What’s up?
This is Jack Peterson.
I recently finished my first feature film which is called SAWGRASS and I’m making
this video at the request of Film Courage.
So this is just going to be 5 tips for your first micro budget feature film.
Tip #1 - Put In The Work:
To tip number one is basically put in the work.
Don’t be lazy and basically it takes a long time to finish these things.
From the time I came up for the idea of SAWGRASS to the time I finished it was basically three
years.
So it takes a significant amount of time and energy and focus to actually finish a full-length
film.
SAWGRASS was 89-minutes long and like I said it took 3 years from inception to completion
so it’s not easy.
Even if you make something relatively short like I did it’s still going to take a long
time.
I feel like my second feature film might be a little bit of a smoother process now that
I have some experience and now that I know what it takes to complete something but still
it’s a really arduous process.
You can’t be lazy and you have to put in the work even if you don’t feel like it.
Even if you are having a bad day, it’s just required if you actually want to finish something.
There are a lot of people that start a film or a novel or an album (whatever the case
may be) and it never gets done pretty much because they don’t have the discipline to
see it through.
So that’s pretty much the most important thing in this section is just to put in the
work and actually try and finish the film instead of starting and stopping and starting
again a year later because if you are not focused it’s never going to get done.
Tip #2 - Scale Back If Necessary:
When I initially finished the script for SAWGRASS it was like 93-pages long and it was super-ambitious
and it had all kinds of live action scenes that I was going to film and all of these
extensive special effects sequences that I had no idea how I was going to accomplish.
I had this naive idea that I’d be able to raise financing for this crazy thing without
any prior experience.
To be honest I didn’t really pursue financing too much because I quickly realized it was
not going to work.
So I decided I would scale back and do something small.
So I pretty much did a small micro-budget version of the same script.
I scaled back a lot of things and I changed a lot of the elements around and made it more…well
I put more documentary elements in it and I did a lot of animation rather than live
action special effects so I simplified it and kept the core of what it was.
I scaled it back so I could actually do it on the budget that I had.
And as far as what the budget actually was it was so small that I didn’t actually even
count it.
I just spent money as I needed to.
So it might have been a few thousand dollars.
But regardless it was probably smaller than what it would have been if I had tried to
accomplish the original script so just tried to scale back if required.
If you can get a lot of money your first go-around, that’s cool.
Most people won’t so just try and do something that you can feasibly finish with the budget
that you are working with.
Tip #3: Don’t Be Afraid To Reach Out:
Pretty much what this means is if there is somebody you want to work with or if you have
a question for somebody that you are really inspired by don’t be afraid to reach out
to them in some way whether that is on Twitter or email or even a phone call which is basically
what I did.
So when I first finished the script for this thing I was trying to get anybody I could
to just read it, that I admired who could give me some actual feedback.
The first person I called was actually Bob Odenkirk (from BREAKING BAD and BETTER CALL
SAUL).
And I just cold called him out of the blue.
And at first he was like “Who the heck are you?”
basically and I explained who I was, what I was doing and the film I was making.
He politely told me that he didn’t have time to read scripts but he talked to me for
20 minutes and gave me tons of useful career advice and tons of information on how to finish
a film and what I should do going forward and he gave me a lot of motivation that was
really valuable in actually finishing the film.
So does Bob Odenkirk remember me a year later or whatever it is?
Probably not.
But the fact that I spoke to him and got all of that information from him is part of the
reason that the film is actually completed now.
Another guy I cold called at one point was a guy named Ken Levine who is the creator
of BIOSHOCK and he’s a really good writer.
So I talked to him and he gave me similarly tons of good advice and inspiration.
And a lot of motivation to actually finish something.
He gave me feedback on a short film I made which was super valuable and really amazing
to get something like that from someone I admire.
So never be afraid to reach out to someone.
The worst they will do is tell you that they can’t help you.
They are not going to be mean to you.
I’ve never once had someone that I cold called insult me or tell me off because I
called them.
Most people just want to help so always feel free to reach out to anyone that you want
to work with or want advice from (whatever).
That is how I got Erick Paddock the brother of the Vegas to help with my movie and I was
able to interview him for the movie and it was great and it was all just because I reached
out to him.
So that’s a really valuable thing to learn is that there is no one that you can’t cold
call or email if you really want to.
Tip #4 - Don’t Worry About Film Festivals and Distribution:
I think a lot of people probably disagree with this but I’ve seen a million people
make a micro-budget feature films (especially their first ones) and they submit to a ton
of festivals, they basically don’t get into any and then they try to get a distribution
deal and sometimes they do.
Like I was talking to a girl recently who found some obscure distributor that put her
movie on VOD basically and she has made zero money back from that and probably no one has
seen the film to be honest with you.
I really doubt that anyone is going to pay $5.00 to see some movie by a no-named filmmaker
with no-name actors in it so I would highly recommend that you put your work out for free
early on and then later on down the road you can start charging for it or move on to bigger
things.
But when you’re starting out you have to put out free samples and if people like it
they will help you fund a bigger project next time.
But yes, don’t worry too much about film festivals and distribution deals and all of
that stuff because in the end what really matters at first is developing yourself as
a filmmaker.
Tip #5 - Consider It A Long-Term Investment
This basically ties into my point about not worrying about film festivals and distribution
because there are some filmmakers who take 10 or 15 years before ever making any money
off of their film.
So that’s a common story and it could happen to you.
So you can’t give up.
You just have to keep making films.
The truth is most filmmakers never even go on to make one feature film and most of the
filmmakers who make one feature film, never make a second feature film.
So it’s just about getting past that and continuing to make films despite the lack
of visible progress.
It’s not something that happens overnight.
You have to work it up over time.
My second feature film is a little bit more ambitious.
I’m going to try and raise more money this time.
And then my third film after that will probably be even more ambitious.
So it’s just something that takes a long time to achieve basically.
So you have to look at it long term.
Those are my five tips so hopefully somebody finds this video useful.
Thanks again to Film Courage.