How to Make Movies: Low-Budget / No-Budget Indie Experts Tell All

268 Pages·2013·11.327 MB·English

by  Kevin J. Lindenmuth

HOW TO
MAKE
HOW TO
MAKE
MOVIES
MOVIES
ALSO BY KEVIN J. LINDENMUTH
The Independent Film Experience: Interviews with
Directors and Producers(McFarland, 2002)
Making Movies on Your Own: Practical Talk from
Independent Filmmakers(McFarland, 1998)
HOW TO
MAKE
MOVIES
Low-Budget / No-Budget
Indie Experts Tell All
K J. L
EVIN INDENMUTH
Foreword by Eric Red
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
ISBN 978-0-7864-7106-5
softcover : acid free paper
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2013 Kevin J. Lindenmuth. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: (inset) Tiffany Shepis in the 2012 film
Wrath of the Crows(Photograph courtesy of Marija Obradovic);
video camera © 2013 Studio Smart
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Special Thanks to
Kate Lindenmuth
Tim Ritter
Dave Hayes
Barry Waddell & Seasons of the Wolf
John & Nancy Lindenmuth
and all the filmmakers involved with this book.
Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Foreword by Eric Red . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Making Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Film School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Equipment and Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Budget and Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Production Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Actors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Locations: Where You Live and Where You Shoot . . . . . . . . . 112
Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
How Long Does It Take to Make a Movie? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Publicity, Promotion and Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Being an Independent Filmmaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Working on Other People’s Independent Films . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Your Career as an Indie Filmmaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Appendix: The Filmmakers and Their Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
vii
Preface
It’s been nearly a decade and a half since I studio, but only a comparable pittance for the
first started penning my very first book, Mak- original filmmaker.
ing Movies on Your Own(1998). Although the This huge decrease in revenue from the genre
’90s were not as lucrative as the ’80s, during films was one of the reasons I had switched
which time home video machines came into gears about a decade ago and began produc-
play, it was entirely possible to make a modest ing/directing independent documentaries that
living as an “independent filmmaker.” The big were broadcast nationally on PBS. Rather than
video store chains were amenable to taking on recouping and making money by selling
micro-budget sci-fi and horror, so instead of DVDs this was done by getting it accepted by
selling a handful at conventions you’d be PBS, then finding underwriters/ sponsors for
selling thousands of copies in one fell swoop. the broadcasts. Generally, this made up for the
Alas, many of those retail video chains have year of time spent creating the program. And
folded up in place of direct-by-mail rentals or probably far more people have seen my docu-
video downloads, which take far fewer titles mentaries than have my horror films. I still
and pay a small percentage of what they used have a love for indepen dent features and have
to. Yes, every so often there’s a movie shot for penned a few scripts the past few years and
next to nothing by an independent producer/ worked, in varying ca pacities, on other
director, like Blair Witch Projector Paranormal people’s productions to satisfy that “itch.”
Activity, that ends up making millions for a And, in fact, I plan on returning to the horror
genre by shooting a par ticularly disturbing
film soon, simply for the satisfaction of creat -
ing something creepy and unique.
While a lot has changed since the ’90s in
the technology and distribution, a lot has
also stayed the same, primarily the persistence
and dedication of independent filmmakers,
whether they are making shorts, features or
documentaries. The individuals in this book
aren’t doing it for riches—they are doing this
because they are the foremost independent
filmmakers in the truest sense of the word.
Why make a movie? Because you want to.
By reading how these filmmakers go about
the process of making a film, you’ll be able to
take away useful information on how to go
about making your own film and hopefully
Kevin J. Lindenmuth avoid the avoidable pitfalls.
viii
Foreword by Eric Red
A warning: This book is not for the faint trenches. From technical decisions to handling
of heart. actors and crew to production situations, these
Making a low budget film will kill you. war stories from the micro-budget front lines
But seriously. cannot help but be useful to any filmmaker
Everyone knows you don’t need millions of trying to “get it in the can.” While many of
dollars to make a good picture, particularly in the indie directors interviewed in this book
the horror genre where many of the best ex- obviously have different approaches to the var-
amples are—and always have been—lower- ious aspects of the process, often they are in
budget efforts. Anyone working on a very tight agreement about the best solutions and share
budget wanting to make a feature film will similar experiences. Benefiting from proven
find lots of tips on how to prepare and mount tactics of filmmakers who learned by doing is
the production and what to expect along the especially worthwhile for readers making their
way from the topics comprehensively covered own film where it’s their time and money on
in this volume. Kevin Lindenmuth assembles the line. Because while the book deals with
a diverse group of low-budget horror film- making horror films, it’s really about the
makers used to working and delivering under hands-on work of making movies.
extreme limitations and picks their brains on People ask me all the time what makes a
all the major stages of the filmmaking process. film director.
Covering everything from financing and pro- A film director is somebody who gets their
duction to distribution, the result is loads of film made.
common-sense, practical advice from the Period.
Eric Red is a Los Angeles–based motion picture screenwriter and director whose films include The Hitcher,
Near Dark, Body Parts, Bad Moonand 100 Feet. Recent published short stories have been in Weird Tales
Magazine, Shroud Magazineand Dark Delicacies III: Haunted, an anthology. His first novel Don’t Stand
So Closewas published in July 20¡2.
1
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