MISSION X: Self Distribution
http://www.jokeandbiagio.com/distribute-your-movie-yourself
Above is an interview with my UK friend David Baker. David is a fantastic independent filmmaker whose Mission X film is an exciting action docudrama. David has a very distinct position on filmmakers empowering themselves with their films. New distribution model? He says, “It’s right in front of your eyes!” I agree.
Here’s my response…
I think another important aspect to David’s distribution process is the aforethought given to the budget. I see filmmakers and web series creators starting off their projects by choosing insanely high budgets. First time indie filmmakers, with no experience and no money are budgeting their film projects at $100k and above! And web series creators are budgeting their projects at $30,000!! Do you think that Felicia Day of the “The Guild” started off thinking that she’d scrape up $30k to make her web series? No. But I see countless filmmakers with big budget dreams, incorrectly believing that if they increase the budget the audience will come. Not so.
David completely and thoroughly thought out his debt-to-profit ratio before shooting one frame. It is much easier to recoup your investment on an $8000 film than a $80,000 film. How did he manage his budget? Easy — he didn’t have the luxury of a fat bank account, so he relied on his resourcefulness and creativity.
People have remarked that my film, “Broken Hearts Club” looks as though it was shot for twice or 3x what I made it for. And you know what I say? I say I wish I’d shot it for half of what it cost me. And I could have done that with a little more time in pre-production.
Indie filmmakers must think about their budgets from a realistic standpoint. If you’re a no-name filmmaker and you manage to make a film for $150,000 of course you’re going to want some studio to buy it — because you’re desperate! But if you’ve made it for $15,000 and you have DVD, disc-on-demand, VOD, downloads etc available to you you’ll give the studios the finger because you don’t need them or their one-sided distribution contracts.
Great to hear from you guys on this topic. These are exactly the questions that my team and I are considering right now. There is no blueprint laid out for micro/no budget films, and that is great! It is time for us to create one that is designed to do more than just get us “found” by studio gods. A weird piece of trivia, the college degrees of the 4 creators of Self Helpless: entrepreneurship, psychology, art, music. To me, this is the ideal skill set to bring to a no-budget film project. Great art is fine, but going forward we really need to have people who understand how to run a business involved with these projects. http://www.selfhelplessmovie.com
Thanks Angelo,
Really appreciate this and 100% agree. When you start out, you have to make a film as cheaply as possible. Ok, it’s not going to show your true vision, there is going to be a lot of compromises, but the point is not really to make a global blockbuster when you start out, its simply to show you have “potential”, so its easier to work your way up.
Your not a real filmmaker if you need millions or hundreds of thousands to kick start your career. Did Chris Nolan try to show his potential for The Dark Knight by looking for millions? No, he shot a £10,000 film. Same as Rodriguez, and countless others who are big filmmakers today.
If you do kick start a career with a lot of money, other people will be all over you like a rash, and in turn you won’t get your real vision across anyway.
Film history has shown that most of the top directors self financed their first films, thats why they have a lot of control today. If you need a lot of money to start, to finance that”action movie”, your running before you can walk.
I have now left my crap day job because of Mission X. Selling this is now my day job, because makng enough to pay the rent, and it will be making a healthy profit very soon. (Probably make 100 times what it cost to make, over next few years)
It also means I have evenings, weekends for next project. Which is now attracting money because I made “Mission X” Doors are now opening that never opened before. I spent years “looking for money”. Nothing happened. I was a human metal detector!
Get the right story where you can spend as little as possible, and a story that will also show your “potential” Thats my advice.
Thanks
David