THE 7 MOVIE BUDGETS FOR INDEPENDENTS

Want to Produce or Direct even Write or Act in a Feature Film? If “Yes” then you absolutely must realize, upon preparing a budget, what is a realistic and what is an unrealistic for independents.

First, let’s look at the 7 basic Independent Movie Budgets.

1st: NO-BUDGET Budget ($10,000-$40,000); a 1-week or a 4 weekend (4 months) shoot, with a 5-7 person Non-Union crew, shot in real time with 2 iPhones, a couple of apps, a better mike and a $195 lens.

(“Tangerine” last year’s Sundance hit, a Jason Blum film, was shot with 2 iPhones, over a weekend with a script written in real-time.”)

2nd: MINI-BUDGET Budget ($41,000-$80,000); a 2-week shoot (13 shooting days), with a 90-page script within 1-location, and a shooting schedule of 7 pages per day, a 6-8 person Non-Union crew, shot with one Red or two 4Ks, and hiring SAG actors without becoming a SAG Signator.

3rd: MICRO-BUDGET Budget ($81,000-$150,000); a 2-week shoot, with a 8-11 person Non-Union crew but hiring, without signing with IATSE, a DP & Camera Crew for $5-7K/week and a highly qualified Soundman at $2K/week with possibly $10-$25K for a TV actor to do a 1-day cameo but promote “Starring Him/Her” and $5K for an original sound track.

4th: ULTRA-LOW-BUDGET Budget ($151,000-$250,000); a 2-week shoot, with a 13-16 person crew, 3-4 locations, signing with SAG on Ultra-Low Agreement (Actors @ $100/day), with 2 TV semi-name actors at $20K each and $10K for an original score, from a self-written dialogue oriented script of 95-105 pages with no stunts, animation or visual effects.

(“Most Ultra-Low-Budget films like “Blair Witch” or “Saw” or Company of Men” are shot at the producer or director’s house, a friend’s apartment or cabin or someone’s basement or backyard.”)

5th: LOW-BUDGET Budget ($251,000-$400,000); a 3-week (18 Day) shoot, with a 16-20 person crew, 5-7 locations, with 3-5 pages shot EXT-NIGHT, Above-The-Line sign with one guild (SAG) but not WGA or DGA and Below-The-Line Non-Union, not signing with IATSE, however hiring your 5-7 keys who are in IATSE and paying each $1,000-$2,500/week, with a solid food budget and excellent craftservice, with 2 semi TV names (run of the picture) and $75,000 for Post-Production and $15,000 for Film Festival attendance.

6th: INDY LOW-BUDGET Budget ($401,000-$500,000); This Film will be marketed as a “Million Dollar Feature”, but is in reality a 3-week shoot, similar to the above Low-Budget budget, with an additional $100,000 to hire, besides the 2 semi TV name actors a Movie Name (A- or B+) actor ($100,000 at 3 Days), whose name makes it feel like a movie, who is taking the gig because he/she lives close to your locations, possibly knows you and likes being paid $100,000 for 3 days. Above-The-Line a SAG shoot and now enough money to sign with the WGA (Writers Guild) and hire a pro at $25,000-$40,000 for 2 drafts of your Treatment. Below-The-Line a 20-25 person Non-Union crew; with a 10-week Post Period (Pix Edit, Sound Edit, ADR, Foley, Music, Mix, M&E, Digitize & DCP) and $25,000 to hire a Publicist for a festival bang.

7th: CLASSIC LOW-BUDGET Budget ($501,000-$700,000); You’re starting to learn that Hollywood lies and inflates their alleged budgets when marketing. Play the game! This Film will be marketed as a “$2-3 Million” or a “$3-5 Million” Feature. It is usually produced by a name tv actor, who is the director, with a couple of his/her name actor friends at $25K per week also cast. Above-The-Line it is a 2 Guild (SAG & WGA) shoot, with a possibility, since the name actor is directing, of signing with the Directors Guild to ensure the actor becomes a DGA member. The shoot is 5-weeks (25-28 days) allowing the actors 3 takes for each setup, demonstrating better acting skills, with the movie now appearing to be a very well acted film and qualifying for Sundance, Toronto or Tribecca.

(“Hi, I’m Dov Simens & permit me to give a simple, but realistic, 3 Step Formula for budgeting… www.WebFilmSchool.com”)

MOVIE BUDGET FORMULA: THINK SMALL

If you think low-budget is $2-4 Million then I advise make a $100,000-$200,000 movie.

If you think low-budget is $500,000 then I advise make a $25,000 movie.

Permit me to explain.

First-time filmmakers (aka: wannabees), like you, are a bit naive and hear things like “the average Hollywood Studio Low-Budget is $10-20 Million” then naturally think saying their budget is only “1-2 Million” will have studios going “why not”.

Problem is that $1-2 Million is still a lot of money.

Now, being mature and honest, rather than naive and romantic, here is how to approach your first feature film budget.

STEP ONE: Pick the dollar amount that you naively think is low-budget. Let’s say “2-3 Million”

STEP TWO: Drop that budget in half. Now you’re think “1-2 Million”.

STEP THREE: Move the decimal place one place to the left. Now you’re realistic and the “$1-2 Million” becomes $100,000-$200,000 and produce (see above) either a Micro-Budget or Ultra-Low-Budget Feature Film.

Another example: What if you started by saying “all you need is $500,000”. Then…

STEP ONE: You think Low-Budget is “$500,000″.

STEP TWO: Drop that budget in half. Now you’re thinking “$250,000”.

STEP THREE: Move the decimal place one place to the left and you’re realistic budget is $25,000 and produce (see above) a No-Budget Feature Film.

Happy Filmmaking,

Dov Simens / Creator 2-DAY, DVD & VOD Film Schools

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