Do you think it's possible to shoot an AMAZING feature for under $10,000?

Do you think it's possible to shoot an AMAZING feature for under $10,000?

  • Total voters
    157
F

filmmakerguy

Member
Seems like filmmakers are always referencing El Mariachi, Clerks and Primer as being some of the better low budget movies ever made. However they are, in my opinion, good but not great. And I would certainly not call any of them AMAZING. So I'm curious, if that is where the bar is, as far as ultra low budget indies, do you think we'll ever see a feature that is shot under $10,000 that is amazing?

I think we're getting closer to it being a possibility, however I don't feel its been done yet. Some have argued it can't be done because low budgets limit what stories can be told and how far you can possibly go. I guess I'm more optimistic or naive.
 
Last edited:
Let's just say: I completely believe an AMAZING feature can be done with little to no money. But.....it would take some real creativity, adaptation and dedication by all involved.
 
I highly doubt it.

If you had an "amazing" (and very commercial) script that you've spent a few years working on (because you don't write an "amazing" screenplay over the weekend), you still need to gather up a cast and crew dedicated enough to actually show up on set every day for no pay instead of going to work. For Marianne we averaged about three to five scenes a day for about four-five weeks with 95% being shot in natural light. We had LONG days of shooting too.
For an "amazing" film you'd need to do more lighting than we did a) to make it look more like a film (I was purposely going for a naturalistic documentary look), and b) you'd need to do less scenes per day to get that lighting and get more takes. That means more days on set than we had.

Even if you don't pay anyone, can get them to actually show up on set, and you already own all the equipment, you still end up with the following problems:
You won't afford stuff like SELLING the film, sending it to festivals, creating websites, copies, Dolby Digital license, stamps, etc etc etc. You also need to eat and pay your own bills at the same time.

Let me put it this way: Yes you can make a drama with two-three actors and a few key props in one simple location with a few extra scenes added and have the thing play out in Stereo sound. DECIEVER starring Tim Roth, Michael Rooker, Chris Penn and Renée Zellweger is a great (although unknown) film. It had an ace cast, it's a tight thriller that's really, really good.
I don't know what the budget was, but it didn't do too well at the box office because even though the actors are great there's only so much you can do with that setup.

Now try doing that for $10,000 and UNKNOWN actors. You won't get better performances. Tim Roth, Michael Rooker and Chris Penn are doing some of their careers best work in Deciever.

Selling the film will be even harder than making it.


If you already have an amazing screenplay, the talent, knowledge and experience to pull it off (because making an "amazing" film under these extreme circumstances require some experience) you should also be able to find more than $10,000 for your funding.
 
Last edited:
filmmakerguy said:
Seems like filmmakers are always referencing El Mariachi, Clerks and Primer as being some of the better low budget movies ever made. However they are, in my opinion, good but not great. And I would certainly not call any of them AMAZING. So I'm curious, if that is where the bar is, as far as ultra low budget indies, do you think we'll ever see a feature that is shot under $10,000 that is amazing?

I think we're getting closer to it being a possibility, however I don't feel its been done yet. Some have argued it can't be done because low budgets limit what stories can be told and how far you can possibly go. I guess I'm more optimistic or naive.
Click to expand...

You don't think PRIMER is great? Man, you're hard to please!
Also, don't forget Chris Nolan's FOLLOWING for 6K.
PI was 58K but could easily be made today for under 10K.

Yes it is possible, but echoing Jawa's comments, if you have a great script - and you MUST have a great script for a great film - you should be able to get more money to do it decently.
 
Futchibon said:
Yes it is possible, but echoing Jawa's comments, if you have a great script - and you MUST have a great script for a great film - you should be able to get more money to do it decently.
Click to expand...
This is assuming you're already established, because that's a MAJOR reason people do or don't get funded.
 
Yes you can but you need a good script and good actors as already stated. I also think you need to focus on a story that is more character driven and less special effects or an outside catastrophe.
 
"Great" is subjective I guess. People have different taste, a great movie to you might be average to me. I think it would better be rephrase as a "great production", meaning, great lighting, great acting, great script, great art direction etc..., again all those could be subjective to someone else.

But to answer your question, NO. Only because filmmaking is a coloborative effort, and to do great work, you have to team up with talented people, and a majority of those talented people do not work for free or cheap. So yeah they can volunteer their services, but at the end you get what you pay for.

But the closest I've seen a great film done for under $10,000 is FOLLOWING if that was actually true, I don't know if that was the actual cost.

And I agree about Primer, we may be in the minority but I didn't like that film at all, again see (subjective).
 
I don't think it is possible if you don't want to risk your financial future. What I mean by that is, that you would probably have to shoot everything without proper permits, and insurance coverage. If anything happens, and somebody gets seriously hurt (happens fast), you have a BIG and expensive problem....
 
Ryan's video response answers this perfectly... I checked "yes" but with ridiculous lotto odds.

The question is... can you tell a VERY compelling story with a nice arc through three acts, for an hour to an hour thirty... for under $10K?

Also... "amazing" is in the mind of the beholder... if you call Blaire Witch amazing, or Paranormal Activity... amazing... then yes, I think it would be possible to do that for under $10K. In a commercial sense... I think both of those movies are amazing... in an artistic sense... uh... *yawn* what were we talking about?
 
Absolutely, you can. You'd probably need to shoot it on weekends over a period of months, so that people could afford to volunteer their time, but it can be done.
 
The question is, can you actually make a movie in the time it would take to read all of the "can you make a movie under $10K" threads?
 
I think this can be answered pretty simply. Can you shoot Glengarry Glenross on a 10K (non-SAG) budget? Absolutely. Same goes for Marvin's Room and a host of others.

Heck, with the right visual effects background you could shoot 80% of The Pianist on a 10K budget.

Same goes for a set design background for a picture like Moon. If you had enough buddies to help you build a set, you could accomplish something similar.
 
IMO technically possible, but theoretically impossible. If you convince "AMAZING" actors or actresses to involve free and if some of ASC DOP's can make you a favor and come shoot for free, if your dad has a rental house and a loads of friends in professional film industry who's waiting for your call to be a volunteer, and a distributer to distribute your movie over 200 theaters for free , yes you can make a AMAZING movie under even $1.000. All i'm trying to say is, yes you can make "feature length" movie, but sure it will not be AMAZING... That's how i involve a project like this, i promised a friend to help out, we shot the movie in 8 months, only weekends and bank holidays(only time you can rest)we shot it with EX3, very amateur actors, no food, no lights. When you asked him, he has a feature movie on his hands, but i'm very sure that it's not an AMAZING movie at all, and he says he spend over £15k.
 
I don't see how you can shoot a feature for under $10k. You're going to spend at least $6k on a camera package rental for a month.


If you already own equipment, great. But then it's still not under $10k. If you own $50k in equipment and put $10k in for other stuff... that's not a $10k film that's a $60k film.
 
The "yes" camp is leading two mods to one...
watchdrama8jm.gif
 
Haha. Just checked the poll results: glad to see the yes camp is winning!

I didn't vote, though. >:P
 
Someone show me the script for this amazing feature, and some samples of their work, and I'll put up the $10k.

But it has to be "amazing".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top