Whether you’re a Writer, Director, Producer, Actor, or any other Film Creator, you know how daunting of a task making an indie film can be. And that’s why we created the Indie Film Community, to guide and assist you in whatever phase of film production you are-to serve as your definitive resource for all things indie film-so that you can make your dream a reality.
We offer a wide range of educational resources to help you wherever you are on your filmmaking journey. And, if you happen to need help along the way, we offer an extensive list of services that will not only make your life easier, but also give you the best chance of success.
I do have a question so say if the film flops financially when the film comes out is there a backup plan for example like do you wait a while for money to come into the film over the years till the full return on investment is complete and are investors fine with that
Even with Hollywood films, planning can only get you so far. Sometimes, a film just flops. In that case, once the movie has come out, there isn't a whole lot that you can do. One strategy is to create social media awareness, which can still be effective after a film flops. While investors would much prefer to have their money right away, if the filmmaker presented the investment deal in the proper way, then the investors should know that their chances of making their money back is slim. Thanks for watching!
I’m not sure if you saw my follow up question in my reply. So I’ll ask the question again here. About how many days should we budget (ballpark) for a casting Director? Again you’re too part series on the casting Director was invaluable. Thank you for that.
Of course, we're happy to help! We're glad you're enjoying the series! That's a little bit of a difficult question, because it largely depends on the budget of your movie and the amount of casting required. However, one thing to note is that it's common for casting directors to be paid a flat fee per project or flat weekly rates as opposed to daily rates. For example, in a project with 6 months of pre-production, you may bring your casting directors on for 8 weeks leading up to the shoot, and they would be paid either a flat rate for the total eight weeks or a weekly rate. Hope this was helpful!
Filmmaking and business principles may seem completely separate, but if filmmakers want to be successful, career filmmakers, then integrating business practices is essential. Thanks for watching!
@@IndieFilmCommunity in the end, it's all economics. If you burn money, you burn it.... For the money it's equal if being burnt with a film or with buying the wrong stock as a trader. And filmmakers, who fly through the room as- we are just artists.... They will be burnt as fast as they fly
Here's are the answers to Arceli's concerns, and how to get a 50% incentive by filming in New Mexico. 1. Arceli mentioned the expensive travel and accommodation expenses she'd be paying to film in NM. You're only going to fly in and lodge a few people -- the vast majority of actors and personnel are ready and waiting right in Albuquerque. You'll have the same or greater quantity of good non-celebrity actors to choose from in the TV and movie oriented city of Albuquerque than the unnamed Texas city (Dallas?) that's not an entertainment hub. More than enough for a lower-budget film, so travel costs aren't a factor. For your celebrity actors, you're going to fly them in from L.A. anyway, and the short flight to Albuquerque is easier than flying them into Dallas. 2. Crew. Film at ABQ Castle Studios. Starting later this month, we'll be filming every day. Crew is here and ready-to-go, and they're not likely to give up our steady work for a temporary gig, even if it's on a big Netflix production. And on the off chance they do, we've got replacement crew waiting in the wings, just hoping for their chance. 3. Don't worry about not finding the locations you need in Albuquerque. In fact, your movie will be better due to the unlimited locations available in New Mexico, specifically at ABQ Castle Studios. We're the biggest studio in the world using virtual technology, and the most technologically advanced, so your scenes can take place, with total reality, anywhere in the universe, past, present or future, including the beach, a space station, or Ancient Rome. They are multi-million dollar sets and locations, without spending the multi-million dollars. And special effects technology -- live -- that will save massive money in post. Have an actor set on fire, an alien chasing actors down the street, or a super-hero with 20 ft. arms -- all shot live. Add in items that would normally be beyond the reach of indie films like an in-house technocrane, and your movie shot in New Mexico is going to be better than your movie shot in Dallas, Atlanta, L.A., or anywhere else. 4. Because you're shooting in a totally self-contained location, changing sets and locations in minutes, you can literally shoot your movie twice as fast, and halving the number of shoot days -- and saving at least 25% of your budget. And needing your celebrity cast members for only half the days will allow you to get a bigger "name", which will also make your movie better. So a better movie, at half the cost (25% New Mexico film incentive, and a 25% implicit incentive from the Castle Studios speed factor), makes filming in the Land of Enchantment not only viable, but a better way to go for almost any indie production. By the way, I don't expect producers to believe anything written above. But visit L.A. Castle Studios in Burbank, or ABQ Castle Studios in Albuquerque, and you'll instantly be a believer.
Thank you! We're glad you liked it! If there's anything else in the indie filmmaking process that you need help with, make sure to visit our website for a plethora of resources!
Both videos were invaluable. Super helpful and eye opening. One question I don’t think was covered: what is the cost of a casting director? Is it per day thing or flat fee (I imagine flat fee is best). How much should we budget for a casting director, ballpark? (If giving a number like $5k is tough, about what percentage of the production budget should we put to a casting director?)
Thanks for watching! We're glad you enjoyed it! Typically, casting directors are based on a day-rate, which can often vary quite a bit depending on the budget of the movie. For example, for no-budget indie-films, a casting director can make as little as $100 a day, to larger productions making $1,000 a day or more. The cost of a casting director is not typically done based on the budget of the movie, as certain movies with an incredibly high budget may have a very small cast, while a low-budget movie may have an incredibly large cast; thus, it's determined on more of a per-job basis. We hope this was helpful!
@@IndieFilmCommunity Thanks for your reply! The first half was helpful. (The second half about “it depends” was less helpful. I found it kind of stated the obvious, was vague and not practical.) But the first part about the day rate was useful and specific. Thanks for that. Allow me to follow up on paying casting directors by a day rate: how many days (ball park) should we budget for a casting director? Thanks again for your reply. And to reiterate: your two-part series on a casting director was invaluable.
And positive thing is... You learn pitching... Whoever you meet.... Make a car boot sale.... Write a large sign for front: thanks for helping us crowdfund our film... Do an eBay or Etsy shop... Throw out unwanted stuff.... Everywhere thank the people for helping you out..... You will get attention! All starts with you yourself... Be active... Try hard... Nothing falls from the moon
Another great video-I'm really enjoying your content! I was wondering if you could cover a topic that might be helpful for many filmmakers: states that don’t offer specific tax credits for filming but do provide other resources, such as potential grants and location assistance. Kansas, for example, is one such state, and I think it would be great to highlight what filmmakers can still benefit from in these areas. Additionally, I’m curious about the role of local authorities in supporting film projects. For instance, my state senator left a handwritten note offering her support, likely due to the neighborhood I live in. Could you explore how filmmakers might leverage such local political connections for assistance when making a movie in their state?
Thank you for the support! There's definitely a lot of value filming in locations with tax credits, but it's also not a "NEED", unless you need the extra revenue from the credit. Grants and location assistance can definitely be beneficial, but having a 20-30% tax credit heavily outweighs those benefits. We agree that it would be a beneficial thing to talk about - we'll make a note of that! Oftentimes, this "support" is often exercised through the utilization of locations, coordination with local authorities to close streets, or other situations in which having that political connection would be valuable; however, one important thing to consider is that financial backing from these political connections is a rare occurrence, and instead their support comes in forms as mentioned above.
Better to tell a small story big scale as a big story to small. Since we cannot afford the buffalo bill movie, we decided to do the documentary of a museum founder, who was inspired by buffalo bill. Smaller story and I can ride on my network and don't need expensive actors etc.... Costume and prop department, I do myself and with the museum we made a deal against artwork and original photos I acquired.....
Agreed! It can be so much more impactful to tell a small story in the best way possible rather than compromising on things to fit a big story to a small budget. We love to hear about projects like yours that take this concept to heart. Thanks for watching!
@@IndieFilmCommunity and we try another way with funding the film.... We try to pay it with the props. There are tons of native American reproductions needed... Specially made- I trade with these items since 20+ years. So.. as much as possibly collected upfront, played out and sold... Than the next shooting day- crazy way, not for everybody and just if expensive props and costumes are needed.... But... Let's see if it works! So money on screen is doubled and nobody will see it. But let's see how it plays out ;)
Thanks for the info. Interestingly, I have seen very few indie films promoted through social media that reach me. I am on social media, I am a filmmaker, yet I receive almost no promotion of other people's films. Do you have an example?
One of the most prominent examples (although now classified as higher budget), would be A24, which always focuses heavily on social media marketing. On a much smaller scale, a recent project that received large notoriety is a short film called "nothing, except everything." - This film was created on a very limited budget by a high-school student; however, due to the quality and strength of the proof of concept and success on social media, the project received multiple offers and was picked up by TriStar Pictures.
These videos are so well done, informative and helpful. Everything is presented in a manner that is clear and concise. Looking forward to charting this filmmaking journey! Thank u
For this specific project, it wasn't necessarily a consideration. Our client wanted to tell his own, unique story, which lent itself to creating an entirely new IP. Furthermore, acquiring an IP was also out of our budget, which also drove us to creating something new. However, that is not to say that acquiring an IP is not a viable option, but in our case, it wasn't the most cost-effective or logical option. We hope this helps!
It varies quite a bit! It also heavily depends on whether you're hiring a WGA writer or a non-union writer. However, a good rule to keep in mind is that writers are usually paid 2-5% of the budget for a feature film. So if you were making a $1,000,000 feature film, the writer would on average be paid $20,000-$50,000. Hope this was helpful!
Really enjoyed this. I was hoping to ask, if you don't mind. Have you ever worked with indie animation, and is process of funding the same as working with live action film?
Thanks for watching! Jeff actually started his filmmaking career in children's television, which included a lot of animated works! As far as the funding process for independent animation, it is in general a similar process. However, one could argue that in indie animation, having A-list actor talent in your film matter less, as their face will not appear in the final result, which would indicate that you would want to spend less time on actors/talent in your pitch to investors. We hope this helps!
When I tell you this is THE most succinct yet comprehensive answer to the question I’ve been asking for the last 9 months (even to ppl who do this for a living on a high level), I mean it. THANK YOU. 👏🏽
I think your teachings are a bit oldschool, noone is investing anymore unless your doing an action/horror film with name actors. Most indie filmmakers have 2 pennies to squeeze together, maybe $10-25k films. Thats what you need to teach them how to make and not push your marketing/consulting courses.
Thanks for the opinion! We definitely understand that finding investors is one of the most difficult aspects for filmmakers, and we're working on something that we think will really make a difference!
Thanks for your question! While we prefer not to disclose our exact marketing budget, a general industry guideline is to allocate about 20% of your movie's budget towards marketing. So, for a $1,000,000 movie, you might expect to spend around $200,000 on marketing. Hope this helps!
@@IndieFilmCommunity sounds like your Tvod revenue didn't recover the production/post/marketing actual costs and you only made profit when you sold to a major streamer. Is that correct?
This is definitely one of our most "light" videos in terms of content -- if you're looking for more in-depth videos, make sure to watch some of the others in the series!
Even though in our specific case we didn't have to look for financing, we still have an episode that covers the process - don't worry! Stay tuned for it!
Film is a risky investment and in all honesty films do flop even though is been marketed properly and distributed properly they can still flop I just hope investors understand that
Marketing is such a broad and difficult topic to cover in short videos - make sure to watch some of our longer videos on marketing for a more in-depth look into marketing!
Hey there! Thanks for the questions! Jeff has sold multiple films! As for indie websites, there are a variety of platforms that can be utilized to create a website with some sort of paywall feature - and at a relatively low cost.
Thank you for such a great thought on This mate, I have been bound in between creating without social media but I just realized that it plays a great role in building up your own audience as a filmmaker.
In the modern era, pretty much everything can be content 🤷 Content also covers a variety of things, such as feature films, short films, tv shows, documentaries, etc.
Just because you created a film to specifically target a niche, doesn't mean that everyone in that niche will watch your film or has even heard about it! Once you target a specific niche, it's incredibly important to plan and execute marketing campaigns to bring awareness to that niche. Hope this was helpful!
