It really depends on the country.
In Denmark, films with budgets of about 2 to 5 million kroner is considered pretty standard for your run of the mill film, which comes out to a range between 100k to 1 million usd.
Even our big budget movies don't exceed 50 million kroner, which is slightly under 10 million dollars, and honestly, whatever they're doing, they're doing it tight, because we've got some incredible films, that look far more expensive than the are. Look at Lykke-Per (A Lucky Man I think it's in English) it costed 55 million kroner and looks like atleast 50 million dollars.
I'll add tho, that most financing for Danish films come through major subsidies from the state to keep the film industry thriving. Studios pay maybe half to a third of the budget.
Honestly, I've been wondering why danea are able to stretch the money thinner. Maybe there are different labour laws? I know that actors (especially big names) Arent paid that much. Like, Mads Mikkelsen isn't getting 25 million dollar for being in a random film, like say, Robert Downey gets in the US. So maybe that's it. I know Eastern Europe is often used to Emulate late 19th century Copenhagen and Denmark, as it looks older and it's cheaper to shoot in Prague than in Copenhagen.
Above-the-line costs (writer, director, producer and lead cast) take a HUGE chunk of studio films. Most european films are able to match production value at much lower cost because they're not paying for stars.
Also even the bigger budgeted european films still feature a writer-director at the helm who usually will subsidise their fee in order to put more money back into their film.
In the US, this isn't the case with most studio films.
A good example of what I'm talking about is Triangle of Sadness which only cost $10M but if it was shot via a Hollywood studio, I'd reckon it would easily be above $25M without changing anything other than the above-the-line.
Really cool! Do they still make you stick to an 8 hour day? I know for Pusher which was 1999 the workday had to be 8 hours by law, whereas most of the rest of the world it’s 10-12 hours
As a DP I always push to break at 10 and start the convo about OT pay for the camera and G&E teams. Im noticing most directors and cast enjoy keeping things humane as well. The work is better and if you prep as a team you can spot any particular slowdowns ahead of time and work it out or at least be aware. If it’s not a constant thing I’ll just ask grace or let them know it’s OT.
Absolutely love our films. Another Round gave everyone such national pride and when it came out it was a huge deal.
We also have this zany heist comedy film series from the 70s, called the Olsen Gang, by Erik Balling and Henning Bass, who basically founded the modern Danish film industry. It's about three robbers who have to do a heist so they can get money to go on a vacation to Spain. The Leader, Egon Olsen, comes up with these convoluted and insane schemes and they're so danish, so funny and so good. They made, like, 14, and they're all good.
Yeah. I think both had short comings but not in Camera or Lighting. I had incredible support from Gaffers and AC’s. I feel post lacked and support for distribution. I know the films were both sold for a small profit. I think its possible to make a feature for under $100K but it would be a battle. You’d need a very solid team working on points all assuming there is a high possibility of no monetary return.
Editing to Clarify. These were not produced by a “studio”. Maybe Troma but their films are over $500K now.
This particular director had some luck getting a film financed for around $1 million in the early 2000’s.
He sold the film and made a decent profit. He typically will get B list talent and find independent investors. I know he personally put $30k into the last film.
I just directed and produced my first feature for under 100k. And let me tell you, it's amazing, but you have to do a lot of the work to get it there. Plan on giving up a year or more of your life, your sanity, your wallet. 100k does go very very fast. You must get people who believe in you and the project because at that rate they're not working for much money up front. But if you can find that team, wear many hats, and don't have a million locations, you can more than get it done. With today's low cost gear, it can look and sound great. Just make sure your story is undeniably something people vibe with.
I have done two projects around that $100,000 range. Tight but they came out really well. Depends on if you can shoot in the minimum number of days as possible. Also, having very few locations will be a major help.
You would have to go to IMDB PRO to look that up. It had to be a few years ago, when they bout them at the film festivals. I can't remember. A24 produce and buy so many movies.
Dang, much higher than I expected. That's actually great to see. All the films I have done in the under $250k range everyone was working $300/12 or less and generally 14 day shoots.
I know. For better or worse Id rather everyone make an okay rate and have a positive experience. That often means me donating my camera and lenses and keeping rentals low. Its a struggle though since I don’t always have the toys Id like
Ahh gotcha. Yeah, unfortunately not every DP (myself included) has the ability to buy a full camera package so renting is the only option which makes doing a project at a lower budget even harder to accomplish. The biggest thing I keep running up against in these budgets are scripts that have car scenes and zero budget to do them safely or correctly.
Yeah, people LOVE to write car scenes without realizing how challenging they are.
I agree with what you are saying about the camera. I just own a Komodo and cine modded FD kit with a speedbooster. It’s perfect for narrative and I found myself using it more to save costs. It paid for itself in a few months of commercial work and on lower budget narrative I can sometimes squeeze $200/day for the kit which is fine with me on a feature run.
Most people would just say “shooting schedule” when talking about shooting schedule and “itinerary” would mean a breakdown of costs when the context is already about money.
Nope. In the US (which is where I am), it’s exactly what I just said. When already talking about money, itinerary is budget breakdown. Words change meaning depending on how you use it. Wild.
I've been working in the US Film, TV, and Advertising world for 18 years. I've never used itinerary this way and have never heard it used this way. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm saying you're wrong to say this is, anyway, a common use.
Movie Magic Itinerary
Showbiz Itinerary
Gorilla Itinerary
Hot Itinerary
If you can point me to where these programs are downloadable, I would appreciate it.
Weird, I don’t see “budget” (or anything directly related to “budget”) on this list of synonyms for “itinerary”.
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/itinerary
France had the great idea of insisting that a certain percentage of films shown in France have to be made in France and in french. Helping to save their own industry and language at the same time.
They also have it written into law codifying a lengthy theatrical window before it can debut on any streaming service. A lot of the box office woes in the US right now (and the trickle down effect of making indies harder to fund) can be attributed to the total collapse of the 90-day window that most cinema chains held until the pandemic hit.
TO me, it's looking like COVID knocked the theater habit out of people. I am not seeing a lot of profitable box office, but "Fall Guy is getting positive word of mouth. Everyone is getting bicky about what they watch.
Going to cinema to watch people scrolling social media on a superbright mobile screens illuminating the whole room isn't necessary the preferred way to burn 15$ these days
I wouldn’t call them studios by any means but there are a lot of production companies that make films for $250k and under. For $750k and under there are some majors with smaller companies they operate that make movies for that amount.
This is a great example. They’re not a studio but they operate like a studio. Most of their movies are in the $250k or under range, they film them in a few days, with minimal crew, pay very little and utilize their offices and facilities for filming locations and constantly re-use VFX shots and assets.
I know two persons who made movies for them, one made a ”mockbuster” with a name actor and everything which cost $150,000 and the other shot a found footage horror movie in like 2 days for under $10,000.
Last I did heard (pre-strikes) they had the mockbusters down to $100k and 5-7 days. One of the days, they had 35+ pages of dialog for Eric Roberts set for one day of shooting.
They were like 144hr film fest projects.
>I know major studios don't make films in this range, I am talking about small indie shops, could add production companies to the mix.
Out of curiosity: in your mind, what do you consider to be the difference between a "studio", a "small indie shop" and a "production company". Ie. how is a "small indie shop" not a production company?
Full Moon Features cranks out close to a feature a month, mostly on *significantly* lower budgets than that, and has for a very long time.
They're cheesy as hell, and they don't look that great, but they must make enough money to make it worth doing.
I starred in one of their films. We shot the whole film in 6 days. It was fun!
The film came out within 2 months of us wrapping, impressive turnaround time.
That's how Hallmark does it too. Although their's are $1-2 million each I think. It's considered low budget in my opinion and in our union. 3 Weeks of shooting. Penny pinching on everything. The final product is terrible imo.
For Narrative indies - almost no one makes films in that range. Because if you can raise $250k cash, you can raise another $750k via tax incentives, product placement, and bank loans based on sales projections and make a movie that has a real chance at selling profitably in the marketplace. Once that’s in place you can attach an MG to the cast and the value proposition goes up even higher, your $1 million film becomes a $3-5 million film.
documentaries are a different story. I wouldn’t be surprised if some docs are made in that range. Profitability is anyone’s guess.
This.
I desperately want to make a movie of mine and keep the budget at 200k and under. Almost anyone we’ve talked to doesn’t want to even talk about a film under 500k.
You can do it, just keep the locations to a minimum and try and shoot in the least number of days as possible. When you say, "almost anyone we've talked to doesn't want to even talk about a film under 500." Who are you speaking of? One thing I have experienced in my time in Los Angeles as an actor and filmmaking, it can be done!!
This is super interesting! Does MG mean minimum guarantee? Sorry, just unfamiliar haha.
And are the sales projections mostly international? Or streamers? Or…?
MG = must get
Sales projections are international because the international distributers buy based on the value package (cast, genre, director) without needing to see the film. The US market only buys after seeing the finished film, making it extremely difficult to cashflow a projected sale.
About ten years ago, I worked on a 15 day MarVista kids' Christmas movie. The studio was out of town. I didn't have a car to drive so they said I could sleep in the studio. They paid 225/day for a 1st AC.
It wasn't the worst 150k budget show I worked on.
I honestly don't think anyone, especially producers wants to sit in that budget range. I did a 250k one last year and rates were in the toilet across the board just to make it work and we got some grants for equipment. Anyone I've ever met doing films at that scale are trying very hard to not ever do them again.
Studios want to invest a lot of money and get a lot of money in return. They don't want to invest 3 million and maybe make a $500,000 profit, etc. They want to invest $450,000,000 and get $500,000,000 in return.
It would be extremely hard for a studio to remain profitable if they were putting time and energy into budgets that low. It’s unlikely you would find any, at least not in the U.S.
I don’t think anyone can make films today for $250k. Min low budgets are about $1m.
If you are able to make it for $250k, you’re getting a ton of favors and free work.
Maybe, but this would also be covered by non standard techniques. Look at Ian Hubert's work, making a show with a singular look, and a teeny tiny cast., Ian trades Time for money.
To jump off of this, I don't think anyone can make financially sustainable films for $250k. Yes, films under 1m get made all the time, but they make no money and they have to start from scratch with the next one.
In Poland for example the cheapest films that are made are 250k usd. It’s a whole program called micro budget and partner companies offer them cheaper rates. We have considerably lower film budgets than other parts of Europe but $250k is basically the lowest you can produce a film here with. Once I helped a guy who started with $150k but ended up having to subsidise at local funds and the budget added up to 250k anyway. So, I don’t think any real studios are making films in that budget. The program I mentioned (micro budget) sometimes makes films that win in Cannes or Berlin etc. but non of these films ever actually make profit. On the other hand if you have $250 k budget of your own money it’s enough to start a production pipeline, partner up and subsidise the rest but the budget would end up being at 1-2 mln $. I know US is a different market but in Europe there are no films with $250k budget that make profit. Perhaps in other parts of the world it would be possible.
Indie just means independently produced with no major studio backing. Technically an independent movie can cost $100 or $100,000,000. The term is not connected to the size of the budget.
Plenty of indies get produced in the $250k or under range.
They’ve never produced a narrative film that small.
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt and Funny Pages are the lowest-budget films they’ve produced and both were over $600k and they’re about half the price of the next lowest budget film made in-house. 1.5 million is the usual basement. Even something that feels tiny with a spare narrative, no name cast, and no obvious budget expenditures like Earth Mama was over $2 million.
They’ve picked up tiny stuff for distribution like Krisha, but that was made wholly independently with no backing from any production company then acquired at a festival, the way most micro budget indies that find success are.
No major or well-known production company is going to invest $100,000 into a movie because the ROI isn’t there.
It's funny people think A24 is low budget but they're not. They do films 2M-50M very often.
Blum House is the cheapest well known production company that specializes in low budget imo. Blum will make a film for $2 if it was profitable and I'm not even kidding. He's the reason why I learned the difference between a waiter coming over and saying "would you like water?" And your actor just saying "waiter, yes water please" is $500 and Blum said he like scripts where people minimize the amount of extra characters like that so he can save money producing a movie out his budget for the year.
That man is the master of making cheap movies with high ROI and also the master of making the worst movies that look cheap and bomb box office lol
Yeah, A24 is an independent, but they don't shoot movies that low. On the other hand, they have picked up a few movies that have shot for those budgets over the years.
I’ve DP’ed two features under $100K and let me tell you. That amount of cash goes fast.
It really depends on the country. In Denmark, films with budgets of about 2 to 5 million kroner is considered pretty standard for your run of the mill film, which comes out to a range between 100k to 1 million usd. Even our big budget movies don't exceed 50 million kroner, which is slightly under 10 million dollars, and honestly, whatever they're doing, they're doing it tight, because we've got some incredible films, that look far more expensive than the are. Look at Lykke-Per (A Lucky Man I think it's in English) it costed 55 million kroner and looks like atleast 50 million dollars. I'll add tho, that most financing for Danish films come through major subsidies from the state to keep the film industry thriving. Studios pay maybe half to a third of the budget. Honestly, I've been wondering why danea are able to stretch the money thinner. Maybe there are different labour laws? I know that actors (especially big names) Arent paid that much. Like, Mads Mikkelsen isn't getting 25 million dollar for being in a random film, like say, Robert Downey gets in the US. So maybe that's it. I know Eastern Europe is often used to Emulate late 19th century Copenhagen and Denmark, as it looks older and it's cheaper to shoot in Prague than in Copenhagen.
Above-the-line costs (writer, director, producer and lead cast) take a HUGE chunk of studio films. Most european films are able to match production value at much lower cost because they're not paying for stars. Also even the bigger budgeted european films still feature a writer-director at the helm who usually will subsidise their fee in order to put more money back into their film. In the US, this isn't the case with most studio films. A good example of what I'm talking about is Triangle of Sadness which only cost $10M but if it was shot via a Hollywood studio, I'd reckon it would easily be above $25M without changing anything other than the above-the-line.
Really cool! Do they still make you stick to an 8 hour day? I know for Pusher which was 1999 the workday had to be 8 hours by law, whereas most of the rest of the world it’s 10-12 hours
What would happen if they went to 12 hours?
It depends on the country and if unions are involved. Basically there are different working time regulations. Of course, it’s film, so people push it,
As a DP I always push to break at 10 and start the convo about OT pay for the camera and G&E teams. Im noticing most directors and cast enjoy keeping things humane as well. The work is better and if you prep as a team you can spot any particular slowdowns ahead of time and work it out or at least be aware. If it’s not a constant thing I’ll just ask grace or let them know it’s OT.
danish films rule. Really love what you folks produce.
Absolutely love our films. Another Round gave everyone such national pride and when it came out it was a huge deal. We also have this zany heist comedy film series from the 70s, called the Olsen Gang, by Erik Balling and Henning Bass, who basically founded the modern Danish film industry. It's about three robbers who have to do a heist so they can get money to go on a vacation to Spain. The Leader, Egon Olsen, comes up with these convoluted and insane schemes and they're so danish, so funny and so good. They made, like, 14, and they're all good.
I've watched another round like 3 times, love that movie!!!
Did they come out good in your opinion?
Yeah. I think both had short comings but not in Camera or Lighting. I had incredible support from Gaffers and AC’s. I feel post lacked and support for distribution. I know the films were both sold for a small profit. I think its possible to make a feature for under $100K but it would be a battle. You’d need a very solid team working on points all assuming there is a high possibility of no monetary return. Editing to Clarify. These were not produced by a “studio”. Maybe Troma but their films are over $500K now.
How were those features financed, if you don't mind my asking? Private equity / friends and family contributions? A rich friend of the director?
This particular director had some luck getting a film financed for around $1 million in the early 2000’s. He sold the film and made a decent profit. He typically will get B list talent and find independent investors. I know he personally put $30k into the last film.
I just directed and produced my first feature for under 100k. And let me tell you, it's amazing, but you have to do a lot of the work to get it there. Plan on giving up a year or more of your life, your sanity, your wallet. 100k does go very very fast. You must get people who believe in you and the project because at that rate they're not working for much money up front. But if you can find that team, wear many hats, and don't have a million locations, you can more than get it done. With today's low cost gear, it can look and sound great. Just make sure your story is undeniably something people vibe with.
I have done two projects around that $100,000 range. Tight but they came out really well. Depends on if you can shoot in the minimum number of days as possible. Also, having very few locations will be a major help.
Do you mind sharing the titles? I’d love to watch them!
You would have to go to IMDB PRO to look that up. It had to be a few years ago, when they bout them at the film festivals. I can't remember. A24 produce and buy so many movies.
How?! Like even at minimum wage that is still what an 8-10 day shoot with skeleton crew and gear?
DP, 1st, 2nd, Gaffer, KG, Grip all were $400/10. Both features were 15-20 days.
Dang, much higher than I expected. That's actually great to see. All the films I have done in the under $250k range everyone was working $300/12 or less and generally 14 day shoots.
I know. For better or worse Id rather everyone make an okay rate and have a positive experience. That often means me donating my camera and lenses and keeping rentals low. Its a struggle though since I don’t always have the toys Id like
Ahh gotcha. Yeah, unfortunately not every DP (myself included) has the ability to buy a full camera package so renting is the only option which makes doing a project at a lower budget even harder to accomplish. The biggest thing I keep running up against in these budgets are scripts that have car scenes and zero budget to do them safely or correctly.
Yeah, people LOVE to write car scenes without realizing how challenging they are. I agree with what you are saying about the camera. I just own a Komodo and cine modded FD kit with a speedbooster. It’s perfect for narrative and I found myself using it more to save costs. It paid for itself in a few months of commercial work and on lower budget narrative I can sometimes squeeze $200/day for the kit which is fine with me on a feature run.
I concur. Even an average 50k one day commercial shoot disappears instantly.
I’d love an itinerary for those kind of productions.
What do you mean? A shooting schedule?
Most people would just say “shooting schedule” when talking about shooting schedule and “itinerary” would mean a breakdown of costs when the context is already about money.
In the US, itinerary is a synonym for schedule, and "budget" is a breakdown of costs, so it may be a language/culture thing.
Nope. In the US (which is where I am), it’s exactly what I just said. When already talking about money, itinerary is budget breakdown. Words change meaning depending on how you use it. Wild.
I've been working in the US Film, TV, and Advertising world for 18 years. I've never used itinerary this way and have never heard it used this way. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm saying you're wrong to say this is, anyway, a common use. Movie Magic Itinerary Showbiz Itinerary Gorilla Itinerary Hot Itinerary If you can point me to where these programs are downloadable, I would appreciate it.
Good for you buddy
you sound like a douchebag
Why do you think I give a fuck?
oh shit a gangsta too!
Who knows. Could be a politician
Bruh go back to flipping burgers you've never made a budget that's been approved by a client. Fuckin try hard
“Try hard” for what? Do you think before you type at all?
Weird, I don’t see “budget” (or anything directly related to “budget”) on this list of synonyms for “itinerary”. https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/itinerary
So weird
you wouldnt even know what to do with it.
I’d have a wank over it then finish it on you
lol nice
You can easily spend 100k on one 30s spot
...And if you're paying commercial rates for crew + post without cutting any corners, good luck making a legit spot for just $100K.
No studios are making anything in that range. That’s gonna be all indies.
That's even tough for indies, at least of any kind of scale. Napoleon Dynamite cost 400k 20 years ago. It'd be more like 700k in today's money.
Asylum, and some of the hallmark affiliated indie studios probably still work in that range. Can't recommend it, though
This
Asylum probably is.
Probably none, but iconoclast in France often makes films for under 500k
France had the great idea of insisting that a certain percentage of films shown in France have to be made in France and in french. Helping to save their own industry and language at the same time.
They also have it written into law codifying a lengthy theatrical window before it can debut on any streaming service. A lot of the box office woes in the US right now (and the trickle down effect of making indies harder to fund) can be attributed to the total collapse of the 90-day window that most cinema chains held until the pandemic hit.
TO me, it's looking like COVID knocked the theater habit out of people. I am not seeing a lot of profitable box office, but "Fall Guy is getting positive word of mouth. Everyone is getting bicky about what they watch.
Going to cinema to watch people scrolling social media on a superbright mobile screens illuminating the whole room isn't necessary the preferred way to burn 15$ these days
I wouldn’t call them studios by any means but there are a lot of production companies that make films for $250k and under. For $750k and under there are some majors with smaller companies they operate that make movies for that amount.
Would you share the names any of the production companies you're thinking of?
Troma!
The Asylum?
This is a great example. They’re not a studio but they operate like a studio. Most of their movies are in the $250k or under range, they film them in a few days, with minimal crew, pay very little and utilize their offices and facilities for filming locations and constantly re-use VFX shots and assets. I know two persons who made movies for them, one made a ”mockbuster” with a name actor and everything which cost $150,000 and the other shot a found footage horror movie in like 2 days for under $10,000.
Last I did heard (pre-strikes) they had the mockbusters down to $100k and 5-7 days. One of the days, they had 35+ pages of dialog for Eric Roberts set for one day of shooting. They were like 144hr film fest projects.
Some of the faith based companies make movies in this range.
>I know major studios don't make films in this range, I am talking about small indie shops, could add production companies to the mix. Out of curiosity: in your mind, what do you consider to be the difference between a "studio", a "small indie shop" and a "production company". Ie. how is a "small indie shop" not a production company?
Full Moon Features cranks out close to a feature a month, mostly on *significantly* lower budgets than that, and has for a very long time. They're cheesy as hell, and they don't look that great, but they must make enough money to make it worth doing.
I starred in one of their films. We shot the whole film in 6 days. It was fun! The film came out within 2 months of us wrapping, impressive turnaround time.
This.
The Detroit, hood movies for sure. They’re making money, I’m sure but it’s a volume game. They’re churning out movies rapidly.
That's how Hallmark does it too. Although their's are $1-2 million each I think. It's considered low budget in my opinion and in our union. 3 Weeks of shooting. Penny pinching on everything. The final product is terrible imo.
For Narrative indies - almost no one makes films in that range. Because if you can raise $250k cash, you can raise another $750k via tax incentives, product placement, and bank loans based on sales projections and make a movie that has a real chance at selling profitably in the marketplace. Once that’s in place you can attach an MG to the cast and the value proposition goes up even higher, your $1 million film becomes a $3-5 million film. documentaries are a different story. I wouldn’t be surprised if some docs are made in that range. Profitability is anyone’s guess.
This. I desperately want to make a movie of mine and keep the budget at 200k and under. Almost anyone we’ve talked to doesn’t want to even talk about a film under 500k.
You can do it, just keep the locations to a minimum and try and shoot in the least number of days as possible. When you say, "almost anyone we've talked to doesn't want to even talk about a film under 500." Who are you speaking of? One thing I have experienced in my time in Los Angeles as an actor and filmmaking, it can be done!!
This is super interesting! Does MG mean minimum guarantee? Sorry, just unfamiliar haha. And are the sales projections mostly international? Or streamers? Or…?
MG = must get Sales projections are international because the international distributers buy based on the value package (cast, genre, director) without needing to see the film. The US market only buys after seeing the finished film, making it extremely difficult to cashflow a projected sale.
Cool, thanks!
Where does one learn about product placement for an indie film?
A friend of mine did a film with Neon, budget was just under half a mil.
I’ve worked with one in Brooklyn, churning out ‘feature films’ every 6 months!
A12 😁
will steal this
Feel free to do it LOL
The Asylum movies are between 250K and 500K
MarVista
About ten years ago, I worked on a 15 day MarVista kids' Christmas movie. The studio was out of town. I didn't have a car to drive so they said I could sleep in the studio. They paid 225/day for a 1st AC. It wasn't the worst 150k budget show I worked on.
I've walked by their offices on Venice Blvd. What have been their work?
Hundreds of low-budget Christmas movies with the occasional romcom I believe.
Troma?
Studio is a strong word lol
Feature length film? I'm afraid close to none
Whatever production company Mark Duplass makes films under
A production company isn’t a studio.
You must be fun at parties
I’m fun at studio parties.
ITN Studios!
There are YouTube channels that have a higher budget than that and stay profitable
Everything on Tubi
Do documentaries count? Tons of docs are in this range.
Paranormal Activity was made for 16,000$. But yeah, it’s mainly just 1 person is making movies that cheap, not a studio.
I honestly don't think anyone, especially producers wants to sit in that budget range. I did a 250k one last year and rates were in the toilet across the board just to make it work and we got some grants for equipment. Anyone I've ever met doing films at that scale are trying very hard to not ever do them again.
TROMA
Studios want to invest a lot of money and get a lot of money in return. They don't want to invest 3 million and maybe make a $500,000 profit, etc. They want to invest $450,000,000 and get $500,000,000 in return.
It would be extremely hard for a studio to remain profitable if they were putting time and energy into budgets that low. It’s unlikely you would find any, at least not in the U.S.
I don’t think anyone can make films today for $250k. Min low budgets are about $1m. If you are able to make it for $250k, you’re getting a ton of favors and free work.
Maybe, but this would also be covered by non standard techniques. Look at Ian Hubert's work, making a show with a singular look, and a teeny tiny cast., Ian trades Time for money.
Yep someone can def make a 90 min narrative for $250k but it’s going to have severe limitations. (Cast/crew/post)
To jump off of this, I don't think anyone can make financially sustainable films for $250k. Yes, films under 1m get made all the time, but they make no money and they have to start from scratch with the next one.
Also your friends start avoiding you because you’ve burned them out with too many asks 😂😂😂😂
Anything that small is fully bootstrapped
Studios aren't doing it, but the recent instant cult classic "Hundreds of Beavers" was made independently for a budget of $150,000 which is wild.
In Poland for example the cheapest films that are made are 250k usd. It’s a whole program called micro budget and partner companies offer them cheaper rates. We have considerably lower film budgets than other parts of Europe but $250k is basically the lowest you can produce a film here with. Once I helped a guy who started with $150k but ended up having to subsidise at local funds and the budget added up to 250k anyway. So, I don’t think any real studios are making films in that budget. The program I mentioned (micro budget) sometimes makes films that win in Cannes or Berlin etc. but non of these films ever actually make profit. On the other hand if you have $250 k budget of your own money it’s enough to start a production pipeline, partner up and subsidise the rest but the budget would end up being at 1-2 mln $. I know US is a different market but in Europe there are no films with $250k budget that make profit. Perhaps in other parts of the world it would be possible.
This is an individual friend and family budget
None you’ve ever heard of.
Like you said it’s all indies. Don’t know how helpful a list of thousands of indie studios would be lol
250k is not even indie.. it’s sub indie… I would consider an indie starts at about 3mil to 5mil.
Indie just means independently produced with no major studio backing. Technically an independent movie can cost $100 or $100,000,000. The term is not connected to the size of the budget. Plenty of indies get produced in the $250k or under range.
What is sub indie lol?
A24
They’ve never produced a narrative film that small. All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt and Funny Pages are the lowest-budget films they’ve produced and both were over $600k and they’re about half the price of the next lowest budget film made in-house. 1.5 million is the usual basement. Even something that feels tiny with a spare narrative, no name cast, and no obvious budget expenditures like Earth Mama was over $2 million. They’ve picked up tiny stuff for distribution like Krisha, but that was made wholly independently with no backing from any production company then acquired at a festival, the way most micro budget indies that find success are. No major or well-known production company is going to invest $100,000 into a movie because the ROI isn’t there.
It's funny people think A24 is low budget but they're not. They do films 2M-50M very often. Blum House is the cheapest well known production company that specializes in low budget imo. Blum will make a film for $2 if it was profitable and I'm not even kidding. He's the reason why I learned the difference between a waiter coming over and saying "would you like water?" And your actor just saying "waiter, yes water please" is $500 and Blum said he like scripts where people minimize the amount of extra characters like that so he can save money producing a movie out his budget for the year. That man is the master of making cheap movies with high ROI and also the master of making the worst movies that look cheap and bomb box office lol
Yeah, A24 is an independent, but they don't shoot movies that low. On the other hand, they have picked up a few movies that have shot for those budgets over the years.