How long from conception to shooting the film ?

[Randall_Oelerich]

Curious how long those of you who are writer+directors+producers and have shot a feature indie take from conception to shooting the film? Including writing and rewriting the screenplay yourself, pre-production with storyboarding, find the locations, scouting and casting the talent, maybe finding a DP is using one, setting up your business/LLC, finding other key individuals (composer for soundtrack), etc? 6 months? 1 year?

 

[David Jimerson]

I don't think there's any meaningful average.

 

[kylekmd]

For the microbudget indie feature, I've seen it done in 6 months or less.

Check the internet, there are examples all over the place, especially with the explosion of features shot on DSLRs over the past few years.

Depends on how many hats you want to wear, too.

 

[Lee Stokes]

For what turned out to be my 25 minute short MATTINA PRESTO LUCE, I wrote notes on a vague idea I had on 7-24-2010, and submitted the project to a festival on 10-22-2010.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING was done in 91 days. Turning the notes into a script, hiring crew, finding locations, camera tests, auditions, rehearsals, finding costumes & props, creating the original music, editing, color correction, sound design, etc...

The one thing I had going for me was that since all money came straight out of my pocket, I didn't have to spend time trying to raise funds.

Lee

 

[Chris Adler]

Yeah, completely depends on the project and the factors surrounding it. I wrote and directed a short back in 2010 for about $65K and it took probably a good 8-10 months from development to finish post and screen it. But the short had a horse, a kid, multiple period locations, costumes, out of state actors, etc. Lots of people involved.