What salary would first time indie feature director demand?

J

Joe N. Obody

Member
Curious what a producer should expect to pay (if anything) a first time micro-budget indie feature film director? Say for a 3 week shoot but which of course requires work before and after the principle photography. I am thinking of a director who has several nice shorts and that a producer would want to hire for the indie feature. Are there such directors who would work for free (plus lodging, meals of course) to get the feature film credit/experience so as to move up the food chain? If not free, what would be a reasonable salary such a first time feature director?
 
I think it depends on many things, for example what the project itself offers the director in return aside from monetary gain. For example if its a film with a solid cast, crew and producer I might do it for free for the "credit/experience" as you put it. But if its just another indie film put together by a group of people who have never made a film before, I certainly wouldn't do it for free. If I feel there is not a lot of potential behind it, or it is not sold to me that way, then why would I be inclinded to work on it myself unless of course I had no experience and wanted to earn some. but then in turn would you want someone directing your feature that has no experience?

Basically everyone should be around the same level so everyone is gaining the same thing, then I think it works out best.
 
Whats your time worth? Thats about it. No body can give you a solid answer because we don't know what your time is worth.
 
I think the poster of the thread is the producer looking what to realistically pay the director.. but yes seen from the directors point of view, like I said, he (the director) could look at it as an opportunity or a waste of time depending on the quality of the entire project and what it offers him over monetary gain.

I've directed several short projects but I primarily work as a DP and camera operator and I can't tell you how many projects I've been paid to shoot that never see the light of day or turn out like **** later because of poor production and people trying to "make it big" on something that doesn't have the potential to begin with.
 
starcentral said:
I think it depends on many things, for example what the project itself offers the director in return aside from monetary gain. ...
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Valid question/concern. I can not speak for whether it would be worth it to you specifically, as you might already have directed feature films. Beyond any monetary gain from the film project itself, I am wondering if short film directors would have a desire to direct a micro-budget ($30k-$50k) feature indie in order to get that prerequisite of directing a feature film out of the way (funded by a producer) so as to 'move up the food chain' just as producers seek to do-- viz once both get a feature film in the can, then the director (and producer for that matter) have the likely potential to then move on to directing/producing $1M-$5M 'blueprint' (non-equity funded, funded by pre-sales and tax credits, gap financing) and make money and fame :-) by getting the typical 8-10% of the budget (e.g. a director getting $80,000+ on a $1M budget blueprint film, etc).
 
starcentral said:
...I've directed several short projects but I primarily work as a DP and camera operator and I can't tell you how many projects I've been paid to shoot that never see the light of day or turn out like s*%t later because of poor production and people trying to "make it big" on something that doesn't have the potential to begin with.
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Excellent point, because I have also heard it said that a quality experienced DP/cine. can almost direct a film. In my case I am contemplating producing a $30k-$50k microbudget feature indie, and considering whether to direct it myself (I have done several shorts as writer/director/producer) or hire a director; but I could direct, get an AD and/or experienced DP on board (paid salary). I hope this thread is not coming off as disrespectful to Directors or DPs, not my intention at all, just seeing if Directors would direct a micro feature film for free just like I would produce it without any salary; both seeking to move up the food chain. From what I have learned on filmspecific.com, given the genre (in this case action-horror-thriller) and a budget of $30k-$50k, I should be able to get the budget back on the back end, and with that budget for a micro is should enough (barely) to at least crank out a film that stands a good chance of allowing the leap to blueprint productions ($1M-$5M).
 
I hope I didn't play too much devils advocate, I always believe there are two sides to everything so like to think as objectively as possible.

I definitely think short film directors would love a chance to direct an indie feature. Coming from mainly directing short films and music videos myself, I would love the opportunity to direct a feature film to be quite frank, especially a project with a budget with a good marketing plan behind it, and an experienced producer.

I also agree with you that likely most experienced DP's could probably direct a film - one feature film I worked on as DP left everyone thinking I was the director of it during the first 5 days of shooting... pretty funny, and quite a compliment I might add.

filmspecific.com - I love that site and am a full fledged annual member of it. If I can ask you, are you planning a-list or b-list talent in your film?
 
For that kind of a budget, as a producer I would not pay more than say $100-$150 a day for the director, quite simply because at that budget level, you are probably not paying every crewmember a "full" salary, and you would want as much of that budget to show on screen.

That being said, if you have yourself directed numerous shorts, why not just direct it yourself? Or if you want to hire a director, I would go for someone who has directed a feature before, why pay extra for someone who is on the same level as you, meaning someone who has only directed shorts before?

As far as selling and getting profit, it will not be easy.

The most important thing you will need to produce a sellable film, are name actors, and at this budget level you won't be able to get any decent names.
So even with a killer concept and a marketable genre, without names selling the movie will be a crapshoot.

Also as far as pre-sales go, if you are packaging a movie you hope to finance with pre-sales, you need not only names, but an experienced director and producer.
Selling a director who has only directed a microbudget movie before for this job, would be extremely hard, buyers would most likely want someone more experienced. Unless your names and producers are exceptionally good, then possibly.
But jumping from a $30k-$50k movie to a $1M-$5M movie will be very hard.
 
Most features in this range have writer/directors. If you wrote it then direct it. You could count on a good DP to cover it and a good editor to get it together. It occurs to me that the best of smaller films are the product of a director (often writer) with a clear vision of what the movie looks like in their head. If not cut to cut than at least in whole. The director is responsible for "where to put the camera" and to get the actors on the right pitch. Jobbing in a director as an afterthought on an micro indie feature just sounds wrongish... who's driving this bus? Unless your an actor and also plan to be in the film. In which case... nevermind. :)

EuropeanDistributor makes a good point. One really good reason to hire a name director is because they are known and that good actors will hear the name and want to be on that project. Every time a name actor is asked "why did you do the picture?" it is always because so and so was directing. However, that is a much different scale of movie, not micro.
 
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Micro-Budget ($30k-$50k) Indie Feature.

Even without paying a director a salary, you still have basic expenses involved with the director.

Travel expenses:
1: Airplane fair, unless you get lucky and find somebody with the needed chops in your own backyard.
2: Taxi, car rental, gas for vehicle, travel to and from set/locations.
3: Insurance: And I know somebody out there reading this is thinking, "that expenses would be too much for my budget", But if the director you have working for free happened to become injured by some freak accident on your set, then you might have to include your house into the budget.
4: Food: 3 x a day.
5: Lodging: Hotel room for a month.
6: Cleaning Laundry: This person is going to be there a month.

You could easily out of pocket $8,000 of expenses depending on your location. Just something to think about when putting budget numbers together for low budget/no salary films. This would take your remaining production budget on a 30K feature down to $22K.

All the Best!

Dave
 
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