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Take 18-minutes and learn these steps.
1. Film Idea: Take
the thought that is in your head and flesh it out by knowing
who is the Protagonist (good guy) and Antagonist (bad
guy), what the A-story or external (good guy’s
desire) story is and then add the three intertwining B-stories
(sub-plots), with a resolution. You now have a solid idea!
2. Movie Treatment: Write
your film idea into a Three-Act (Beginning, Middle & End),
three page, double spaced treatment.
a. On the first half of page 1, with three to four long
sentences write
“The Beginning” that contains the “5-W’s & 1-H” (Who,
What, Where,
When, Why & How).
b. On the bottom half of page 3, write “The Ending” where
the A-story
and sub-plots converge for a resolution.
c. Then write your story’s “The Middle”,
with the sub-plots, on the
bottom half of page 1, all of page 2 and the top of page
3.
d. Put a title page on this three-page treatment with
(A) the title, (B)
next line “A Treatment for Feature Film”,
(C) next line the word “by”, and (D) next
line “your name”. Then in the bottom right
hand corner type “For Further
Information” and underneath give your contact address,
phone # and e-mail address.
e. CONGRATULATIONS, you have now taken the idea that is
in your head; fleshed it out and written a feature film
treatment.
3. Protection: Send
a copy of the treatment to the Writer’s Guild of America
(www.wga.org, New York or Los Angeles) along with $20 (you
do not have to be a member) and register it. Then, for extra
security, send another copy to the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov)
with $30 and Copyright it.
a. CONGRATULATIONS, you can now prove the day that your
idea
became real and a property that you actually own.
4. Screenplay: As
the Producer procure the screenplay, based off of the registered
treatment, by either hiring a writer to give you two drafts
(1st draft in 5 weeks and 2nd draft in 3 weeks, paying $500
to $1,000/week) over two months. If you can’t afford
to hire a screenwriter then you will either option an already
written (aka: Spec Script) screenplay for $100 or write
the script yourself.
5. Low-Budget Script: Since
you’ll
have little-to-no money to make your first feature, be sure
that the script you procure is a “low-budget script”.
a. This means that if screenplays
are 90-120 pages long, your “low-budget script” will
be 90 pages (30 less pages to worry about).
b. Next there will be no special effects, no action scenes,
no crowd scenes, no big name stars and absolutely no crew
- location movement.
c. In essence your script is very close to a stage-play.
Keep it simple! One location! A courtroom drama, a family
dinner, a sorority reunion, etc. “Clerks”, “12
Angry Men”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “Panic
Room”, “Phonebooth”, etc.
6. Budget: Be realistic. Do not
call $1 million or $2 million low-budget. You will not have
access to this amount of cash for your first feature. 99.9%
of Independent Filmmakers, on their first shoot, only have
access to somewhere between $5,000 and $300,000. Budget accordingly.
7. Schedule: If
you have access to $150,000-$300,000 you will most likely
be a 3-week (18-day) shoot. With access to $80,000-$150,000
you’ll be a 2-week
(13-day) shoot. Finally, if all you have is $5,000-$80,000
then you only have enough money for a 1-week (7-day) shoot.
And, with your 90-page screenplay an 18-day shoot will have
a 5-page per day shooting schedule; a 13-day shoot will have
a 7-page per day schedule, and a 1-week shoot will have a
shooting schedule of 10-12 pages per day.
8. Format: Film
(35mm or 16mm) or Tape (Digital)? The bottom line is, “what does you
budget allow”. With $150,000-$300,000 you will be a
35mm Film shoot for 3 weeks. With access to $120,000-$150,000
you will be a 35mm Film 2-week shoot. With access to $80,000-$120,000
you will either be a 35mm Film 1-week shoot or a 16mm Film
2-week shoot. With access to anything less than $80,000 ($5,000?,
$20,000?, $50,000?, etc) you will not be a film format but
will use electronic cameras (tape) and the format will be
called Digital Video - or specifically, Mini-Digital Video
(Mini-DV) and you’ll use either a Canon XL2, a Sony
PD-170, or a JVC 500DVU camera which can be bought for about
$3,000. You could also shoot 24/P High-Def by using the brand
new $3500 Pansonic DVX100u or the $4000 SONY HVR-Z1U or a
SONY HD2-FX1.
9. Resources: 1st
get your local film directory (phonebook for film crew & equipment) from
your respective film commissioner (www.afci.org). 2nd get
your paperwork (forms, agreements, checklists, contracts,
storyboards, etc) and get organized from the following (“Contracts
for Film & TV”, “Complete Film Production
Handbook”, “Independent Producer’s Guide
to Film & TV Contracts”, “Film Scheduling”, “Film
Scheduling & Budgeting Workbook”, “Film Director’s
team”, “Storyboards: Motion in Art” and “From
Word to Image”) books. 3rd procure your software (screenwriting,
budgeting or scheduling) from any of the numerous screenwriting
sites.
10. Equipment: Assuming
$150,000-$300,000 you will rent 35mm CAMERAS (Arriflex or
Panavision) and a DOLLY (Fisher or Chapman) from local rental
facility on a “2-Day” rate
of about $4,000/week. LIGHTS & GRIP equipment will come
from a Gaffer (Lighting Director), with an independent truck
that you found advertised in your local directory on a rate
of $2,000-$3,000/week. SOUND will come from a soundman (found
in the directory), with their own equipment (Recorder, Microphones & Mixer),
at $1,500-$2,000/week rate.
11. Location(s): Procure
your shooting location(s) (apartment, house, garage, store,
restaurant, etc), but be sure you get a signed release (needed
for E & O
Insurance) from the owner/tenant, on a $100 per day rate,
with some $100 bills stored in your pocket during the shoot
to “buy off” any inconveniences caused to neighbors
of the shoot’s location.
12. Direct: 1st Cast Your Actors:
During pre-production, hire a casting director ($500/day)
to get 4-6 actors to read per part. 2nd Rehearsal: have one
reading (aka: Table Reading) at the location with your cast.
Shoot: With the cameras and actors at the location select
shots in this order: first get a Master Shot, then two Medium
(Over-the-Shoulder) Shots, and then a Close-up with a couple
of Cut-aways. This is five to six shots per scene or page.
With a 3-week shoot (5-pages/day) resulting in 25-35 shots/day
schedule, that only allows 20-25 minutes/shot.
13: The Shoot: Stay
on schedule 5-pages/day (3-week shoot), 25-35 shots/day
as you stay on budget (don’t write any extra checks and don’t
run out of film) and get excellent coverage. Arrive at the
set at 6:00am shoot until 7:00pm (its dark), spend 2 hours
of wrap and planning for the next day and at least 1 hour
at late-night dailies. You will start at 6:00am and finish
each day at 10:00pm-12:00pm. This is a 16-18 hour workday.
Do this everyday for 3-weeks and you have shot your movie.
14. Edit & Post: Hire
a picture editor to give you six edits (aka: cuts) over
2 months. Then hire a sound editor (create an additional
10-20 sound tracks) over 1 month. Next, rent a post production
sound facility for a couple of days of ADR (lip syncing
and voice overs), then Foley (footsteps and clothes rustling),
procure your M&E (for foreign sales) track and contract
for your original music score. Then combine all these sound
tracks during a Re-recording session.
15. Lab & Print: You’re
almost done! Have the lab make an optical sound track, then
cut the negative to conform to your workprint’s edit
list, then color correct the cut negative and strike an answer
print with the titles, dissolves, fades and sound track included.
You’re done! You’ve made your first movie!
16. Publicity: Now
let’s
make money! One month prior to the shoot have your film listed
in the trades’ (Daily Variety & Hollywood Reporter)
film production charts. Handle the phone calls from distributors
(Acquisition Executives) who want to screen your film. Be
sure that you get action photos of your film being shot during
production and create a slick looking press kit during post-production.
17. Distributors: There are 6-7
major distributors (Warners, Paramount, Disney, etc), 6-7
mini-major distributors (Miramax, New Line, etc), 10-12 independent
distributors (Strand, Lionsgate, etc) and 15-20 foreign sale
distributors (Curb, Concorde, Troma, etc). When these 35-45
Distributors (Acquisition Executives) call to screen your
film (never give an exclusive showing) notify them at what
festival you will be premiering.
18. Festivals: Of
the 200-3,000 film festivals each year you must get your
film accepted in one of the 10-15 major (Sundance, Toronto,
Telluride, Tribeca, etc) festivals that these 35-45 Acquisition
Execs attend. Have your premiere. Hopefully the theater
sells out, with a clearly defined audience demographics,
that love the film and applauds loudly at the closing titles.
You proudly leave the auditorium and enter the theater’s lobby where,
if you’ve done proper publicity, there are at least
7-10, of the 35-45, Acquisition Executives who want to procure
distribution rights.
19. Distribution: Negotiate,
during the next 12-18 hours, with the 7-10 distributors who
want to pick up your film. Don’t be by yourself. Have
an agent, a producer’s representative or an entertainment
attorney with you. Negotiate the major 25 “deal memo” points.
Such as: How much money up front? North American or Foreign
deal? What’s the P&A (Prints and Advertising) budget?
What’s the Distribution Fee? Who’s got each of
the “Windows” (PPV, VOD, Cable, Video/DVD, etc)
and for how long? Who has each of the foreign nation (Italy,
Germany, Japan, Brazil, etc) sales? What about Profits?
20. Profits: Now
get an accountant ready to audit and an attorney ready to
sue and enforce the contract. However, prior to your accountant
and your attorney you will now have an agent (ICM, CAA,
UTA, APA, etc) who is readying you for a “3-picture deal”,
a house in Malibu, meetings with stars and a humble acceptance
speech. Along the way there will be wonderful salaries,
super and massive profits garnered from Box Office Grosses,
Foreign Sales, Video/DVD deals, Cable Sales and ancillary
revenues from music album, merchandising and licensing.
21. One Year+: It has taken 12-18
months, but you have launched your career with your first
no-budget feature film that you either wrote, produced or
directed that garnered a lot of press and publicity at a major
film festival.
You have just received a solid foundation
of filmmaking information from which you can build on
to launch a successful career. At HFI my motto is “The
most information in the shortest period of time”. Thus,
to get the full lesson and launch your career, then take one
of my three intensive film school programs.
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Kevin Smith's first film, one-location
shoot,
filmed in a convenience store.
A movie with five-locations, filmed
in a small town,
launched Steven Soderbergh's career.
3 kids, one tent, 5-acres and $150
million gross,
you can do it!
Quetin tooks 10 actors to a garage
and
demonstrated his talent...can you?
Quentin's second film, truly demonstrates
a career launched.
A stage play converted into a film,
grossed
over $250 million. What will your film do?
3-guys, 2-bikes and the independent
film movement is launched.
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