Man in the Mirror: Taking a Hard Look at Life as a Micro-budget Filmmaker

There comes a time as a filmmaker that you take a good hard look at your accomplishments and evaluate what you have acheived.  I posted on Facebook the fact that I was no longer going to be making microbudget films anymore.  It was time for me to grow up and only make a film if investors got behind them.  Several people commented on it and asked me to state the factors that went into this.

One of the major difficulties to micro-budget filmmaking is the issue of sustainability.  This is the talk that goes on and on with filmmakers on Social Media sites.  Everyone is trying to figure out how to survive doing what they love.  Sadly, if you break down the concept of micro-budget filmmaker it doesn't add up.  The only random way a filmmaker on a microbudget film is able to sustain themselves is if a key influencer, someone with clout with the masses, is able to help get the world out.  I estimate that about 90% of most of the microbudget filmmakers won't make a profit on their film.   Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's a fact.  Sustainability in filmmaking, in my book, means that you're full time job is filmmaking and it pays the bills.  There's no way a microbudget film will sustain you long term without needing a full time job doing something else, which means:  microbudget filmmaking is non-sustainable!

I respect microbudget filmmakers more than any other filmmakers out there.  I appreciate their work more too.  Most of the great filmmakers out there that are famous made atleast one mircrobudget or really low budget film: Lucas, Speilberg, Hitchcock, Rodriguez, Tarintino and others.  You learn how to make a lot out of little and something great out of poor conditions.  But there is a negative side to this: it puts a serious strain on you mentally, emotionally and physically,  more than working on a low budget film or big budget film.

Time isn't money.  Time is time, it is more valueable than money.  You can save, spend, borrow money, but not time.  Once you spend time, it's gone for good.  I have to prioritize my time to make sure I am fulfilling my objectives best.  Even just 1 month or  1 year of wasted time in pursuit of a project that ends up being a dud can be costly to the growth of your career.

If you want a nice dose of reality, go to YouTube, type in the words: Official Rejection and be inspired by the teaser trailer.  BTW, you won't be.  The fact is, most microbudget films don't make it into many, if any, film festivals.  The ones they typically do get into won't give them much exposure.  Every single one of them is fighting tooth and nail for attention.  It's like a screaming match, yet we haven't realized that the low budget films that are in the high 6 figure or more budget levels are leaving the microbudget filmmakers in the dust.  We think we are in the main fighting areana, trying to gain attention, but in fact we're not really being noticed.  It's like in the guest blog post I did on Film Courage when I wrote about satelites.  A film is like someone trying to shoot a satelite into space.  Microbudget films, in general, never go high enough to break the stratosphere... they just fall back down, disapear out of sight.

Think of it like this: there are fish way down in the deep sea, down where you have to use a special sub to even see them.  Imagine that microbudget filmmakers are those deep sea fish.  Someone actually has to go searching for us to find us.  That's not a good situation to be in.


I'm not a "small personal film" guy.  Just a fact.  I make high concept stuff.  Original, unique but also grand.  The closes thing I have to "small personal film" is The House, but even then I create compexity and some epic within it.  Fact is that I can't do this stuff on a microbudget.  I practically killed myself trying to push the limits with AMNESIA.  To do that again, spend 3-4 years on a microbudget film of epic concepts, in hopes that some one likes it and I make enough money to support my family...  seems like a re-run... a really bad re-run.

I made a promise to my wife while working on AMNESIA. She asked me if I was going to be working two jobs the rest of my life: one to support us and the other the films.  I said, "no, this is it with amnesia".  I meant it.  I'm now at the point where, over the past year, I have been pursuing investors.  This is the point where you accept that part of the business is repeatedly hearing the word "no" from people who could financially put enough money into your budget to make things happen.  Things are slowly moving in the right directions and I am getting better leads.

The simple fact is this:  I'm not some twenty year old kid any more.  I'm 30.  And more than that, my kids are growing up.  If I attempted something the size of AMNESIA with a microbudget, even if I cut down on time, I'm looking at atleast another 3 years of no pay, no proof of getting paid in the future.  I evaluated what was working, and the simple truth is that microbudget films, as a whole, aren't working as a viable concept.  I have pursued finding much more cost effective ways of promoting each one of my film ideas, or a few of them, and I am finding more resourceful ways of doing it than fighting the up hill battle of microbudget feature filmmaking.

Does this mean I am quitting? No.  Does this mean I am just sitting here hoping that something miraculous happens? no.  What it means is that instead of trying to collect up enough money to get another camera, grab a bunch of cast and crew and shoot something microbudget I am instead making different uses with my time and money.  I fine tune my scripts.  I have a ton of them.  I have been and will continue to promote my brand.  I will create concept art,  pre-viz of some of these film projects.  I am doing something else with my time and money: networking with those people who can move me forward.  I spend a ton of time working on business plans, looking into viable distrubuiton options and researching marketing options. 

Why have I decided to say goodbye, forever, to microbudget feature filmmaking?  Because you have to prioritize with what works better.  I've already made AMNESIA. I have proof that I can do it.  It's my calling card, now it's time to take everything up the next step.  I had made this decision about a year ago, but now, more than ever, is became even clearer that this is it, it's time to move beyond.

Thoughts.