Is $10,000 indie feature possible ?

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Yeah I wore that thing out. I Had the original Right afer the 60. I hated the XL. I have at least 5000 beats just sitting around. That' ALL I did for 15 years. I had the ASR-10 too.

Sorry about the thread jack.:)

SHOOOT IT!!!

Martay said:
You parted with your MPC? Just DAMN!

We still use it frequently...in fact making beats for the movie with it now :)

Thanks for checking out the trailer,

Martin
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Richard J. Johnson said:
Yeah I wore that thing out. I Had the original Right afer the 60. I hated the XL. I have at least 5000 beats just sitting around. That' ALL I did for 15 years. I had the ASR-10 too.
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Richard,

Shoot me some samples...we're still looking for beats for the movie.

Shoot me some samples or a link to martin@cinematl.com

Get the word out to any other producers you know as well.

Later,

Martay
 
If you really want to make the film, and you've got $10K, you will find a way to make it. You've just got to believe in it and want to make it badly enough - I'd say you can't really know that until you've got a script that you absolutely love and NEED to make - not just want to make, you're driven to make it, you are compelled to make it - and that's when you know you've got something. If you just want to make *something* then I don't think you're going to be super-successful, you need to believe in your project - don't just pick a genre like horror because it's often the realm of low budgets...if you want to make horror films, fine, do it up, but write what you know, write something great, write something that you love and absolutely MUST make, and nothing will stop you.
 
Absolutely agree with thisisapocalypse's sentiment...if you are going to risk personal assets in that amount (unless it's not a big deal to have that kind of cash) be sure it's to "go for it" with your absolute passion project. Make sure that you can't NOT make the movie...because to say the odds are stacked against you is a hefty understatement and you've got to be fine with that, be satisfied that you had to make the movie.

But still stand my precautions earlier.

-M
 
Martay said:
It's possible...however, don't do it if you don't think you'll be able to compete with the 100K - 300K range films in terms of production quality as it sure won't garner much attention to your writing.

I began producing and directing films in order to create a career for myself as a screenwriter and the good news is it worked (I get work as a writer and have sold scripts, etc. but still have miles to go). Still most people in my area look at me as a Producer since I do now take gigs as one, my main goal is to still be a successful screenwriter.

However, for your writing ability to be properly evaluated, the film from your screenplay must be adequately presented with competent production value and performances. Otherwise, nobody will "see through" bad quality to your script.

I know from experience, anything amatuer about a project paints the entire project as amatuer. Bad sound, bad lighting, etc...easily invites critics to going further and criticizing the writing & acting (mostly if they were being honest, unfairly, in my opinion). Believe me, there's nothing worse than seeing someone trash a project you wrote because of terrible CGI and other technical issues that devolves into comments about hack writing and bad acting.

Therefore, from the outset, I caution you NOT to attempt it if you don't have the skill-set to pull it off very well. Especially if it's meant to be a showcase for you as a writer.
However, that said...yes, it can be done.

There's a ton of caveats though. The script DOES determine the budget. How many pages to shoot? How many locations to secure? How many actors to cast? How many stunts? How many props? All of it CAN translate to costs.

For instance, the food budgets being discussed here in this thread are not even CLOSE to the money we spent just on food for our recent Micro-Budget Feature film "Battle" (www.battle-movie.com check the trailer). Why? We hoped that having a bare-bones guerilla crew would help us out in that department ('cuz grips can eat), but we had a large cast (and extras eat too, and we don't treat 'em like 2nd class citizens on a set like the bigger shows do since we don't pay our extras) which were fed decently despite our miserly ways. So, the people talking 2K for catering and craft services for a FEATURE must be really cheap suckas :)

Some pay goes a long way. Again, we don't want to see a film that looks like 10K...it can cost that but don't let it look like 10K. And some key paychecks can upgrade your production value exponentially. So, find out who can do it and get them to sign on for a small token and some back-end.

Actors...be sure they're the best you can get...keep looking until you've got the right ones for all the roles. Don't cast on look, cast on talent (and charisma)...and again, you may need to give a little here too.

So, you see where this leads. More money, and it adds up quickly.

The best place to begin though goes back to the script. Is it shootable on a bare bones budget? If so, you've got a shot at it.

Do you have the knowledge to properly break down the script and schedule it accurately?

Don't get caught in the classic two scenarios.

1) The money goes THIS FAR...5 weekend shoots, 3 days each...and your script really needs 7 weekends, the last 2 can be 2 days each. You end up cutting things you wanted (and NEEDED) to shoot just to make it through the shoot in the finite time you have available. So your editor tries valiantly to piece a puzzle together without all the parts.

2) You shoot and shoot and shoot...run out of money...put it on hold to get more money, then shoot and shoot and shoot...each delay increasing the chances that something goes wrong with personnell not to mention the continuity is severely compromised, etc. Projects like this usually last way longer than the enthusiasm for them does.

So, keep evaluating it and be honest with yourself about the prospects.

Good luck,

Martin
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Great post.
 
I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if this is redundant, but the answer is of course.

Paranormal Activity only had a $15,000 budget and look how well that did.

On the other end of the quality spectrum, I'd be willing to wager that the majority of films released by Troma are under $10k budgets.

It's doable, for sure.
 
bwind22 said:
I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if this is redundant, but the answer is of course.

Paranormal Activity only had a $15,000 budget and look how well that did.

On the other end of the quality spectrum, I'd be willing to wager that the majority of films released by Troma are under $10k budgets.

It's doable, for sure.
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And i know a guy down the street who won $22,000 playing lottery -- sure it's possible to win but you are not taking into consideration all the millions of people who played the same lottery that day and did NOT win.

Likewise with filmmaking. You talk about a film that "won the lottery" but how many other films were created that year that never got seen my more then the "family & friends"?
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
And i know a guy down the street who won $22,000 playing lottery -- sure it's possible to win but you are not taking into consideration all the millions of people who played the same lottery that day and did NOT win.

Likewise with filmmaking. You talk about a film that "won the lottery" but how many other films were created that year that never got seen my more then the "family & friends"?
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And you can't win if you don't play.
 
Ahhhhh

Yes

but the question is the question -

Is $10,000 indie feature possible ?

Yes yes and yes.

Without a doubt.

-
 
That "positive" and "optimistic" side is that they'll somehow make money off a project that was never good in the first place.

I've seen too many YouTube videos and read too many "great" scripts to be anything but brutally honest with people!
 
Odds of "winning":
Dreaming about making a film but not actually doing it: 0
$10,000 feature: 5,000,000:1
$20,000 feature: 2,000,000:1
$50,000 feature: 500,000:1 (this is a number where something passable can be created)
$100,000 feature: 200,000:1
$300,000 feature: 50,000:1 (because at this budgets you can start getting name actors)
$500,000 feature: 20,000:1
$1,000,000 feature: 10,000:1
$5,000,000 feature: 1,000:1
 
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That's because there's two different threads going.

Okay, look -- is it *possible* to make a $10,000 indie feature? Of course it is. The New Year Parade was shot for $7,000 and has racked up awards at major festivals everywhere.

Is it possible to make *and sell* an indie feature for $10,000? Especially, to sell it for enough to get your money back? That's a whole different question.

Look, if someone wants to play around at filming as a hobby, with no expectations of making their money back, and it's fun for them, then yeah, go ahead.

But if someone's planning on sinking $10,000 into a project because they think they'll make a lot of money off it? That's when they need to take a good, hard look at Patryk's numbers.

It really is like this: 137,000 people try out for American Idol each year.
about 140 make it to the second round, "Hollywood Week".
12 make it through "hollywood week".
1 will win.

(and here's where it gets really funny -- of the winners, you'll never hear from 90% of them again either!)

So, while it's true that you can't win "American Idol" if you don't audition, well, even if you audition the odds are 137,000 to 1 against you.

So you'd better be really, really, really, really, really, really, really good. And you'd better have studied and trained and taken voice lessons and paid off the producers and mobilize an army of voters and ... well, filmmaking isn't all that different, now is it? The odds are about the same, the rewards are about the same, and the amount of work is probably 1,000 times harder.

You can shift the odds dramatically (and more in your favor) by learning what the **** it is you're doing, learning and knowing the craft, before you try. If someone doesn't know exactly what they're doing, and hasn't done like Rodriguez did and shot fifty or a hundred short films already and won top awards at festivals already, then they have no business being out there spending money they don't have trying to make a film that nobody in their right mind would watch.

People who say "just go shoot it" are doing the biggest disservice to those people. Unless they can shoot for free, in which case, what do you really have to lose? But they WILL lose every penny they put into it, so that game is only for those who have cash they can afford to burn.

Sometimes folks don't have that money to burn, but they get themselves amped up to charge a bunch of debt on credit cards or (a couple of years ago) take out a home equity loan "to pursue their dream." That's like someone selling their car and everything they own, to afford the bus trip to Atlanta to audition for American Idol, because they just "know" they were born to sing and they believe in themselves so much that they "take that shot." Put gently, that would be a really, really bad idea. Put less gently, that's a stupid, stupid idea.

If you've got ten grand to burn, and this is the best way you can think of to do it, go ahead, burn it, have fun, learn a lot, and everything else.

But if your idea really is that good, and your script really is that good, and you really are that good of a director -- someone will put up the money. And if nobody will put up the money? Well, that's Simon Cowell time, when they're basically telling you "no, give up singing, this isn't good, dawg."
 
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Barry_Green said:
If someone doesn't know exactly what they're doing, and hasn't done like Rodriguez did and shot fifty or a hundred short films already and won top awards at festivals already, then they have no business being out there spending money they don't have trying to make a film that nobody in their right mind would watch.
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The thing is, El Mariachi really isn't that good. In fact, it's kind of bad, especially is you speak Spanish. Oh, it has its charm, but the speed with which it propelled RR's career is kind of incongruous with the actual quality of the movie. He just happened to be in the right place at the exact right time with the exact right people, a billion to one shot that even he didn't plan on happening. He just thought he'd sell it to the Spanish market and make his money back. The only thing is that he had just enough filmmaking experience to capitalize on that opportunity when it came his way, because he had made all those shorts. But anyone counting on having the same kind of insane luck he had is going to have a rude awakening...Of course there's always the exceptions that keep everyone chasing the dream, but I guess that's how the human brain is wired. We put too much stock in the exceptions, like the few airplanes that do crash putting us off flying, and not enough in what's more likely, that you will die in a car accident or from slipping in the bathtub.
 
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