Film Courage How did you set the budget for the film [COME INTO YOUR OWN]? Andrew Guerrero, Writer/Filmmaker/Actor: Great...a little little nervous to talk
about this because...I will...but it's because I want people to take it
seriously and I don't want them to look at it look at the money because we
didn't have a lot and I want them to say you know what who cares that it was shot
for this it's a good story we had four thousand dollars production budget
period okay that's all we have is four thousand dollars and cleeshay I called
all my aunts and my uncle's my dad my family friends of the family and said
hey I can shoot this for $1,000 I need 200 bucks from each of you and they all
chipped in they were all really excited because they know and I ended up with
$4,000 and I told everyone this is what we have to make this film so let's do it
and I will say very upfront it was so much easier to do than people think
yeah why do you think that you were able to get it under the wire like that like
under the $4,000 mark it's a feature feature everyone first and foremost
everyone did it because for the credit they everyone I hired I'm on to said
listen this is what I got we can make it look really good we can
get locations we can get a feed you guys everyday but unfortunately right now
we're gonna have to the eyeballs that people put on this film the the credit
of having a feature under your belt that's our payment that's everyone's
payment right now that's my payment I'm not ashamed to say that as a new young
indie filmmaker I'm not ashamed to say that because we all start they would all
have you know I had what I had and that's what we could do with and and so
they were all just so gung-ho about it they were all said you know what the
story is worth it it's a great enough story to make it
happen so yeah they were willing to put all our effort their time their life
they gave me 23 days of their life straight yeah 23 days straight no breaks
and we shot the whole thing in that time for that amount of money and it's so
doable but again going back to having a great solid team yeah it worked there
was one occasion where I had to kind of as the director say I had to pull
someone aside and say listen this behavior is it didn't work it's not
working let's correct it and they graciously took it said you're right I'm
sorry I was stressed because of the time limit and the time crunch and it's never
like oh there's always gonna be time limits there's always going to be
stresses there's always going to be money issues there's always going to be
that get used to that now in a place you can and take that with you and this
person graciously accepted the advice and we just progressed on but but yeah I
literally asking every family member I had if they could help fund it and they
did and we made it work that's awesome they believe in you and they won't see
you happy and do well always have fun that's very cool yeah and I don't think
I want to say that I don't think that that should be out of the norm you know
I want I want great experiences like this to be the norm I I feel like
there's this general feeling about bleeding for the art and you know van
Gogh cutting off your ear to make great art it's like I never I want to make
movies it's so much fun right I want to make them with great people and and I
understand that there's lots of stresses and I think you know I think that's what
kind of leads to a lot of the problems is it person people not being able to
handle their own stresses but if you can set your ego aside and just have a great
time making movies with people then that holds that's the reason we're able to do
it with $4,000 cuz everyone involved was just excited and happy to do it
now that doesn't take into account post right no no so that was so production
post-production we had zero zero dollars because I had four thousand . so again I
reached out to a lot of young people who are trying to develop credits for
themselves sound engineers sound mixers composers
and I said hey you want to be credited on a feature this is what I can offer
later this is what we're doing that all of them again number one will ask first
right and I just asked hey would you want to be a part of this every one of
them said yes every one of them I would get responses like crazy I was never
trying to take advantage of anybody but I knew I had a feature and that that
magical word is amazing right and you know in the post I would let people like
our editor example I said hey my editor was doing a
lot of industrials and he was really looking to get into narrative work and I
said I have a feature and he said okay let's do it and he gave some of it just
six months of his time to edit all thing oh why I mean and turnaround was amazing
taking notes so graciously I would always ask what do you think you know
being collaborative and it was just an amazing experience my editors Matt Rahn
amazing guy amazing guy and then yeah with like the composer's I had one
composer who felt really overburdened by all the music we had it's all Latin
themed music very very high energetic and I said hey would you mind if I got a
bunch of other guys to work and they said yeah so I would reached out to a
bunch of composers and said hey can you do a cut two songs all yes totally 100%
yes I said this is the deal we don't have this or that and I said totally
fine I can I can manage two songs and they all they all just jumped on board
it was just amazing amazing you know some some of the songs I had cut some of
the songs I used whatever but it was really an exciting and experience to
just bring a bunch of people in because they wanted to be a part of a feature
you know do you think if it had been a short it would have been different
just because with the yeah okay yeah I think so
feech features is it's just a calling card it's a huge calling card when you
are credited to a feature I keep saying that word but I can't stress it enough
it's a it's a big word in this industry it is when you have a feature to do or
being done or working working on people want to be a part of that especially if
it's the first time for them and and they've been in the industry for some
time and they just haven't had their break yet and and they've been doing
industrials or they've been doing music videos or commercials for a long time
like they're ready to take tackle something bigger they are just asked you
never know who you're gonna meet you never know if you're gonna be a part of
and 90% of the time they'll reach out and say yeah I'm totally willing to help
you know and I am so grateful for them they they they know it I've told them
100 200 times how grateful I am for them because they made the film they made it
you know I had the idea I orchestrated it but without them wouldn't be filmed
and did you screen it for all of them oh yeah how was that it was exciting -
for performance is exciting to have crew a
cast see it because it was their sweat and blood that went into it but then
having random people they're also friends families you know who could then
validate their work validate what we had done and say yeah it was great or it was
good or I loved it was watchable which is what I wanted more than anything just
have a watchable film someone something people could watch on a Friday night you
know and to see their reactions like oh my gosh like it happened it like I think
a lot of people in LA they talk a lot more than they act and I have met a lot
of them know we're gonna get a feature done this and that and the fact that it
got done and they saw that it got done they were like whoa this is like
happened and then to have people watch it was crazy for them I think it's
amazing that's for Michael yeah how do you find these young eager creatives
that will work on a feature film okay so I went to a site called Mandy calm I
went to Craigslist and I posted an ad with very transparent instructions this
is what we're doing this is what I have this is what I can offer you very
transparent as honest as possible the people who are ok with that emailed and
if they weren't okay with that then they did an email right I got a ton of emails
so many the hours after I posted I'd love to be a part of it I'd love to read
the future I'd love to help with the music they'll have to do this or that
and Mandy calm was a great resource a craigslist was a great resource of
course I've added a lot of them for sure but I found that when I and again when I
said students of film then everyone came in I had wanted people because I mean by
DP was two or three years out of USC you know and really was ready for something
big so they all just were willing to to work and it was using those resources
reaching out on that site and being as transparent as possible right that's the
key because they all knew what they were getting into
there was no secrets there was no like oh we're out of money or we have more
money than they know they knew that they they knew there was 4,000 bucks
they knew what they were getting into and that was that and they will if you
build it they will come right they they will reach out to you if they're
interested and if they're not they won't don't worry about them
describe to me transparent like how is because I've seen some stuff on
Craigslist it's like blunt all caps seven explanation points like whoa right
okay maybe to letting people know what they're getting in force so I have a
feature film we are shooting it for 20 days straight no breaks we have four
thousand dollars that four thousand dollars is going to locations it's going
to equipment and it's going to feeding you we're shooting all over LA and this
is how we're this is how we're going to shoot it it's an indie drama and this is
what you can expect right this is Who I am as a person and when you're that
transparent with the facts you know you're not saying well we have some
investors looking you know we have potentially $20,000 coming no don't be
ashamed that you have no money don't be ashamed of that all right just let them
know straight up this is how it is you don't have to break down their door with
it there's gonna be all caps don't oversell it don't be super excited where
you oh my god doing it just be be calm be relying I have fun we're making a
feature film let's have some fun and and it's gonna be a lot of hard work but if
you're in for that then then you're welcome and I got so many likes I got so
many interviews and I just picked the ones I wanted so it sounds like you were
open and fair and honest yeah it was like trying to pull the wool over
solonai decimals eyes or like being so like blunt and mean about it that people
like scares people away I was never trying to be more than I was I think a
lot of people I I've met are like oh I've got this in the pipeline I've got
that in the pipeline Morgan I looked them up two seconds later and they're
there no well you know I was a child actor and I'm working on this now and
then it's like we have like maybe half of credit whenever I was I was very
blunt I'm but this is the first time feature from a person who has never
directed a film before if you're interested welcome yeah so that's great
be open like that I like that
you