Butterflies in the Wind in pursuit of happiness

filmman said:
There are many reasons why I don't do a budget before I start. The main one is that every time I did a budget, I got scared and did not shoot the movie.
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This is my first time doing a budget too. I've never done an extensive one before and it can be intimidating. The flick looks interesting. Did you mean to get that old school look (period piece maybe). I'm thinking this was something that happened in the 70's as that's what the look of the film reminded me of.

-Nate
 
Nat, it's interesting how many people point out the 70s look. I'm really surprised ... but maybe I shouldn't be :-)

1) I graduated from San Francisco State in 1970 with a degree in film production.
2) I'm shooting the Arri 2c, a 70s camera.
3) My favorite filmmaker is Fellini and my favorite film is 8 & 1/2.
4) My lenses are Schneider standard lenses.
5) The 35mm movie was telecined from the edited workprint.
6) The workprint was a standard print, not low-con.
7) I used only three prime lenses -- 28mm, 50mm, 75mm.
8) Most of the movie was done handheld because I was stealing locations.
9) All the film was shot MOS and the sound was recorded wild.
10) The editing was done on a 6-plate Cinemonta editing table.

All these reasons contributed to the 70s look.

Do you think if I had shot the movie with a digital camera and used one of the Magic Bullet plugins, I would end up with the identical look?
 
filmman said:
Nat, it's interesting how many people point out the 70s look. I'm really surprised ... but maybe I shouldn't be :-)

1) I graduated from San Francisco State in 1970 with a degree in film production.
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For reals? That is so cool! That's the summer of love, SI Hiyakawa, Vietnam, Angela Davis, what a time! You must have some stories. Jim Morrison was alive then! OMG! Prodigy Films could have hired you as a consultant!
 
The film department students shot the 1968 riots :-) We had one Eclair NPR, four Arri S 16s, five B&H 70HRs, one Bolex Reflex (nobody took out the Auricon LOL) -- we shot the riots and had magazine runners who grabbed the mags as fast as we finished them and ran them to our cars on Holloway and hid them in the trunks. The Angenieux 12-120 zoom took a direct hit from a baton -- cracked the lens in the middle, so we switched to the 10mm Angenieux and continued shooting.

We screened the rushes after the riots were over.

It was a great time to be a filmmaker. We went out and shot a movie and edited it on the upright moviolas. We had a great film department.

I got Hayakawa's and Reagan's signatures on my diploma :-) I never met Jim Morrison personally; I saw him once in the Haight Ashbury.

What did Prodigi's movie have to do with that period? LOL. We never get to see these movies that we argue about :-) You can download my movie Butterflies in the Wind from Amazon.com. I'm told that's the future. DVDs are supposed to be on the way out. I don't know...
 
filmman said:
Do you think if I had shot the movie with a digital camera and used one of the Magic Bullet plugins, I would end up with the identical look?
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Sure if you knew how to make it happen. Planet Terror looked like a grindhouse film and it was shot digitally. Decide your look and someone will probably be able to make it happen. But sure enough I did recognize the throw back imagery in your film immediately.

-Nate
 
I thought so; it really makes sense if the look is part of the marketing....

Why go through all the trouble of shooting 35mm if it can be done with one plugin? LOL

I'm going to buy Magic Bullet as soon as the economy improves :-)
 
When I have to do a budget, I only do the front sheet. If you don't have it, I can post it somewhere on my site and give you the link.

If you're doing most everything yourself -- producer, director, writer, dp, etc. -- then the above the line is usually yourself. I feel silly and ridiculous even putting myself for half the budget. If you don't put yourself in, the investor (if you're lucky to have one) will say to you, "you're paying yourself too much" or he'll say, "well, let's leave that out for now -- you'll get paid at the back-end." And you know what that means? A kick in the butt. LOL

Anyways, that's why I don't do a budget anymore. Besides, nobody's breaking down my door to invest in my movies. Why should they? LOL
 

FEATURE FILM BUDGET
Title:
I. Summary:

A. Above the Line: $

1. Script: $
2. Continuity & Treatment: $
3. Producer: $
4. Director: $
5. Performers: $
​

B. Below the Line: $
1. Production Staff Salaries: $
2. Production Operating Staff: $
3. Set Construction: $
4. Set Operation Expenses: $
5. Editing - Film - Lab: $
6. Music: $
7. Sound: $
8. Transportation - Studio: $
9. Location: $
10. Studio Rentals: $
11. Tests & Retakes: $
12. Publicity: $
13. Miscellaneous: $
14. Insurance/Taxes/Fees: $
15. General Overhead: $

C. Grand Total: $

Approved by:
Start of Production
Production Schedule
Budget Prepared by
Date:
​
 
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FEATURE FILM BUDGET (All location shoot)
Title:
I. Summary:

A. Above the Line: $50,000
Deferments: ($61,500)

1. Script: ($10,000)
2. Continuity & Treatment: ($1,500)
3. Producer: ($25,000)
4. Director: ($25,000)
5. Performers: $50,000
​

B. Below the Line: $106,500.

1. Production Staff Salaries: $15,000.
2. Production Operating Staff: $10,000.
3. Set Construction: $
4. Set Operation Expenses: $
5. Editing - Film - Lab: $25,000.
6. Music: $5,000.
7. Sound: $5,000.
8. Transportation - Studio: $2,500.
9. Location: $
10. Studio Rentals: $5,000.
11. Tests & Retakes: $1,500.
12. Publicity: $25,000.
13. Miscellaneous: $2,500.
14. Insurance/Taxes/Fees: $5,000.
15. General Overhead: $5,000.
16. Contingency: $22,200.

C. Grand Total: $244,200.

Approved by:
Start of Production
Production Schedule
Budget Prepared by
Date:
 
Whenever I draw up a budget like that, I scare myself :-)

If I play too many roles on the crew and defer my salary, what happens at the end, will I get anything? And if I'm the writer-producer-director-editor, what do I do, take $70,000 off the top at the outset?

So what's the best way to approach the problem of doing the right thing by the investor and do the right thing by myself?
 
I'm having a meeting with an investor in a week or two. I'm going to say that I will come in as the producer-director-writer-editor for fifty percent of the movie. This way the investor will own fifty percent of the movie by putting up fifty percent of the budget. Maybe it will fly :-)
 
Even 10% gives the investor a say; that's the problem with not producing a movie entirely by yourself. Therefore, I shoot digital when there is no investor to put up $50,000 or more on any given movie project. And if you're going to have to have investors, shoot 35mm film because you'll need at least $250,000 so you can pay yourself a minimum of $50,000 salary (for working two years in making, editing and marketing a movie; because that's all the money you might see anyway).

Then if you're going to have to have investors, don't put up a penny in a movie. Let the investors carry the bag. Because if an investor has even 1% of a movie he can sue or even worse call the distributor and say that he is an investor and that he wants to get paid. Then the distributor turns on you and says, "Aha! You told me you own this film!" Regardless of what you say -- "contract says this and that" -- most distributors won't pay you a penny after that discussion. Why should they? And some of them will say, "here, take back your movie -- life's too short to deal with a person like that." Most distributors are looking for a dead horse -- unfortunately.

-- Just my opinion :-)
 
Good point. But I'd hate to see your project get railroaded if you guys end up crossing swords. If you always have the highend of the deal you can always say yes or no. I would say make some kind of agreement as to what powers they have and don't have, know what I mean? Or make sure the person is like minded.

-Nate
 
Like minded ... yes, that's a good thing to keep in mind. It's no point in dealing with investors who have a different agenda.

Ultimately I hope to finance all my movies. I don't mind working as DP or editor on a movie. I work well with people. It's just on my own projects that I don't like to work with anyone -- only actors of course. LOL
 
The only problem is distribution. I agree with you that self-distribution sometimes is the best option. It's become really expensive to distribute a movie. Marketing costs have gone up. Placing full page ads in newspapers and trade magazines is expensive now. Even Internet advertising is too expensive. Most of us indie filmmakers barely get to make a movie with personal funds. So selling DVDs on the Internet, no matter how limited, might be the best way for certain projects. I wish there was a way out. The only way I can think of is in banding together and going to a foreign market with multiple projects and sharing costs. Let me know if you're interested. Email me: vic@felliniesque.com
 
Thanks Dan,

I used 5245 50D, 5279 500T and 5218 500T

I developed at DeLuxe Labs and had a work print made on regular print stock.

I edited on my Cinemonta 6-plate and telecined the workprint to DVCAM. It was the first time i was using FCP. I only did the sound on FCP and then I made DVDs.

I wish I could go to the foreign markets, but they're getting too expensive for a filmmaker with one film to distribute. I'm looking for a few filmmakers who want to me to take their films to the market.
 
It's going to be either the foreign market or Internet streaming. DVD sales are declining and it's hard to sell DVDs from websites. The orders are just too few for an indie filmmaker to recover money. I'm going to put more of my movies online and see how that goes.
 
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