I'm in a unique situation with a feature film I have been developing and am hoping to get some advice on here to help clarify my strategy moving forward.
I am a film maker (writer/director) with several shorts and a feature under my belt. They have screened at many festivals and in some cases been awarded, but I haven't pursued distribution for my feature as I wasn't completely satisfied with the final result and don't want it to be released publicly at this point.
As of this year, I was able to secure partial funding for my follow up feature film, something I have been writing for some time. The film could be done for about $70k, and I have $40k of it raised. I believe the script is far better than my previous feature and that is likely why i have had an easier time securing some funding. With that said, given my experience on my first feature, I am starting to have doubts about shooting a feature at this low of a budget - even though it is still much higher than my first.
I have been thinking a lot about shooting a short film based around the same concept as the feature, to use as a pitch that may help me secure more funds down the road. If I were to do this, I would of course need to put the feature on hold indefinitely until I can raise more funding. I'm really torn at this point.
Option 1 is to go forward and do it on a micro-budget and muscle through it like I did on my last film.
Option 2 is to put the development on hold temporarily and use a portion of my development funds to shoot a 10 minute short that will be submitted to festivals and other potential financiers.
What do you think? Based on your experience - Can short films really be used to leverage more funding for a feature these days? Or am I better off shooting it on the shoestring budget that I have access to?
I am a film maker (writer/director) with several shorts and a feature under my belt. They have screened at many festivals and in some cases been awarded, but I haven't pursued distribution for my feature as I wasn't completely satisfied with the final result and don't want it to be released publicly at this point.
As of this year, I was able to secure partial funding for my follow up feature film, something I have been writing for some time. The film could be done for about $70k, and I have $40k of it raised. I believe the script is far better than my previous feature and that is likely why i have had an easier time securing some funding. With that said, given my experience on my first feature, I am starting to have doubts about shooting a feature at this low of a budget - even though it is still much higher than my first.
I have been thinking a lot about shooting a short film based around the same concept as the feature, to use as a pitch that may help me secure more funds down the road. If I were to do this, I would of course need to put the feature on hold indefinitely until I can raise more funding. I'm really torn at this point.
Option 1 is to go forward and do it on a micro-budget and muscle through it like I did on my last film.
Option 2 is to put the development on hold temporarily and use a portion of my development funds to shoot a 10 minute short that will be submitted to festivals and other potential financiers.
What do you think? Based on your experience - Can short films really be used to leverage more funding for a feature these days? Or am I better off shooting it on the shoestring budget that I have access to?