MICRO-BUDGET FILMMAKING

A User’s GuideOlivier Kaempfer

Managing Director, Parkville PicturesSenior Microwave Executive, Film London

THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING SPECIAL…• Choose your project VERY carefully. Are you prepared to dedicate the next 3

years of your life to it?

• Likewise choose the team you journey with just as carefully. Assess the same questions as above. Divorce is messy and painful, and often not an option.

• Will it define you as a filmmaker? Or is it a discardable credit or cheap stepping stone? If so consider the odds of making that second step...

• The “in memoriam” test...If you die making this film, know that it will most likely be dedicated to you in the credits. Will you be proud or will you be blushing in the afterlife?

• Despite the odds, know what that second feature is before you make the first one. It may change along the course, but anticipating the second step helps you balance when making the first.

• Start at the finish and work backwards. Who is going to watch the film? How is it going to get to them.

WHAT DO I THINK I CAN BRING TO IT?

AND SO TO BATTLE...• Prepare and practise your pitch. Who are you pitching to? What do

they want? What do you want?

• You need to prove:1. Why this film NEEDS to be made2. Why it has to be YOU who makes it3. Why it has to be made NOW.

• Is this a film that is compromising itself in order to be made for less?

• Are you willing to collaborate with your funders? Will they be rewarded for their grand leap of faith?

HOLY CRAP, WE’RE ACTUALLY NOW GOING TO

HAVE TO MAKE THE DAMN THING.• Just because you’ve been funded, doesn’t mean you’re ready to go shoot.

• Is the script the very best it can be?

• Has it then embraced the realities of the shoot? Location, budget, schedule, crew?

• Has it made a virtue of them?

• All constraint is an opportunity to make something better.

• Micro-budget does not mean cheap.

• Preparation time is your most abundant and valuable resource.

SO WHO’S WITH US?• Cast your HoD’s, don’t be overly seduced by their CV and previous work.

• Do they see the same film? Do they want it as much as you do? Will they make the same sacrifices? What are they willing to bring to the project?

• Balance the levels of experience in the team. Imbalance can create tension and negative energy.

• Casting Agent as key as your DoP. Really choose carefully.

• What level do you aim for with casting? Do you go for the best actor or the highest placed on the Imdb STARmeter

• Same questions as crew. How much do they want it? Will they make the sacrifices?

• Don’t dress it up. Let people know exactly what they’re getting into.

NOW LET’S TALK MONEY…• Keep a very strict pay structure, and don’t break it for anyone.

• Let everyone feel invested in the film, share out the points. You can be more flexible here with the structure.

• Be as transparent as possible. Let everyone be part of solving the unsolvable. It’s more likely to be solved that way.

• The budget is an evolving entity. It needs to be interactive and tweaked in collaboration with your HoD’s. Trust has to be shown both ways. This is key in “casting” your Line Producer, but also your HoD’s.

• Build a contingency into EVERY line.

• Then have a separate contingency line that NEVER gets touched.

• Every extra £ spent on X, is a £ less you have to spend on Y. Really analyse the values in that equation.

WHERE WILL THIS MAGIC ACTUALLY HAPPEN?

• What is the key location of your film? Or are there two? Most likely three will be your maximum, both in terms of cost, and in terms of logistics.

• Find those key locations, and make them the geographic nucleus of your shoot. Every other location should be within one mile of that key location.

• Make sure the unit base/production office is within that one mile radius, ideally walking distance from set.

• How accessible is this area? Will it strain the transport budget?

• Can you get the community and council on board? Treat them as collaborators, and bring them as close in as possible. They can make or break your shoot.

• The basics really count on micro-budgets – keep nights, locations, and cast grouped together as much as you can in the schedule.

DOC, HOW MUCH TIME DO I HAVE?• No micro-budget shoot should last longer than 18-22 days.

• Shoot three 6 day weeks or two 11 day fortnights. Life is too short for a weekend on a micro-budget. The sooner you wrap, the sooner everyone can go on to better paying jobs. The “magic” only lasts so long..

• 12 hour shooting days (11 on camera), and you stick to them. You need to trust your cast and crew to give you everything for nothing, they need to trust you back. Micro-budget doesn’t mean un-professional..

• Like your Line Producer, your 1st AD needs to be firm but also collaborative with the crew. They need to be confident going off schedule and re-inventing the day, there are too many variables out of your control.

• There is NO “we’ll pick it up another time”. If it doesn’t get shot, you should assume it’s gone.

• Get through the schedule, if the contingency is still safe, you can then think about saving what was lost in the pick-ups.

• If you are then able to do pick-ups, don’t do them too quickly. Wait until you’ve got a cut.

AVOIDING BOTH MUTINY AND BANKRUPTCY…• Catering, catering, catering. Feed the 5000, even if it needs a miracle.

• Don’t have Production do the catering, have a dedicated catering department.

• Decide on a travel budget structure and stick to it.

• Don’t avoid cast pick-ups (a relaxed and punctual actor will give a better performance), but where possible get a runner/crew member to do it rather than a taxi. Can the cast share a ride?

• Organise car pooling. People won’t organise it themselves.

• Give each department their dedicated space, no matter how small.

• What can the crew lend production? Props? Costume? Cars? Accommodation? Acting skills?

• Make it very clear at the start, that it should be assumed as FACT that crew from one department are going to have to at some point do the work of another department. At the very least carry their boxes.. Once again don’t dress it up, it’s going to be a gruelling 18-22 days.

• Make sure there’s money in the budget for a wrap party... By the end of week 2 it might be the only thing getting people through.

EVERY LITTLE HELPS.• Arrange equipment/crew for the

specific days they’re needed. Requires very careful scheduling, but can save you money.

• If possible put all your location applications into the council in one go, they all have processing fees.

• Make it very clear at the start that all parking tickets are the crew’s responsibility.

• Does it really have to be at night?

• Does there really have to be a crowd?

• Does the car really need to be moving? Will double your insurance costs and take twice as long to film.

• Get the best sound you can, you’ll have to pay for it otherwise later in post.

TEMPTING TO CUT, BUT DON’T…• Full Production team

• Having an Editor on board duringthe shoot.

• Dedicated stills/EPK

• Continuity

• Full AD team

• Gaffer/Grip

• Location Scout

• Radios

• Rehearsals

• Equipment vans

• Video monitors

• CATERING!

SOMEHOW WE MADE IT TO THE WRAP PARTY.

WHAT DO WE DO NOW?• Realise that the journey really begins now. You have the raw materials to make a film

with – time to build and reinvent (again).

• What film will it be? Will it be the same as the one you wrote? Or the one you shot? Or neither? Don’t force it to be if it isn’t.

• Hopefully you will have sourced a sound editor before shooting, but if not get them on board at the start of the edit. Have them feed into it. Let the process overlap as much as possible.

• Like the script, never lock too quickly. Does every scene earn its place? Have you squeezed every bit of juice from every moment? Does the rhythm hold for the duration? Don’t be complacent about moments that lag.

• Organise regular test screenings throughout, but learn to interpret the notes. The symptoms are the important things to listen to, not the suggested solutions.

• Try everything, it can go back in one click. It’s amazing how often you can be surprised. Even if the change doesn’t work, it can spark a new thought and idea.

• Allow time in the schedule for a fine cut to be completed, but then have the team step away from the edit for at least a week, and then come back to it.

• Perhaps only after 4 weeks consider what would really help the edit, and that point go and do those pick-ups.

• Don’t fall in love with the temp music, you can’t afford it.

• Don’t show the cut too early to anyone who has a direct influence on the final fate of your film.

RELAX YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE,BUT NOT

YOUR GRIP ON THE BUDGET…• Get a picture editor and sound designer that have their own set-up. Will be

cheaper and more flexible.

• Agree a timeframe, but build in the contingency, it’s almost certain you’ll need it.

• When you’re agreeing your post deal, remember a lower price for a 2nd tier service is not a discount, that’s like for like.

• Make sure you’re getting the best service for that lower price. A mess in post-production could end up costing vast amounts, as well as years off the end of your life.

• Get a global price deal with a single picture post house, and likewise for a sound post house, for an agreed set of processes and final deliverables.

• You can grade a 90 minute feature in 5 days sitting in, if you prep with your DoP and grader, do test work on stills, and let the grader do a pre-grade without you there.

• Doing the heavy lifting offline Sound Design outside of the sound post house (i.e everything apart from ADR, Foley, and 5.1 pre-mix) can help with getting the best deal.

• Make sure you have an amount of ADR agreed and bought out in the Actors’ deals (at least half a day), you’re going to need it.

• Do the full 5.1 pre-mix at the sound post house, and then just do a 1-2 day maximum final mix/dub in a theatrical sound stage.

• Make sure to have all the deliverables agreed in the deal, don’t assume you’ll be able to afford them later.

• Don’t agree the timings with the post-houses until you’re 100% sure, don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourselves with a deadline. Once again in micro-budget filmmaking, your most valuable resource is time.

• A film is for life, not just for Sundance. Don’t rush the film for a festival, the most important thing is for the film to be the best it can be.

YOU’VE GIVEN BIRTH, NOW WHO’SGOING TO RAISE THE DAMN THING…• The answer is it may be you. At least in the early formative period.

• Hold back budget for publicity, festival costs, social media, screenings.

• Unless someone is offering you real money that will see you recoup, or allow you to finally feed your actual children, think very hard about handing over ANY rights for your film.

• Again, a film is for life, not just for the opening week. Don’t sacrifice everything just to get a poster on the side of a bus. You will certainly regret it.

• The opportunities for you to control sales and distribution are more than ever before. Are the Sales/Distribution company definitely going to do a better job than you? Will they add to or subtract from the full life of your film?

• Own your audience. Make them yours, not your Distributor’s. They are your ticket to a 2nd feature.

filmlondon.org.uk/feature-film-funding/ www.ifeatures.co.uk/

USHERU & CINEMANIA