) needs to be rented or bought (this can easily be $10,000/wk and often is more), props and costumes need to be made or purchased (that adds up quickly as well), locations need to be paid for (a basic location is at least $1,000 a day, often more, if it is a business that needs to close for the shoot like a restaurant, that can be anywhere up to $3,000 day), transport needs to be rented (think about what it costs to rent a mini van), the list goes on and on. Each of these adds up to its own bundle and very quickly you find yourself well into a six figure budget. And if you have to house people….well, that gets you even higher up. Then you have post production. You need an editor with equipment, extra hard drives, a colorist, a sound designer, etc. These can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars. A standard low budget indie film is anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 without lots of extras and frills. And with no marketing money. I’ll get back to that in a bit.
Industry Films
Why are industry films so much more expensive than indie films? Well, for starters very few people are being paid minimum wage. In fact, stars are getting millions of dollars per film. So the cost of resources goes way up. A top Hollywood DP is not working for $15/hr. They have larger crews. They spend way more than 21 days shooting their films and they have a vast post production team. Take a look at those credits next time you see a movie. See all those names listed, start doing the math. It takes a lot of people and time and equipment to make a film. It may run under two hours but it’s months, if not years of work.
Marketing
And then there is marketing. The standard is “If you spend one million dollars on a film, you need to spend one million dollars on marketing.” So if a film has five stars each making three million a piece (which is probably a low amount these days), you are already at 15 million dollars and with marketing, right there, you are at 30 million. And as previously stated there are many more costs. It’s easy for an industry film to get over the 100 million dollar mark quite fast and then double with marketing.
Generally, indie films fail at marketing because there is just no money left. Then they struggle to be seen and to earn their money back. It’s that old catch 22, you can’t make money without having some to start with.
Micro Budget Films
How are indie filmmakers pulling off micro budget films? Well, they are thinking outside the box. They are looking at what they have and using that to make their vision come true. And, they are earning money some other way and not worrying about making the money they are spending back even though they would very much like to do so.
For example, I made a film during the pandemic called Detention 101 which I will be releasing soon. This film cost about $18,000 in total. How did I keep it so low? (And I know, that’s still a lot of money. That’s a new kitchen or a new economy car or a down payment on a house. I hear you.) I did most of the work myself and only had about seven days of shooting in total and those were mostly half days.
I had the actors film themselves using their phones using a solid phone app that created good images. I sent them each a sound recording device and they sent me the files online or on hard drives. They agreed to shoot in their own homes at no cost to me and were in charge of their own costumes and makeup. I kept it simple. I paid them each a small thank you fee and filed a new media contract with the union so if I ever make any money on the film, I know my actors will be compensated appropriately. And I did everything else myself. Well, almost everything, I did the editing, I did the lighting in post, I created new shots in post from the basic wide shots they all recorded on their own. I made the shots move, I was creative in the pace of the editing and with layering images. I used plug-ins to add to the look and feel of the shots and give each character their own world. And then, I took about $7,500 and bought stock footage from Adobe Stock. I used it creatively to help tell the story. I shot B roll on my own, including some stop-motion animation, and I had a sound designer come onboard who was offering a great rate due to COVID, I bought drives and I didn’t put food in my budget. And I have absolutely zero dollars for marketing which means it will be very hard to get people outside my own circle to watch it.
The more you can do on your own, the less things will cost but be aware, the industry does not reward people for being creative and thinking outside the box. Those days are over. Even decent film festivals that might help you get some press will not be interested. Check out the features at those festivals and you’ll see the budgets and names involved.
Micro budget films is just art for art’s sake. And that’s totally great and it’s also a lot of hard work. I spent over a year on that film but I got to express what I wanted to say and I have full control of the project’s release into the world. It may only be seen by a few people, but I did it and it won’t be the last time. Not by a long shot.