| | NO BUDGET FILM SCHOOL IS THIS WEEKEND |
| | You don't have to answer that; I already know what you're waiting for. I've been there myself. I spent the better part of 2014 sitting on my hands waiting for the million dollars that was coming at any moment to finance the film Henry Barrial and I were going to make. I almost cancelled a vacation because the funds were so imminent. And then they fell through. And then the film was back on. And then it fell through again. All the while, I was passing on jobs and Henry was re-writing, and by the end of the year, it was clear we weren't getting the money. We realized we were not only not getting paid for all that work, but also we wouldn't have a movie to show for our efforts. To make ends meet, Henry had to start driving for Uber, and it was during those late nights that we decided there was a movie to make about that.
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| "I seriously don't think I could have made my movie successfully the way I did if I didn't take No Budget Film School back in 2012. Your guidance and knowledge has been an immense gift to this project.” – Michael Okum, Writer/Director/Producer, Expressway To Your Skull |
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And for that one, we weren't going to wait around for financing to come through. We put our own money in and raised some additional funds on Kickstarter and now our fifth feature DriverX is nearing picture lock.
I learned an important lesson from that experience: making no-budget films is hard; it's about the hardest thing you can do, it seems. But sitting around waiting for permission to make your movie is worse. Much worse. That will eat up years of your life. Jenica Bergere, one of my guest speakers this weekend, got tired of her agents and managers slowing up the works, putting the brakes on the sitcom she was developing. That process was so long and hard it nearly ended her marriage. She decided enough was enough, and she went around the system and made a feature film for $10,000 to demonstrate what she could do. It won awards and was distributed by The Orchard.
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| “Wanna finally make your feature film BUT need a road map and some inspiration. I took Mark Stolaroff's course about 3 years ago...made my movie, got it into Slamdance, got a distribution deal and now I'm the king of the world. Ok, that last one isn't necessarily true. BUT I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS COURSE!” – Blake Robbins, Writer/Director/Actor, The Sublime And Beautiful
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In 2004 guest speaker Paul Osborne wrote and produced a successful low-budget film called Ten 'Til Noon. His directing partner was certain bigger money would come to make his next film, and 12 years later, he's still waiting for that opportunity. Paul, on the other hand, is in post on his third self-financed, micro-budget feature as a director.
Do you want to make movies or do you want to make believe? If you want to make movies, I'll see you this weekend.
NO BUDGET FILM SCHOOL presents "The Art & Science of No-Budget Filmmaking" Saturday & Sunday, Aug. 20-21 • 9:00am - 6:00pm Raleigh Studios' Chaplin Theater • Los Angeles, CA
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