Hey Gang! I worked as a producer on the film Ctrl+Alt+Dance alongside Director Producer Gex Williams and he shared the following thoughts with me and I thought they were useful and may have a place here!
5 Reasons Your Film Should be Shot on a Micro-Budget
What’s better - a two hundred and twenty million dollar budget or a twelve thousand dollar budget? Most people will tell you two hundred and twenty million, but we disagree. Jupiter Ascending grossed over $180 million during its multi-month run in theaters. Ctrl+Alt+Dance (our movie) showed for a single night in about 50 cities across the world, grossing around $50,000 total. Please note that Jupiter Ascending made $179,999,950 more than Ctrl+Alt+Dance. However, at the end of its multi-month theatrical run, Jupiter Ascending is 88 million dollars in the hole, and Ctrl+Alt+Dance has already made a positive net profit from only one night of showings. The creators of Jupiter Ascending will reportedly never work with Time Warner studios again, but we’ve had investors query us about our next project.
If you are serious about filmmaking as a career, here are five reasons your first film should be shot on a micro budget.
It creates limitations but stokes creativity: Contrary to what some may say, we found that limitations actually increase creative juices. A limited budget creates challenges to overcome, but it also breeds ingenuity. For example, when writing the script for Ctrl+Alt+Dance we didn’t waste time imagining what the set would look like. We only used locations we already knew existed. Allowing our brains to develop the story using known locations helped keep the focus on the characters and plot development. We didn’t wrestle with a starry night laser fight on the second moon of Saturn, because as cool as that may be, it wasn’t in the budget.
It helps your audience get behind you: If you are making your first film you probably don’t have that much of a fan base. You need to build one from the ground up. People love to root for an underdog. Show people you care about them in a way a big budget film never can. Know your niche audience and be true to them. Big budget films need millions of people to see their films in order to not flop. As a result they tend to broadcast in an attempt to please everybody, most likely making the substance of the film pretty shallow. With a micro-budget film you have the luxury of going deep and really appealing to a particular sect of people. This is a huge advantage; own it.
It paves the way for your next project: Two key things will be significant for your second film. One: your fan base needs to carry over. Two: investors need to have confidence in you. Many first time filmmakers work hard to raise half a million dollars to shoot their first film. By doing this they inadvertently shoot themselves in the foot. As a first time filmmaker, chances are you don’t have the following to make a profit on a half million dollar film. You burn your investors and nobody wants to work with you again. With a micro-budget film you only need to please a handful of people for your film to make a profit. If you turn a profit on a micro-budget film, investors will have the confidence to give you more for the second go around, and your core audience base will hopefully have increased enough to support a higher budget film.
It gives you the confidence to make bigger films: Ctrl+Alt+Dance premiered on every inhabited continent and has been translated into eight different languages (for free). We feel awesome about this movie. It kicks ass. It’s pretty cool to watch your film in Korean, Spanish, Chinese, German, French, Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian, or whatever. People enjoyed our film because we worked super hard to make something they care about. Sure, some snobs will tear down your movie because of its limited budget. But who cares what the snobs think? You’ve got a dedicated following of people who want you to make another movie. Investors will be much more likely to put money into your second project when you tell them your first project made 100% return on investment, even if you only make $15,000 on a $7,000 film. A high ROI on your last project will turn an investor’s head.
It helps you grow thick skin: This really applies to any sized project. However, you feel it way more personally on a micro-budget level. If you're doing something worthwhile most likely someone won’t like you. Don’t try to please everybody. We had plenty of people hate on us for whatever personal reasons. Brush it off and draw inspiration from all the people who appreciate what you are trying to create for them. If you ever feel down after reading a message board post by some random person with nothing better to do than criticize your efforts, please draw inspiration from this meme.
In summary, think twice before taking out a huge loan or mortgaging the house. If you can make a successful micro-budget film it will pave the way for you to create bigger and better projects. It’s way more positive to watch your career grow from the ground up than to pick up the pieces after an epic failure.
If you think you have what it takes to make a micro-budget film, check out 12kchallenge.com. We are giving away $12,000 to help someone else make their dream come true. Making a film is absolutely hard work, but if you're serious about being a filmmaker, don't let a budget - or lack thereof - stand in the way.
5 Reasons Your Film Should be Shot on a Micro-Budget
What’s better - a two hundred and twenty million dollar budget or a twelve thousand dollar budget? Most people will tell you two hundred and twenty million, but we disagree. Jupiter Ascending grossed over $180 million during its multi-month run in theaters. Ctrl+Alt+Dance (our movie) showed for a single night in about 50 cities across the world, grossing around $50,000 total. Please note that Jupiter Ascending made $179,999,950 more than Ctrl+Alt+Dance. However, at the end of its multi-month theatrical run, Jupiter Ascending is 88 million dollars in the hole, and Ctrl+Alt+Dance has already made a positive net profit from only one night of showings. The creators of Jupiter Ascending will reportedly never work with Time Warner studios again, but we’ve had investors query us about our next project.
If you are serious about filmmaking as a career, here are five reasons your first film should be shot on a micro budget.
It creates limitations but stokes creativity: Contrary to what some may say, we found that limitations actually increase creative juices. A limited budget creates challenges to overcome, but it also breeds ingenuity. For example, when writing the script for Ctrl+Alt+Dance we didn’t waste time imagining what the set would look like. We only used locations we already knew existed. Allowing our brains to develop the story using known locations helped keep the focus on the characters and plot development. We didn’t wrestle with a starry night laser fight on the second moon of Saturn, because as cool as that may be, it wasn’t in the budget.
It helps your audience get behind you: If you are making your first film you probably don’t have that much of a fan base. You need to build one from the ground up. People love to root for an underdog. Show people you care about them in a way a big budget film never can. Know your niche audience and be true to them. Big budget films need millions of people to see their films in order to not flop. As a result they tend to broadcast in an attempt to please everybody, most likely making the substance of the film pretty shallow. With a micro-budget film you have the luxury of going deep and really appealing to a particular sect of people. This is a huge advantage; own it.
It paves the way for your next project: Two key things will be significant for your second film. One: your fan base needs to carry over. Two: investors need to have confidence in you. Many first time filmmakers work hard to raise half a million dollars to shoot their first film. By doing this they inadvertently shoot themselves in the foot. As a first time filmmaker, chances are you don’t have the following to make a profit on a half million dollar film. You burn your investors and nobody wants to work with you again. With a micro-budget film you only need to please a handful of people for your film to make a profit. If you turn a profit on a micro-budget film, investors will have the confidence to give you more for the second go around, and your core audience base will hopefully have increased enough to support a higher budget film.
It gives you the confidence to make bigger films: Ctrl+Alt+Dance premiered on every inhabited continent and has been translated into eight different languages (for free). We feel awesome about this movie. It kicks ass. It’s pretty cool to watch your film in Korean, Spanish, Chinese, German, French, Hungarian, Russian, Ukrainian, or whatever. People enjoyed our film because we worked super hard to make something they care about. Sure, some snobs will tear down your movie because of its limited budget. But who cares what the snobs think? You’ve got a dedicated following of people who want you to make another movie. Investors will be much more likely to put money into your second project when you tell them your first project made 100% return on investment, even if you only make $15,000 on a $7,000 film. A high ROI on your last project will turn an investor’s head.
It helps you grow thick skin: This really applies to any sized project. However, you feel it way more personally on a micro-budget level. If you're doing something worthwhile most likely someone won’t like you. Don’t try to please everybody. We had plenty of people hate on us for whatever personal reasons. Brush it off and draw inspiration from all the people who appreciate what you are trying to create for them. If you ever feel down after reading a message board post by some random person with nothing better to do than criticize your efforts, please draw inspiration from this meme.
In summary, think twice before taking out a huge loan or mortgaging the house. If you can make a successful micro-budget film it will pave the way for you to create bigger and better projects. It’s way more positive to watch your career grow from the ground up than to pick up the pieces after an epic failure.
If you think you have what it takes to make a micro-budget film, check out 12kchallenge.com. We are giving away $12,000 to help someone else make their dream come true. Making a film is absolutely hard work, but if you're serious about being a filmmaker, don't let a budget - or lack thereof - stand in the way.
