So you really want to make a movie but you are broke, right? Are you afraid of becoming a broke filmmaker? Here’s the downside: you’ll be getting all bitter and twisted, especially when you discover that the BFI’s film fund has given a grant or production finance to someone less talented and less deserving than you!
What do I know? I started Raindance Film Festival in 1992 when everyone thought the UK film industry was down and finished. I started Raindance as a thought experiment to prove that you could make a movie without money, training or experience. Before you get bent out of shape, let me take you through the basics of Lo To No Budget Filmmaking.
Rule #1 Reverse budgeting works
Make a list of all the stuff and people you need to make a movie. That’s all a budget is. Then ask yourself what you can get cheaply or for nada. And remember, there are three ways people pay for their budgeted line items: through cash (which we won’t have) through deferrals (pay later out of profit if any) and through ‘in kind’ ie: product placement. Make certain you have your paperwork together though or you’ll get into emotionally draining wrangles when money starts to dribble in.
Rule #2 Locations cost money
Every time you add a location to your story you add in more costs. Location hire, transport, set-up times, set dressing all adds to your budget. That’s why so many broke filmmakers use the one location story. The benefits are: it’s cheap to shoot. The down side is: it’s cheap to shoot so everyone is doing it.
In order to make a simple location story work you will need to find a new way of using a limited location movie. You might want to check out our One Location Movie resource.
Rule #3 It’s story story story
The reason we say no to 99% of movies is because of the story (or complete lack of it).
Read What Producers Should Know About Story
It’s also really important to make sure your story is genre based. This makes it easier to market and sell your film.
Remember that Raindance believes you do NOT need to have talent to become a filmmaker. Help us debunk the talent myth.
Rule #4 Sound: the secret to making your film look ‘well lit’
There’s something about the way our brains are wired: if we strain to hear what they are saying on screen the picture dims. If you don’t have money for lights, make sure the sound is good. We will forgive all sorts of visual shortcuts if we can hear what people are saying crisply and clearly.
Fimmaker Jason Satterlund has some great videos on editing sound.
Rule #5 Make sure you have the music rights
There are so many urban myths regarding music rights that I could fill page after page with stories about filmmakers who have ignored music rights and made a movie and been unable to show it. You simply cannot use anyone else’s music without their permission unless they have been dead for 70 years, and/or it is 70 years since the release of the album or track.
If you don’t own the movie rights you can’t sell the movie. It’s that simple.
Rule #6 A Broke filmmaker develops excellent interpersonal communication skills
Learning the fine art of presenting yourself in a positive manner is a specific skill no one can afford to ignore, especially when you are broke. People can hide behind their money to communicate – but the result is that they usually look fake.
The trick is, I think, to network like mad, and build an ever-expanding circle of people with whom you can collaborate.
As you head out on your journey, don’t make these networking faux pas. And here are six ideas of how to break the ice at your next networking event.
Rule #7 Strategic creative opportunities vs problems
Having little money means you can’t solve problems by throwing wads of cash at it. Instead you need to think creatively and reframe how you feel about a problem.
Take Ate de Jong – the writer/director of the cult classic Drop Dead Fred. When he joined Raindance Raw Talent to make the psychological chiller Deadly Virtues he knew there was hardly any cash. He used his time before the start date to plan everything out and during the shoot allowed the cast and crew the opportunity to solve situations on the spot using their resourcefulness and creativity. The results were staggeringly good – and Ate tells me he had more fun on this shoot than on any of the multi-million films he’d worked on.
This Raindance Raw Talent production has enjoyed over 500,000 trailer views and has been sold to 9 territories meaning it has been a success.
Fade Out
Having no money can actually be a benefit. It means you think harder about your movies and become that extra little bit more focused on the details that could distinguish you from you big-budget colleagues and rich rivals.
As Ate de Jong says of his broke filmmaker’s film experience:
Elliot: There’s no such thing as a problem when you have no money.
Ate de Jong: There’s just a series of challenging creative opportunities
Learn how broke filmmaker’s did it
Raindance has pioneered micro and low budget filmmaking in the UK since 1992. Filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Edgar Wright made their first movies using the pricipals taught in the Raindance signature class Lo-to-No Budget Filmmaking weekend masterclass. Find latest details and film course times here: London film school
Did you know?
- Raindance members save 20% on this course?
You can join online >HERE< and start saving immediately - Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking is FREE for our HND and Postgraduate/MA/ students
- You can book a free 1-1 consultation about our full-time degree film courses HERE
- The Raindance Guarantee:
If this course fails to meet your expectations, let us know at the break.
We will make a full, 100% no-questions-asked refund - We don’t teach ‘filmmaking’ at Raindance.
At Raindance we make filmmakers.
Photo Credit: Bertie Watson
I founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993 because the British film industry was closed, polite, and congratulating itself while shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 because British indie film deserved more than a shrug, a pat on the head, and a Tuesday night screening.
Raindance didn’t start as a brand. It started as a rebellion: film training without gatekeepers, a festival without permission, and a community built by filmmakers who weren’t waiting to be invited in.
Later, we took it global: Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, and Brussels, because independent film doesn’t belong to one city, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ short films and seven features, including Deadly Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) not because someone “discovered” us, but because the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books used by filmmakers worldwide because too many courses taught compliance instead of survival.
In 2009, I was awarded a PhD for services to film education, ironic, given that most of my career has been about tearing down the rules that education insisted you follow.
I don’t believe in waiting for permission.I believe in making work, building systems, and forcing the industry to catch up.
Specialties: Independent Film (the real kind) · Producing · Writing · Film Education · Festivals · Breaking Broken Systems
Check out my new Substack for in depth Free Articles:
