How to Really Produce a Low Budget Movie: Part 2

When I consider making a movie, I sit down and write things down.   I am looking for an answer to the question, “Can I do this movie?”  

My game plan, that I follow on a regular basis, is simple.  I say on regular basis because the movie business is a very fluid entity.  This means that sometimes you are confronted by something that you could not foresee at the time when you evaluated  if you could make the movie.

Here is my game plan on making the decision to make my movies.   This is an example of what I would do if I were starting out on my own, using my own money.  

First, go to a quiet coffee shop and get a large cup of coffee or whatever you drink of choice is.  Fix your coffee the way you like it.  Find yourself a nice corner table, away from the herd of coffee drinkers that must incessantly talk about whatever is on their mind.  While at other times they can offer some entertainment, today you need to work.

Bring a notebook with plenty of notebook paper.  Make sure you also bring extra pens.   For some unknown reason, I find that coffee shops seemed to cause more of my pens to either disappear or to quit working.    

Close your eyes and take in a deep breath.  Hold it.  Slowly, breath out and open your eyes.  Take a moment to relax your mind and your body.  Take in the sights around you.  Comfy, okay, lets get to work.  

Now open up your notebook and write down, on the top of your first page, the following statement, ” I will make my full length feature film for $1,800.00.”  

This will be your decision starting point.  

You will be drawing a line through that number as you add a new item to the base.  

It is now time to figure out what your movie, if you do not want to be to creative, can cost you.  I will show you how to reduce some of the costs afterwards.

Your base is $1,800.00.   Why start at $1,800.00?  

A feature movie runs over 90 minutes, usually about 51 scenes, and revisions to a script cost you money in development.  If you did not know, the “Development Stage” is the current state of making your movie that you, as a producer, are in.  

One page of a script is considered, as a rule of thumb, one minute long.   Therefore, if a feature film runs about ninety minutes,  your film script, will be at least 90 pages long.  

So, during the development stage, you will have costs.  Those costs will consist of physical items such as making copying a small number of the complete script.   You will have time costs, crucial to making your production run as smooth as can be, such as breaking down your script.  You will be burning gas and daylight during this time.  As a producer, you will find that you will be drinking a lot of coffee at coffee shops for long hours, known to many low budget movie makers, as their “real” production office.   I have found that a figure $20.00 per page works to cover many of these early costs.  Therefore the figure of $1,800.00 is used as my starting point.   Do I have $1,800.00 to spend on this project.   If the answer is yes, then I will continue, if not, I will close my notebook and wait until I do have the money.   You should never try to make your movie without all the elements in place and one of those things is money, contrary to film school thinking.

On your unofficial budget, your decision tool at the coffee house, we have decided to go on because we have the $1,800.00 in the bank.    Most movie budgets follow a system of above the line and below the line costs.   You, should use this once you see if you can make the movie.   The unofficial budget is a loose tool for making a decision on whether or not to shoot.

The first expense you should consider is how much you can spend on a script.  Why?  Because you need a story.  You need a simple story with a small cast and a single location that can be shot during the daylight hours that the viewing audience will actually want to see.   If you check the Writers Guild of America (W.G.A.) rates, you will become somewhat discouraged.   When you move up economically in your movie budgets, it is good to use them but  for this you will want to use a new writer that you can buy the script from for a small amount of money and some points in your movie.   For this I have decided to spend $500.00 for the rights.  So by adding the $500.00 to my base of $1,800.00, I have raised to required budget to $2,300.00.

Next, I am producing the movie and I want to get paid to, even though I am paying myself.  My normal rate, when I am hired as a producer is $300.00 per hour, but because this is my money, I have decided to pay myself a whopping $1000.00 plus points.  I, now, add that in to the previous figure for a new total of $3,300.00.

I need a director, I could do that job also, but I still want to be paid and so would anyone I hired to be the director.  I decide that I will pay my director $750.00.   This is really unrealistic, if you are going for a feature, but for this example, I found a director that just wanted to make a movie and get something for their reel.  So again, I add the amount into my unofficial budget.  The total now is $4,050.00

Next is the Cast.   Under the SAG Ultra-low budget agreement, I must pay my actors $100.00 for an eight hour day plus the health and pension fund.   I have decided that I can only shoot for five days and I will use non-union actors but will use SAG wages as my guideline.   I have a script that calls for three actors and they must work every day.  I have decided to pay my actors $150.00 a day.   But the $150.00 a day is an illusion because of a thing called fringes.

Fringes are the mandatory payments such as taxes that the employer, that is the filmmaker, and the real amount that you end up paying is about $450.00 a day per actor.   With three actors working for five days at $450.00, the cost of your cast is $6,750.00.  The new budget figure is $10,800.00.  That is the Above-the-line total.  Now can I shoot the movie with what I have in the bank?  Here is where you have to look at this as a producer.   This is a business, this is the product I make, and, if I continue, what are the chances I will make back my investment and create a profit to make another movie?   I know from experience that in an average year that 3500 independent movies are made a year, of that amount only 120 make it to any market, with only two, on average, making it to the big box office.   I also know that those independents, that make it to market,  out sell and out profit Studio releases.

I decide that I still have money in the bank and that this is a good movie that has a good chance of making it to the market.  I continue.

The next area of the unofficial budget are my Below-the-line costs. 

First, I have decided that my little movie needs a few extras, so I hire five extras for $75.00 a day.  I am only going to be using them for one day during my master shots of a park, I decided to use because my friend’s farm wasn’t available because it is harvest time on the farm.   My cost for these extras plus their fringes added comes to about $550.00 for the day.   The total to the budget is now $11,350.00.

Next, we need a crew to make this a movie.

There are two key crew groups to making any movie.   One is the camera crew and the second is the sound crew.  While other positions, such as grips, gaffers, hair and makeup artists, are important to making a great product, with out camera and sound, you only have a stage play, at best.

Today, in low budget films the best equipment you can get are the high definition digital cameras.  Packages are inexpensive for a week’s rental and post production costs can be kept down, as well.  Film cameras cost money that a low budget shooter may not be ready for.  First the purchase of a large amount of raw stock, followed processing and editing costs, then the purchase of more film to finish the movie for release, can move your budget up several hundreds of thousand dollars.  Digital allows longer shooting times, can be viewed in real time, edited quicker at a lower cost.  The crew needed for the digital movie maker are the Director of Photography (D.P.), the Assistant Camera Operator (A.C.), and the Digital imagery technician (D.I.T.).  I have made an agreement to pay them as follows the D.P. is paid $500.00, the A.C. is paid $400.00, and the D.I.T. is paid $350.00.  Again I know that in this example that this is an unlikely pay structure for a good crew.   But, for this, I met these guys at a bar and they agreed to do it for the cost of their beer tab.  Add it to the budget, and now your are at $12,600.00.

I rent a camera package for $2500.00 for the week.  The amount  added, makes the budget $15,100.00.

Now I decided that I am not going to make a silent movie so I have to add a sound crew consisting of a Sound Mixer and a Boom Operator.  I picked these guys up at the same bar as the camera crew.  I pay the Sound mixer $600.00.  A good sound mixer is gold to your movie.   The sound mixer’s work can mean the difference between a sale of your movie and a dust collector.   The Boom Operator agrees to work for $350.00.   

I rent a sound package for $1,500.00.  My budget is now $17,550.

The crew needs to be filled out with a gaffer, two grips, and three Production Assistants, one Hair and makeup artist, and an script reader.  Gaffer is paid $400.00, the grips are paid $300.00, the P.A.s are paid $150, the Hair and makeup artist costs you $500.00 plus her kit fee of $100.00 and your script reader is $100.00.  The unofficial budget is now, $19,700.00.

The light kit and extra silks are rented for $500.00 and a small generator is rental for $35.00.  The budget is now $20,135.00.   How deep is your wallet?  Keep going.

Next you decide that you do not need a hassle or a ticket for not having a permit so you decide to get a film permit to shoot your masterpiece in the park. 

You call the city to find out what the park permit costs.  

The city says, “We charge $300.00 for the permit to use that park per week.”    

You think that is great, I can afford that.  But wait there is more to it, as they add, “and we require insurance of one million dollars liability.  Then, of course, there is the Fire Marshall and Police inspection, in which, you will receive a visit by our Fire Marshall and a Police Officer.   They get paid on an hourly basis.  However, we are a real nice community, so the Fire Marshall and the police officer, will only charge you for one hour, at $110.00 per hour, of their time.”

The permit costs you $300.00, the insurance for a basic film insurance is $1,200.00 for a twelve day shoot, Fire Marshall and the Police officer cost you $220.00.  The budget is now $22,855.00.

Now is a good time to explain to you the rule of fours.  Any time you are working with an hourly wage for you budget always multiply it by four because of fringes and other things.  Fringes are Federal, State, and municipal Taxes, Workman’s comp, health and pension funds, Social security, and other mandatory deductions that you are required to pay over the money you are paying to any employee, including actors, crews, and others associated with your shoot.

The second part of that rule applies to your budget when your release the film, your break even point, the amount of money you need to recoup from sales before you can make a profit is four times your complete and overall budget.  At tis point of your project you do not have to deal with it but as you go into the pre-production phase of you movie, it will come into play.  So you just should be aware of it.

I decide to take a loan on your car and your dog and make this movie.  I will shoot it in the park.

Now I need to feed the actors and the crew.   Remember on Low budget shoots it is ALL ABOUT THE FOOD!

I decide my budget for craft services should amount to $500.00 a day and that makes $2,500.00 for the week.  I need to provide breakfast and lunch too.  Save yourself a headache here, hire a professional caterer at $15.00 per head and round up to the next highest ten.  If you have a total of 22 cast member and crew then round up to thirty. So your catering cost for five days would be equal to $15.00 times 30 people times 5 days or $2250.00.  This changes you budget to $26,605.00.

Allow for Miscellaneous rentals by adding $4,500.00 to bring your budget to $31,105.00.

Now consider post production.

I make this easy for my self.   I group everything for post, when I am doing my unofficial budget, by looking at the numbers brought down to this point and dividing by 3.   It is a good guide but in reality, i find that post can become very expensive if you do not plan for the film in pre-production by staying with your storyboards.  I decide to add $10,335.00 to the overall budget for a total of $41,450.00.

Now one final bit of money should be added to the mix, the contingency of 10% or $4145.00 to the budget and you come up with $45,595.00.   This is your minimum starting point to make a movie.  Can you afford this?   Can you really pay for this?  If your answer is yes, then you should move to the next step,  Pre-production and be prepared to have your budget move up in real costs by the constant changes that happen while making a movie.  Wages, rentals, catering, location, permit, insurance, and other costs in this business change often.  Your budget will do so also.

I have added a new part.   In the Part, I will explain Pre-production and production.  

 In Part Four:  Distribution and the art of losing money making a profit, I will show you how to make the best of your money.

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