Ok, my brother is working on a feature script which he's nearly completed. At least, draft 1 but it gets easier from there. When it's done, he wants to have it made into a film (obviously) but at the same time, he wants to retain all the rights to it. In essence, he basically wants him and I to do it ourselves. Now, we are bordering on having negative money, but that's not stopping him. Because to add onto making a feature-length script ourselves, he also wants to create a production company and fin a distribution company willing to take it for a full theatrical run.

Point is, to do this requires money, even if you know the right people.  So far, we've contacted a couple contacts we both have and under perfect circumstances (if they all agree to do it and defer costs until after completion), we'd have a director, D.O.P., editor, 3-5 professional actors (one of which has actually expressed interest), the rest being film school/stage actors and three investors. Also, we'd have to find a fully-functioning restaurant, build several sets, get access to a police car and get permission from the military to borrow a couple uniforms, a patrol boat and find someone to lend us a houseboat.

This is our own personal "We're winging it" plan but what we don't have is equipment. For this part, we've been searching around for cameras, lights, film stock, blah, blah, blah. But, we don't know anything about that stuff. We don't know what cameras are good, bang for the buck-type. Lights, I guess 100-watts are good. The rest of the picture is just a big blank.

As I write this out, I've noticed how insane it is to even try. I mean, I figured that before but seeing it in front of me makes it just... completely fucked up. But, anyway:

Question 1: What equipment should we be scrounging for and how much would you figure all of it to cost?
Question 2: Would this plan work if we got everyone above that we need somehow?
Question 3: If the answer to 2 is yes, how would we go about distributing it?

Any help that could possibly be given would be appreciated more than you can figure.

P.S. Sorry for this being so long. Lots of details to point out.

It can be done, as "Colin" proved with a working budget of $70 dollars and a whole buttload of favors. Suggest checking Ebay, Hollywood area pawn shops and just asking around on the internet on who has what and is willing to loan it.

Quoted from Blakkwolfe It can be done, as "Colin" proved with a working budget of $70 dollars and a whole buttload of favors. Suggest checking Ebay, Hollywood area pawn shops and just asking around on the internet on who has what and is willing to loan it.

I can do the Ebay and regular internet parts. Neither my brother nor myself live near Hollywood. However, we do live across the country from each other. If it all works out, it'd be filmed in NY which is closer to me, but we'll see what happens.

By the way, what's Colin?

Maybe you should do a short, first.  See how that works out.


Phil

One thing I'd recommend is shooting digitally instead of using film. I think that'd be your best bet in terms of taking on a project guerilla-style like this. It lessens the costs and widens your margin of error considerably. The Panasonic DVX100 can shoot at 24 frames so it looks like film. I try to pimp it as much as I can. You could probably find a used one online easy.

As for the rest, why not try finding crew members with their own equipment? You could always post something on Craigslist. The site's way more useful than most people think.

Good luck to you, dude!

Quoted from dogglebe Maybe you should do a short, first.  See how that works out.

I'd tell him that, but he's real gung ho about doing this with this script at this time, Phil. You probably remember it from a few months back. It was called "Meat". Don't know if you read it or not, though.

Quoted from James McClung One thing I'd recommend is shooting digitally instead of using film. I think that'd be your best bet in terms of taking on a project guerilla-style like this. It lessens the costs and widens your margin of error considerably. The Panasonic DVX100 can shoot at 24 frames so it looks like film. I try to pimp it as much as I can. You could probably find a used one online easy. As for the rest, why not try finding crew members with their own equipment? You could always post something on Craigslist. The site's way more useful than most people think. Good luck to you, dude!

DVX100? I'll have to check that one out. As you can imagine, we'd have to cut costs wherever and if it's used but working, it may be just what we need. I'll try the Craigslist route once we have a finished script because then, the contacts all have to fall into place. If that goes, we're probably greenlight.

Thank you, James.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde I'd tell him that, but he's real gung ho about doing this with this script at this time, Phil. You probably remember it from a few months back. It was called "Meat". Don't know if you read it or not, though.

You could always shoot a short version of the same script. Maybe even use some of the scenes in the feature length. If you had a short, you might be able to scrounge together a few more investors. That's how Saw got made.

"Colin" was an ultra-low budget zombie film that did very well at Cannes last year.

Sounds like the project will be a lot of work, but also seems fun. Best of luck to you guys!

Yeah, James, I think my brother told me that story about Saw when he was explaining to me how we could make this work. All I could think of was Kevin Smith's story about how he did Clerks. $27,000 and he maxed out all his cards. If the movie did nothing, he was completely fucked.

Quoted from Blakkwolfe "Colin" was an ultra-low budget zombie film that did very well at Cannes last year. Sounds like the project will be a lot of work, but also seems fun. Best of luck to you guys!

Hmm... I may have to read up on that. Thanks, Black, although I think I'll be fretting the whole time abot how it's not going to work. Lol.

Get the book "Thinking Outside the Box Office".  It's basically the Distribution Bible.  You can get it from the guy's website as a PDF for only $14.95, and it's chock full of EVERYTHING you need to know about distributing on the indie level.  What sites you can distribute through for free, where to hold screenings, etc, etc.

Quoted from Mr. Blonde I'd tell him that, but he's real gung ho about doing this with this script at this time, Phil. You probably remember it from a few months back. It was called "Meat". Don't know if you read it or not, though.

You're better off making a short so you can see your mistakes before you work on the feature. You'll learn a lot before making a feature which you may end up throwing away because of the newbie mistakes.


Phil

Check out your "local public television station".

They can rent out cameras and equipment for free.

Let me know how this goes for you.  ;D

Cindy

Of course, another suggestion for cutting costs is to do so from the screenplay itself. You've got quite a laundry list of needs up there to make your script the way you want it, and I'm first in line to say "go for it," but to go low-budget, you have to write low budget. Boats and military does not equal low budget in most cases. Granted, I don't know your script, but I'm just saying.

My feature had five people in a single location: a residential home. No effects. Few exteriors. And while I can point out several problems in the end, my biggest issue was the sound which would have been easily correctable had I just overdubbed the whole thing with the actors when they were all still in town. Once I figured that out, they were spread across the country...literally. I have also heard of the Panasonic DVX100 as an indie favorite for shooting, so that's not a bad route to take. It also makes you look more legit.

The internet is a wonderful source of information. Use Google for all its worth. You will find your answers.

Phil is right.  No matter how it seems now, Phil is right.  Make a short first.

For the feature...

See if you can find a Canon 5D Mark II to rent.  If you're going to spend the time it takes to make a feature, it should look at least that good.  Make sure you also find an AC who knows what they're doing, as focus pulling on the 5D is pretty clunky.  To buy the camera is gonna be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $5000 with a basic package, but this may turn out to be cheaper than renting.

The 5D operates well with relatively low light, so you can probably get away with a pretty small lighting kit, but DO NOT get less lights than you need.  Get at least a couple Fresnels and tell your DP he's working as much as possible with practical light and whatever else you can find (Lowels are good and relatively cheap, and are serviceable for the 5D).  Search for deals...equipment rental houses are very nice to indie filmmakers, or you can find cheap stuff to buy.  You can probably figure out your entire lighting kit for under a grand if you're clever AND if you shoot very tight and fast.

Strongly recommend against building sets.  Work with modifying existing locations.  Set building will destroy you.  George has a very good point.  Modify your script to suit your budget.

Spend at least a thousand dollars on your sound equipment.  Buy or rent a shotgun mic and a mixer, or better yet, find some poor chump who has his own equipment and is willing to do location sound for free.  They exist.  

You sound like you want to make something professional and if you do, this is the bare, bare, bare minimum (and your light and camera teams better be really good).  I've told you the prices things will cost...you can find them for cheaper.  Just make sure you have a schedule that you stick to and those costs won't go up!

Other things to think about:  Dolly, jib, (these two are optional obviously, but surprisingly cheap!) diffusion, gels, black wrap, C-47s, camera tape, slate, boom pole...  Some of these things are small obviously but costs add up.  Recommend working on indie film sets and stealing everything you can (and by this I mean take what you can get away with, not outright steal ha ha).

And again, Phil is right.  Make a short or five first.  I can't recommend that enough.  Make a short with all the equipment I've described above.

Got to back up Phil and Heretic, here and agree with James re: digital.

I recently worked on a short film, where we shot the first ten minutes of the feature script. At the end of the day, you can make a feature on a very small budget, of course, but if quality is the goal, then you are stretching as an inexperienced filmmaker. What we did was on a minimum budget with deferred payment, but the time and organisation required to show 10 minutes is huge. Times that by a feature, and you are asking for trouble. We had a DOP and his lighting crew walk out 'cos they were not being paid and the director was demanding for his shots. The lighting equipment took an age to set up and much was required. That is a problem. The people you will need to work for free will likely be giving up paid work. Definitely work with existing locations and make the script in as few locales as possible, though. Plan meticulously and then some. For a feature shoot, I cannot see you doing it in much under 20-30 days and that's before post-prod.

The best way to grow as a writer and filmmaker is to film, but it has to be done in a way that allows you and the story to grow. Clearly you realise this and it will stand you in good stead.

I am trying to write and produce something for this year's Tropfest but restricting the shoot to one location and 3-4 minutes.

I hope we're both successful.

PLANNING:
If you want to know how to budget and plan your film than I suggest you buy 'From Reel to Deal" by DOV S-S Simmens. His common sense planning and budgeting advice is so straight-forward it borders on brilliant.
http://www.amazon.com/Reel-Deal-Everything-Successful-Independent/dp/0446674621

SPECIAL FX:
If you want to know how to do special FX on a shoe-string budget, I know of no one better to turn to than indymogul. These guys are the best no/low budget filmmakers in town.
http://www.indymogul.com/


CAMERA:
The DVX 100a or 100b or both decent cameras. However, they are not HD. Everything digital is going HD. To compete, Hollywood is going 3D.

Eventually, I will be purchasing the RED ONE camera or a sister equivalent.
http://www.red.com/cameras/

To my dull sensibilities, it looks better than film. The only problem is editing takes a workhorse computer with terabyte-level memory... Expect rendering times to take days, not minutes. Okay, maybe not days, but longer for sure. To solve memory problems just buy an external drive.

FREE EDITING SOFTWARE (OPEN SOURCE):
Look, you can get non-linear Editing/3D modeling software for free if you do not mind using a non-intuitive program.
http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

Check out the animated movie created solely with blender.
http://www.elephantsdream.org/

MY TWO CENTS:
Making the transition from screenwriter to filmmaker is much easier and infinitely harder than you can expect. Expect 12-hour days if you are directing, and sometimes 40 hours no sleep situations... The best advice I can give you is the simplest and most often ignored advice by indie filmmakers, "FEED...YOUR...CREW!"

And remember, if you have to cry, do it by yourself and be quick about it.

-Daniel

Sounds like you're making an action movie. I would suggest The DV Rebel's Guide http://www.amazon.com/DV-Rebels-Guide-All-Digital-Approach/dp/0321413644

Quoted from George Willson Boats and military does not equal low budget in most cases.

The military does everything for free, unless you count tax payers money. They are however VERY picky about who they will help out. We managed to get the Army's full support for both the skydive show and Women With Wings, but it was hard to get that approval. It took meetings at Ft. Bragg and one in L.A with some high up guy. Once they agree to help they'll let you have whatever you want. At least that was my experience.

I wish you the best of luck with investors. Times are tough right now and people are holding on tight to their money...I learned this too the hard way.

We have a distributor for our shows which is incredible since we don't have the shows finished yet, but there's a clause in the contract that says they don't have to represent us unless the quality is up to par. When I say quality I mean real quality. Something that can be on a major TV/cable channel or be shown in theaters. You might have something that looks passable on your pc, but it may still be far from the quality that they demand.

Anyway, it sounds exciting and I wish you the best of luck with this. :)

Retaining all the rights to it whilst finding a distribution company to send it on a theatrical run is an oxymoron.

What, I suspect, you really want to do is retain the rights to sell the film yourself in some capacity (online, DVD etc) whilst selling individual rights to other companies.

They are called hybrid deals and are becoming more and more common. You get a sales agent and you sell the film to different terrirtories...Japan, UK, Australia etc In the past you'd sell all the rights to the film to one company who might not have any gravitas or market share in some territories.

Theatrical runs are very expensive. Even the big companies typically lose money on them with their films. They are now essentially used as a marketing scheme for the sale of the DVD.

Some compaines are quite resistant to you keeping the rights to sell DVD's yourself (they ant to maximise their profits after all) although I believe it is possible to do that as in some cases the marketing that you put into the film to sell your own DVD's can help them, get more sales as well. That's sometihng you need to be able to point out with some clarity to them.

]Having acted as my own general contractor to "save" the 10-15% of construction costs that goto the GC to oversee construction of my own and my father's house, I can tell you that that was a very expensive education.

I advise against your brother's gung-ho plan.

Look around.
Many director/writers wait ten years before a pet project gets to screen.
And that's just the ones we've heard of.
I can't imagine how many pet projects have died an anonymous death.
Evan well funded projects with industry professionals die.
And everyone knows "problems" can be fixed by throwing millions of dollars at them.
Evan rubbing a few Benjamins on cop-calling, do-gooder neighbors makes them go away.

Hold your "Baby", write/complete/sell any one of the next dozen screenplays you guys have rolling around.
Surely you two have other screenplays in the hopper, right?

Maybe watch a couple other local movies being produced.
Volunteer on the set.
Scam all the experience you can.
Cultivate actual relationships (not just names and numbers on your cell).
Then go make your indie-prod "Baby".