Welcome the Make Your Micro-Budget Feature course!
In this module, I’ll try to sell you all the goods (they’re free, just take them).
Last year I wrote, shot and edited my first feature film Three Bedrooms, a film about a South Florida family stuck inside a house while a hurricane passes through the state. Making a movie took the number one spot in my bucket list of things to do before I die, and I know for a fact that it is also in the list of many other filmmakers; dare I say almost all. Yet the dream seems too far-fetched to even attempt.
I love directing, but it can be nerve-wracking. You have money and an incredible amount of time on the line. God bless Anna for bearing with me.
The thought of the toil and sacrifice required to accomplish such a task brings about fear and inaction. This same inaction brings about discontentment. Left and right filmmakers barely tolerate their bitter lives with repressed dreams that will never come to be. If you’re foreign to the concept, let me explain: Feature films become part of your identity. The world of filmmakers is divided in two: Those who have made a feature and those who have not.
I thought the same thing. I thought there was gold on the other side of the hill. Obviously, all I found was another mountain. And though life goes about the same after you finish, make no mistake: making your first feature is arguably the biggest step in your directing career.
I think it might be prudent at this point to ask “so what’s holding me back?” I believe that the main obstacle getting in the way of the first big step into your directing career, and into any endeavor you wish to pursue, really, is you. You are the reason why that first film hasn’t happened. Put in simpler terms, this film needs you. Without you, there is no “your film.” Without first realizing that you are the agent of change and motion, there is no movie.
In fact, the principles to feature filmmaking are not even that complicated. They are simple; simple but not easy. So if the film does not happen, it’s not because it’s too “complicated” to do, but because you didn’t put in the work. To cure this, you must first find the why of the situation. I can’t really help you with that. My why is probably different from yours, and yours is different from the next. What I do know is that once your why is big enough, you will have no other option than to put in the work.
Screencap of one of the movie’s most important scenes. Mad props to Jay Curtis Miller for the awesome cinematography.
So now the question becomes not what, why or who, but how? How does one gather the courage to make a feature film? What about financing? Where will the million dollars come from? (pro-tip, you don’t need a million dollars). How do I get people to come alongside me? How am I even going to produce my first feature? How am I going to get that car to explode? (pro-tip, you don’t write that into the script.)
Introducing the new series of the Wish Creative Blog: Make Your Micro-Budget Feature. Over the next ten posts and podcasts, I will go over all the steps I took to make Three Bedrooms a reality, and how you too can apply those concepts to help your feature film.
Before beginning I must say what this is not: This is not a course on creativity. I will not teach you the principles of scriptwriting, directing and cinematography. I assume that you are on your own creative journey and that you at least feel comfortable with the craft. This series will look at the main obstacles that get in the way of a filmmaker making his or her first feature, and how we can use those to our favor or at least hurdle through them. This is not a course on financing. Although I will talk about ways to get money for your movie, this isn’t a comprehensive course on pitching to investors or getting a good credit score to borrow for your venture. (pro-tip, I don’t recommend you do either for your first, and never do the latter.) This course looks at how you can influence those around you to come alongside you to make this dream a reality.
So let’s start! Right now, your main goal is to slap yourself in the face while looking in the mirror and then ask yourself: do I want to make a feature film? If that answer is yes, and you want to follow along, then subscribe to this blog and go on your merry way. If the answer is yes, but you’re too scared or want to wait till the time is right, then slap yourself again and ask the first question again. If the answer is no, you have been released. It’s probably better that way.