"NO BUDGET FILM FEST LESSONS"
Nov. 22, 2014 | Cavanaugh, Ted + Chelsea. “9 Money Rules It’s Actually OK to Break.” Real Simple, Aug. 2020.
Notes to Self are longer journal entries from Seven Yrs Ago. I was 21 late 2014.
NO BUDGET FILM FEST LESSONS
Blacklist Scripts: The Remains, Stanley Kubrick faking the moon landing, Man seeking revenge on a space station
If working on a big money project, you have a personal, indulgent project to balance the potentially soul-crushing editing process.
I just did things that I felt were good for me. Part of it is just big, but part of it is relaxing into what you’re becoming.
“It is Art and Art only that reveals us to ourselves.” —Oscar Wilde
Make every member of the team feel like they’re valued e.g. thank them thru emails, send stills, updates to the people you rely on
Is letting it bury itself in timedust better than running it into the ground? (It’s not what you do, but how you do it)
NO BUDGET FILM FEST PT. II
HOW TO BE AN INDIE FILM PRODUCER workshop
Types of Producers: Creative Producer, Line, Full Service
“Your film is never going to be produced the way you think it is, and it’s never going to look how you think it’s going to look, so hug that notion and release it.” —Effie, Producer of Dear White People
Lawyers: Roger Goff, Clifford Lowe, Elsa Ramo
No one can talk about your film like you can; you go out and do it instead of agents or lawyers
Put yourself in the budget too, bc profits of movies don’t go to you
pay yourself up front(?) + box office budgets
Negotiate some ownership to that movie
Learn how to be/get an insanely gifted line producer
budgeting, scheduling, how it’s ran, multitasking, how to spread a dollar
Do not scrimp on story
Do not scrimp on food
Test shots are worth it
POST-PRODUCTION
Where people forget to budget. Get fucked.
Where you need the deliverables
How do you get an accurate cost?
Get price quotes during pre-production
Map out post, the details. If you can’t, hire a post supervisor
Look at post-shoot companies in movie credits
Grants
Get post-contingency (def?). Think of music, sound, ADR (audio dialogue replacement/looping), stock footage
Save key wardrobes and key props for reshoots
Post houses
Anarchy Post: Dan, Glenn Morgan
Modern Video
Wildfire
Judo for Post
Institution Post
VFX (visual effects) — fixing shots. $300-500 shots. Minimize the amount of these needed
Festival = platform to get your film out there. NOT a main means to get $
Streaming, YouTube, social media, VOD
Think of Where’s Your Audience
Wealthy investors who would be interested in it, part of that community
Get as many eyeballs as you can
Also consider corporate sponsorship → other side, creative control
Festivals are dead…
#IRL
Speed Dating vlog “Fuck I’m in My 20s” Emma K?
How Guys’ Thoughts Ruin Perfect Relationships
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@margarinalize - What I learned in college or what I scribbled and drew in the note margins
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Take real events + put it thru a filter or suffer the consequences
More specific it is, the more personal it is
slices of life
You can take the most generic subject and regenerate it generically… unless you put details
Laughing = relief, connection to humanity
social media = “barrier of comfort” —Sam Futerman
like you get to know them but they’re not physically there. Like any long distance relationship
Don’t read the comments. Or if you do, think of statistics e.g. for every 100+, 1-
Cure for Negative Comments: Go to your favorite/funniest home video and read the negative comments. If those people are wrong, couldn’t the negative comments on yours be wrong too?
“The second you stop searching for the answer, you discover it.” —Sam Futerman
If in a creative dry well, change the medium. e.g. working on a frustrating story? Make a short story. Draw. Give your brain a break, but still let yourself be as creative as you are.
GOOD is realizing you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be now.
*Always shake hands and get contact info
For commentary seven years later, go here.