MicroBudget Feature Film Course

[Christian Ford]

Hello All--

Forgive the self-promotion, but since many of you are, like me, about to be proud owners of Red Ones, you might be interested in an online course that my producing partner and I are teaching at UCLA Extension. It's called (brace yourself) “Micro-budget Feature Films: Total Control and Maximum Profit.”

You can look at the UCLA Catalog Blurb here:
http://www.uclaextension.edu/index.c...rseDetails.cfm

Or download our flyer here:
http://homepage.mac.com/christianfor...FinalFlyer.pdf

So you've got your Red and now you want to make a movie, but the investors you approach aren't automatically reaching for their checkbooks, because someone's told them the truth, namely, that investing in an indie film is worse than wildcatting oil wells. (Seriously.) But this paradigm is changing if you make a film between $150k-$300k. The reason is that the DVD distribution network is now so mature that the sales companies can reliably put together that amount with small sales in every territory. So, a project that can be slotted into some genre, plus a fundamentally no-name cast (William Katt would be a real “name” in these scenarios) is all it takes to get the sales companies interested. Now, here's the good part: you can get estimates from the various sales companies before you spend any of your investor's money, which means is that you'll know if you're going to get a return on that money before you take it out of the escrow fund. The obvious question is, “what if the estimates are wrong?” The answer is that between all the sales companies (there are 15-20 of them) their estimates will vary maybe 10-15k. Which means they're more projections than estimates (think Kelly Blue book) and if you don't like one company, you can go to another.

There are a lot of things not to like about making a feature for this kind of money. But there are also two huge positives. In this world, you are the studio. No one's going to tell you what to do. Second, if you do have a good script and attract good talent, the value of your project can go up very, very quickly. That William Katt film? The sales estimates on that one are over $800k. That's a whole lotta cash when you didn't spend a million in the first place.

[Joel Kaye]

I think I'd be interested if you were heavy on the business strategy, marketing, distribution end and a little lighter on the artsy side... like auditioning etc.

[number6]

Hello All--

Forgive the self-promotion, but since many of you are, like me, about to be proud owners of Red Ones, you might be interested in an online course that my producing partner and I are teaching at UCLA Extension. It's called (brace yourself) “Micro-budget Feature Films: Total Control and Maximum Profit.”

You can look at the UCLA Catalog Blurb here:
http://www.uclaextension.edu/index.c...rseDetails.cfm

Or download our flyer here:
http://homepage.mac.com/christianfor...FinalFlyer.pdf

So you've got your Red and now you want to make a movie, but the investors you approach aren't automatically reaching for their checkbooks, because someone's told them the truth, namely, that investing in an indie film is worse than wildcatting oil wells. (Seriously.) But this paradigm is changing if you make a film between $150k-$300k. The reason is that the DVD distribution network is now so mature that the sales companies can reliably put together that amount with small sales in every territory. So, a project that can be slotted into some genre, plus a fundamentally no-name cast (William Katt would be a real “name” in these scenarios) is all it takes to get the sales companies interested. Now, here's the good part: you can get estimates from the various sales companies before you spend any of your investor's money, which means is that you'll know if you're going to get a return on that money before you take it out of the escrow fund. The obvious question is, “what if the estimates are wrong?” The answer is that between all the sales companies (there are 15-20 of them) their estimates will vary maybe 10-15k. Which means they're more projections than estimates (think Kelly Blue book) and if you don't like one company, you can go to another.

There are a lot of things not to like about making a feature for this kind of money. But there are also two huge positives. In this world, you are the studio. No one's going to tell you what to do. Second, if you do have a good script and attract good talent, the value of your project can go up very, very quickly. That William Katt film? The sales estimates on that one are over $800k. That's a whole lotta cash when you didn't spend a million in the first place.

Christian, you tease us. I would love to take such a course, but I am on a nano-budget as opposed to a micro budget. And the price of that course could possibly be better used for sustenance (many cans of Trappey's pinto beans... yummy!) But just reading your post adds to my knowledge base, so thanks.

[Jim Arthurs]

Christian, you tease us. I would love to take such a course, but I am on a nano-budget as opposed to a micro budget. And the price of that course could possibly be better used for sustenance (many cans of Trappey's pinto beans... yummy!) But just reading your post adds to my knowledge base, so thanks.

Hah! As you say, one man's micro is another's mega-budget! Exactly ten years ago I DP'ed a 16mm feature for a friend, and he took it all the way through post and music, right down to box art and pakaging for a grand total of 10,000 . This was a true 10,000 dollar budget, as it had VFX, original music, and nothing left to "improve" if picked up by a distributor. He literally had boxes of shrink wrapped product at the end of the work.

Now here's more interesting info... out of that 10,000 dollar budget, fully 7,000 went to Kodak, processing and telecine. So, in essence, it was a 3,000 dollar feature!

So, the "micro" budget of 150K to 300K is fully 15 to 30X more than we had to work with!

We've often done the thought experiment on what would have been improved if we'd had, say, 100K to work with? Well, the story and directing wouldn't have changed... nor would the format (16mm). We might have had a couple more grips, or a better lighting package (maybe a real DP instead of me), maybe a talent "upgrade" somewhere in the mix, but it wouldn't have been a significantly "better" film, IMO.

In fact, my firm belief is you either pay no one or pay everyone. For 10K no one expected to be payed (yet the main actors actually got stipends), but for 100K people start stretching out their hands for just compensation.

My friend set up a website to talk about his experience, with brutal honesty about the process...

http://www.tengrandmovie.com/

Regards,

[number6]

Hah! As you say, one man's micro is another's mega-budget! Exactly ten years ago I DP'ed a 16mm feature for a friend, and he took it all the way through post and music, right down to box art and pakaging for a grand total of 10,000 . This was a true 10,000 dollar budget, as it had VFX, original music, and nothing left to "improve" if picked up by a distributor. He literally had boxes of shrink wrapped product at the end of the work.

Now here's more interesting info... out of that 10,000 dollar budget, fully 7,000 went to Kodak, processing and telecine. So, in essence, it was a 3,000 dollar feature!

So, the "micro" budget of 150K to 300K is fully 15 to 30X more than we had to work with!

We've often done the thought experiment on what would have been improved if we'd had, say, 100K to work with? Well, the story and directing wouldn't have changed... nor would the format (16mm). We might have had a couple more grips, or a better lighting package (maybe a real DP instead of me), maybe a talent "upgrade" somewhere in the mix, but it wouldn't have been a significantly "better" film, IMO.

In fact, my firm belief is you either pay no one or pay everyone. For 10K no one expected to be payed (yet the main actors actually got stipends), but for 100K people start stretching out their hands for just compensation.

My friend set up a website to talk about his experience, with brutal honesty about the process...

http://www.tengrandmovie.com/

Regards,

Jim, thanks for the link. I've gone there and bookmarked it and will read it (probably time and again) when time permits. Thanks again.

[Christian Ford]

I think I'd be interested if you were heavy on the business strategy, marketing, distribution end and a little lighter on the artsy side... like auditioning etc.

Hi Joelnet--

If you're interested, here's a week by week breakdown of the class, so you can see how we're weighting it.
WEEK 1 — Overview and Preliminary Microbudget Story Development
WEEK 2 — Preparing the One-Page Selling Synopsis
WEEK 3 — Fundraising & Foreign Sales Estimates
WEEK 4 — Casting Realities
WEEK 5 — Budgeting & Scheduling
WEEK 6 — Directing
WEEK 7 — The Production: Workflow Overview & PreProduction
WEEK 8 — The Production: On the Set
WEEK 9 — The Production: Post-Production
WEEK 10 — Marketing & Distribution
WEEK 11 — Exploiting & Future-Proofing Your Asset
WEEK 12 — Group Review of Selected Proposals

Re: Casting. We find it to be the lynchpin of both the creative and business side as it (along with story) is the most significant creative decision and it entirely determines your foreign sales estimates.

Cheers,
Christian

[Christian Ford]

but I am on a nano-budget as opposed to a micro budget.

Hi Number6--

Glad to help out with your knowledge base. Who knows, by the time this thread is done, I may well spill the entire class...

cheers,
Christian

[Christian Ford]

My friend set up a website to talk about his experience, with brutal honesty about the process...

Hi Jim--

10k! I love it. Thanks for sharing your experience and for the link. I'm very interested to examine your pal's website. Maybe we should have him podcast for the class: "$150k -- Luxury! Luxury, you wimps!"

cheers,
Christian

[shaftbond]

pardon my ignorance, but how does UCLA extension work? are there lectures we download? or is all of that explained once i sign up?

this looks like a great class.

[number6]

Hi Number6--

by the time this thread is done, I may well spill the entire class...

cheers,
Christian

In that case, be seeing you...