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It Takes an Iron Resolve to Make an Independent Film Production Happen
The Office WriterSo you've been hired as an assistant editor. That means you'll be doing a lot of writing. Maybe you will ..... Commitment is an independent filmmaker’s most valuable resource. Without a lot of money to grease the wheels of production, a low budget film producer must rely on creativity and determination to get their films made. If a person wants to get their film made badly enough, there is not much in this world that can stop it from happening.
Making a film on your own with your own money is a very daunting task. It can also be very rewarding. When you decide to take on the awesome responsibility of writing, directing, and producing your own independent film, you better know what you are getting into beforehand. Once you set the ball in motion, there is no going back. You either succeed and your film makes to the film festival circuit (which is a major accomplishment in and of itself), or you crash and burn halfway through the film production process and your film vision never sees the light of day.
The next time you watch a movie I suggest that you pay particular attention to the credits at the end of the film. Take a look at how many names scroll across the screen and this will give you an idea of how much work goes into the making of a motion picture. Then take away all of the names on the screen and picture your name in front of every credit for every job and this will give you an idea of much work YOU will have to do to make your own movie.
When I first graduated from film school I hit the ground running. I landed a decent job as the Director and Animator on an independent film that had Pat Boone’s name attached to it. I was hired to film clay animation stories about The Bible. I worked on that job for about four months and was paid fairly well for my efforts. I decided that the best thing I could do with the money I saved was to make another film. I would take the knowledge and money I gained and use it for my own benefit. I decided to make my own movie with the idea in mind that I would enter it in on the film festival circuit and hopefully win some awards. If that happened it would almost certainly be a boost for my fledgling film career.
I wrote a script for a short film that involved a combination of clay animation and live action, and I was ready to make a film. My plan was to use all of my knowledge and talent and do almost all the work. For the parts that I could not do myself I would hire friends and business associates at a substantially discounted rate. These people agreed to work for cheap in return for a little creative control, a credit for their demo reel, and possibly exposure if the film does well at any major film festivals. I only had to hire them for the filming of the live action scenes and for some of the post production work (like sound design, mixing, foley sound effects, etc…). The animation I would do entirely on my own.
I contacted a couple of friends of mine that managed camera and sound equipment rental houses. They set me up with a 16mm camera package and a DAT (digital audio tape)
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