Does genre matter for a $30k-$50k indie production?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
I am looking to produce a $30,000 to $50,000 feature indie to go through the process of producing a feature film, before making the leap to a $1M-$5M budget feature production. I've been told (filmspecific.com) that it is pretty doable to get back a $30k-$50k budget once the film is done. My question is does the film genre and protagonist gender matter for a <$50k budget feature film? For the $1M+ indie genre and gender matters, but for $50k and under anybody have thoughts? Specifically would a romcom work for $50k?
randall
 
I believe that genre does matter and personally I wouldn't risk a romcom for $50K. Hollywood seems to have nailed that genre down pat specifically. I'd still argue that suspense/thriller/horror is the way to go in that range.

Kegan
 
I do have a feature supernatural thriller that I am writing now, just was not sure I wanted to waste it on a $50k budget, but I suppose it could always be reshot later at a much higher budget, that has been done successfully. Just burning out a bit writing some specs I will be marketing later near the end of 2012, but I also want to get going on pre-prod for a $50k micobudget indie, would nice to use a script I have in a drawer (that romcom); but horror/snt probably would have a better chance of getting the budget back.
 
You're asking the wrong question. The right question to ask is, does a particular genre work for my story? And then, does my story work for $30k-$50k?
Any genre can be shot for any amount of money. What matters is if you have enough money to make your story work.
 
I would never do a horror genre with such a low budget. It's bound to look cheap IMHO. A thriller is also a genre that needs a bigger budget.
With such a low budget I would go for a non-genre film. I would concentrate on the acting, cinematography and atmosphere - forget genre altogether.
Create a superb story structure and a great plot. I think that generally creating a "voice oriented" story is you best bet to create a good film with such a low budget.

Genre needs money!

That's my 2 cent...
 
I would say genre is all you have to work with at any budget as far as marketing goes. ANY script will fall into one or two genre categories, even if it's the non-genre genre. It's just a label.
 
I would say that yes, genre is still important even if you are working with a lower budget.

$50k is still a lot of money, and you would want to recoup as much of that as possible.

In this budget range or under you would probably have no marketable names in the movie, so it is a very high possibility that you will not see a penny through traditional distribution.
There are still distributors in North America who reguralry buy microbudget movies with no name casts, but the advances they pay are more often in the $10k range, sometimes they don't pay any advances at all.
It's even worse internationally.

I would say there's three things you need to keep in mind:

1. Story.
The script needs to be really really really good.
You mentioned about a supernatural horror script you have, if it is good, then use that.
You are competing with big budget movies with marketable names and high production value. Your plot needs to be so good that a regular movie goer/renter will go "I have to see this!" even if it doesn't have any known actors in it.

2. Production value.
The movie needs to look really good.
You need to invest in good cameras, like RED cameras. and a good cinematographer. And a professional sound guy.

Now you have a great looking movie with great sound and a great story, now the most important part:

3. Make it as cheap as possible.
Even if your movie looks and sounds great, it still doesn't have the most important thing a distributor wants, a cast. So you have to assume that you will not see a penny from traditional distribution. You have to rely on self distribution, film festivals, screenings etc. All of this will cost you even more money.

Remember, you are working at a level where you can get away with not paying your crew the same you would if you were working with a higher budget.
Most of the budget will go to equipment, in this case camera rental, sound equipment etc. I would also invest in a good and experienced cinematographer and a professional sound guy. The rest of the crew and actors you can get for cheap or no pay at all.

Shoot the movie on weekends and holidays, get a crew that is committed to make the best movie they can.

Never pay for anything unless it is absolutely necessary.

You should also put in marketing expenses in your budget. A grand or so for a great poster, dvd pressing costs, sending copies to film festivals and organizing screenings.

With a budget of $50k or under you can produce a great looking movie if you only spend it on things you absolutely need to.
 
$50k romcom is bad news. Honestly, $50k anything is going to be rough. Look at the numbers: unless you've got stars attached, indie distrib and licensing across platforms generally supports budgets between $10-20k max. You'd have to really break out to get past that, and that's not likely for a first time filmmaker, even if you've got an extra $30-40k to do it.

I respectfully disagree with KINOKS, though, in that I don't think horror/thrillers need bigger budgets. Horror is a location, thriller is a character, establish one of those and why they've got a grip on your protagonist, then build it up from there. You don't need 600 gallons of blood and a giant pig-head mask to make a horror film, and you don't need explosions and bullets out the anus for a thriller. You need a protagonist who's in a situation they can't control, where the stakes are life or death (in horror, it's sometimes about salvation/damnation more than life/death).

Reductionism FTW.

-JMT
 
$50k romcom is bad news.

I'd also agree with that. There are flukie successes every now and then, but very cast (star) driven. The script would have to be out of this world.
 
Hm...

You need to ask yourself what you want to do with your career, because just asking about genre implies that you're looking for a sale, and looking for a sale doesn't necessarily imply that you want to make a good movie, just that you want to sell something.

Jury's still out, but...

KINOKS said:
I would never do a horror genre with such a low budget. It's bound to look cheap IMHO. A thriller is also a genre that needs a bigger budget.
With such a low budget I would go for a non-genre film. I would concentrate on the acting, cinematography and atmosphere - forget genre altogether.
Create a superb story structure and a great plot. I think that generally creating a "voice oriented" story is you best bet to create a good film with such a low budget.

Genre needs money!

That's my 2 cent...
Click to expand...

I kinda agree with this. Genre does need money or straight-up know how. A feature film with a voice, it seems, does more for the longterm career minded filmmaker than a quick hit. The problem is that those need festivals more than genre, and getting into festivals that truly matter is very hard.

The upside, if you make a genuinely good movie aimed at a niche or demographic ("minorities" or whatever) you've got the opportunity to recoup money from avenues that are considered no traditional right now. So there's a chance to exploit your good work for fair money in order to do another one.

Basically, you just have to ask yourself what you really want, and that will define how you make every single decision, from budget to cutting to packaging/delivery.

Genre without names is still genre without names.

This is all said before we actually get to distribution with Superseeds, and knowing that we obviously went straight-up genre with our first scrub-budget feature.
 
1. make a good story and a good plot. In my opinion it should be voice oriented, as genres of voice don't need production value - that's because all the value the film is going to need is contained in the voice (the story, the plot, the atmosphere, direction, etc.)
2. make it special. This much is obvious if you're making a voice oriented film... The film should have a specific point of view and it should BE about something very specific. Be clear about what you've got to say!
3. don't hire a bad director. A low budget film must have excellent direction, atmosphere and tone because, basically, this is all it's got!

If you succeed in all the above you've got a good film that is going to be a hit in the festivals.

I see lot's of low budget films that don't look much better than a Sunday soapopera. And a they are mostly genre films. Pathetic zombie films, or stupidly directed action flicks or thrillers that try to pretend they are smart by using to much plot twists or the worst of the bunch psych thrillers that don't reveal something hidden untill the end ("it was all a dream", "he's the one that is actually locked up in the psychiatric ward", etc.)! I think it takes guts to make a genre film on a low budget. That or ignorance - I think that most people don't realize how hard it is to create a good genre film.

The other option I see is to create a film about something that needs to be changed in the world. Make an "awerness" type of art film and get some organisations to chime in the budget. This way you could probably collect the whole budget and more. If you don't have any references as a film producer I don't see how this would work. Just a suggestion...
 
My suggestion would be a 1/4 Afghan, 1/4 Iraqi, 1/4 Hispanic, 1/4 native American lesbian anti-war activist with a learning disability who comes to grips with her eating disorder through her study of afro-centric dance. If nothing else you'd kill it on the film festival circuit, probably get into Sundance.
 
At $50k you got nothing but unique ideas and original non-traditional execution. Anything else and your film will look like made by a wanna be.

Also do NOT invest your own money. Spend some extra time to figure out what you want to do and if you want to invest 6-8 months of your time in it. Then find out how much it would cost (probably more than $50k but way less than $1m) and then try to raise the budget.
 
EuropeanDistributor said:
Remember, you are working at a level where you can get away with not paying your crew the same you would if you were working with a higher budget.
Most of the budget will go to equipment, in this case camera rental, sound equipment etc. I would also invest in a good and experienced cinematographer and a professional sound guy. The rest of the crew and actors you can get for cheap or no pay at all.

Shoot the movie on weekends and holidays, get a crew that is committed to make the best movie they can.

Never pay for anything unless it is absolutely necessary.

You should also put in marketing expenses in your budget. A grand or so for a great poster, dvd pressing costs, sending copies to film festivals and organizing screenings.

With a budget of $50k or under you can produce a great looking movie if you only spend it on things you absolutely need to.
Click to expand...

Follow this advice and you are risking never finishing your film. Your film looking crap and sounding even worse with silly acting. With $50k you can produce a great art film or silly wanna-be look alike of all the crap that's out there.
 
You CAN make a good genre picture with a micro budget. I don't see why it would need to be an "art movie" or a small drama even if you're working with a low budget.

Think about it, if you invest in good equipment, a good DP and a good sound guy, you can get the rest of the cast and crew for little to no pay, sky's the limit!
Who says that you can't go and make a good thriller or a good action movie or a great sci-fi?

If you make an art movie or a drama it would need to be exceptionally good or win major awards to get anyone's attention or distribution.
But if you make a good genre movie, you have much higher chances of getting traditional distribution, even if it isn't enough to recoup the investment.

The original poster said that he would like to eventually make $1M - $5M movies, and this is why I think he needs to do a genre movie.

Let's say that he makes a pretty decent looking action/thriller with a budget of $30k, sure the acting might not be that good, but it has a great story, a hook that makes you want to see it and maybe it sold to Japan and Slovakia and got a domestic distributor.

He then puts together his next project, an action/thriller that has a budget of $1M, he can package the movie with himself as a director, and when distributors and investors ask him what has he done before he can show them the microbudget movie that got distribution and go "This is what I did with $30k, imagine what I can do with $1M"
The distributors and investors will probably trust this guy now, they know he can do a low budget genre picture because he has done it before successfully.

Let's pretend he instead of an action movie went out and made a $30k art movie, do you think the distributors and investors would trust him to helm a $1M genre picture if he hasn't done it before?

Someone said before that he should try to raise the budget, I strongly disagree.

The budget should be $30k-$40k at the very most.

It would be crazy to raise the budget more than that, because even if he raises the budget it wouldn't be anymore valuable to a buyer.
$30k or $100k it's all the same unless you have marketable names.
 
I would think the only place you should be wary of taking this particular genre-jaunt to is Actionville. Not necessarily b/c of pyro-car-chase-falling-off-building costs; but because even the "simplest" of scenes pulled off effectively can take excessive choreography and production time (due to increased coverage & shooting ratio needs.) None of which you have at the micro-level.

That being said, do whichever is your best/strongest concept...yes, even if it's romcom. If I've said it once, I've said it...well three times at least: the holy trinity in a great film's canon is superb Writing, Directing AND Acting Talent. All three gotta be sluggers. And if one of these elements isn't pulling his weight, then one of the remaing two had better be one hell of a clean-up batter.
 
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