One of the biggest Australian movies ever is a comedy called THE CASTLE. It was made for $400,000 and when they were putting together the budget they said "We can shoot for 11 days with good catering, or 14 days with bad catering..." And they chose the eleven days with good catering. The movie looks cheap but it ended up being a massive success. Granted, the people who made it were already coming of several iconic TV successes. So they had the talent to back it up.
I saw that movie after an Australian friend recommended it to me. I only got about halfway, the Australian humor was not my cup of tea. I would say in relation to this video, know the audience you are making a movie for. (I am not bashing the movie, it just wasn't made for my American style).
I believe that story and writing matters WAY more than having a big budget film. You can literally create a short-film in 1 or 2 locations max, but if you write a good story with actors that can help convey the message, your job is done & production value comes later.. We don’t need to rely on big studios anymore, instead we should invest in marketing & upload our own films online
Another thing to think about is having pre sales beforehand. It not always, but does help with the budget along with the tax rebate. From what I’ve learned is distribution & marketing is key and something like that alone costs $$$$$
8:00 Speaking to the point of A listers and what they will do, you never had television and movie crossover really until the 2000s when television content started to get bigger budgets and felt more like long form movies (True Detective comes to mind).
@@bighands69 Disagree, the second season of True Detective is actually quite good, the only problem is that people wanted a continuation of season 1. And this has been the problem of many a series and franchise that was never meant to keep going, but audiences wouldn't give anything new a chance.
I wonder if short films with $20K+ budgets and over 15 cast and crew have a better success rate of being selected at festivals than " One Man Bands " with a budget of $2K. If they do, then the industry only encourages film makers with access to money... There are so many great story tellers out there that will never have their short film seen due to lack of money
And that’s why as a filmmaker you have to be able to save money and hustle. If you want something done, you have to breakdown the full amount and work towards it. If you say you can’t get a film done because of lack of funding, you don’t deserve to make a film.
Our thought is that a $2k movie that is 5 to 7 minutes long has a much greater chance of getting into a film festival than a $20k+ budget short film that is 20 minutes long. But beyond that we say the audience doesn’t care about budget they just want a good movie. You are much more likely to find success and viewership online then you will at film festivals. There are countless short films that have been made with very little money, never screened at any film festivals and have been seen millions of times online.
@@filmcourage that's very true. After reading your comment, it woke me up and made me realize it has actually become a lot easier to get your film seen today than it was 18 years ago.
Absolutely. There are many positives that film festivals offer such as screening your movie in a theater in front of an audience (which in some cases is cheaper than renting the theater on your own), press opportunities, and meeting others in the industry.
I agree with people being paid. I live in Perth Australia and except for the governing body we have no studio and no investors to speak off so most of the indie films are unpaid or extremely low budget
Here is the trick… if they haven't seen your movie, tell them you made your movie for a million dollars. If they have seen your movie, tell them you made it for $50000. If they haven't seen your movie, you can at least give off the impression that you're dealing with big numbers. If they have Seen your movie and it sucks, then the low budget explains why it sucked. If they have seen it and it was great, the low budget impresses them. You now are a talented filmmaker
@filmcourage Do you have a video or can you discuss with experts if aspiring to be in mainstream cinema is worth our time and effort as a career path. Are you able to explore this in the future if not already done so.
@Film Courage what is some advice you could give someone who's trying to write they're own scripted series for television. How could one go about getting distributions deals or even an agent. And does the same rules apply as far as budget goes for television?
Lol that sounds like me when I told a director I want to make my first movie for $500,000.00 and have him be my director. Right now I'm currently a preschool teacher and we all know teachers don't get paid enough. So the director said. "Wow, where are you going to find all that money for? And I said. I'm going to save like there's no tomorrow.😂
@@bighands69 That's true. I will make my first movie for $3,000.00. I wish I could make it for half a million, but I don't have it like that yet. This is my favorite story so I really did want to make this movie for a lot of money I even wanted to have music playing in it but I can't because I will have to pay each song writer $15,000.00 to use there song in my movie. And remember this will be my first movie and with my first I don't have money like that yet.
In today's cinema Story comes last. There's no talent for great writing today. It's all about basic broad strokes to please the lowest common person who will pay to see it. This is why existing IPs are adapted and ruined when the studios writers rework it and do their own thing with the script. Cost of actors ruins any production too. The more popular a show is the more money they want resulting in the show being cancelled due to higher production costs. Special effects should be of a given high quality yet this where the emphasis is made. No body gets points for great CGI. They are Only criticized for bad CGI. Cinema and TV shows are doomed. There's no good films and TV or even video games today because the quality is so poor and costs/ expected box office value is so high. Then there's serendipity. Without serendipity everything fails.
Most actors pay is only a fraction of the movie cost. Company politics and distribution politics make the movies not creative affairs. Large studio products tend to be made by committees.
^ I don't think he meant to slam voice actors as much as make the statement that A listers are still charging their money to record lines in a sound booth. I honestly think this was a very good rant, up until the part where he endorsed the B list. Most indies have less than 40 thousand to spend on movies- Following and El Marachi were made at a micro-budget level.
Not anymore. The industry has been ruined and most people simply do not even know those legends exist anymore. I could not even tell you want their latest movies are.
I am spending many Sequels The Jainy Bond 007 with zero money budget,this is just my plays, my games, my hobbies*** This zero budget money for filming The Jainy Bond is very possible using many free apps combinations****
Star Wars didn't have a-listers, with the exception of Alec Guinness and he wasn't a blockbuster actor. Same with Lord of the Rings, that movie, like Star Wars, took nobodies and made them stars.
He did not hint of cutting craft services. He specifically said if you had a $500k movie and got an additional $50k would you spend it on a fancy caterer or invest it into the movie. Obviously a $500k film is going to have craft services already.
Listen, for somebody that loves animation, you learn to appreciate good voice acting, because it's a skill like any other aspect of acting. Not everybody can voice act.
That's not what he's saying. He's saying that audiences go to movies to see a-list actors. Even in animated movies they want to see/hear a-list actors, despite not being able to see their face. Which is how you get something like Chris Pratt playing animated Mario despite there being tons of better voice actors for that role.
Most definitely, guys got movies he did as a kid, Indies, cult classics (Donnie Darko) and he's a bad guy in a Spider-Man movie. Plus he's star of several successful movies over 20 yrs! Whew...so yeah...I think he's an A lister 😆
Jake Gyllenhaal is a fantastic actor that would be very hard to get hold of and unless you are throwing silly money at him he will be unattainable for most productions. There are no true A grad movie stars today as most of them live in a sort of semi retired state and there has been no new ones in 15 years.
Jeff is a wealth of knowledge. I'd love to see more interviews with him.
Our first interview with Jeff went 4 hours, haha. It is a business masterclass - ruclips.net/video/UlklxslDxgk/видео.html
@@filmcourage And I've seen and shared some bits of that interview. Keep them coming!
One of the biggest Australian movies ever is a comedy called THE CASTLE. It was made for $400,000 and when they were putting together the budget they said "We can shoot for 11 days with good catering, or 14 days with bad catering..." And they chose the eleven days with good catering.
The movie looks cheap but it ended up being a massive success. Granted, the people who made it were already coming of several iconic TV successes. So they had the talent to back it up.
straight to the pool room for this comment.
I saw that movie after an Australian friend recommended it to me. I only got about halfway, the Australian humor was not my cup of tea. I would say in relation to this video, know the audience you are making a movie for. (I am not bashing the movie, it just wasn't made for my American style).
cyan10101 Out of interest, what was it in the Australian style of humor that didn’t work for you? Also, what would you say is the American style?
@@user-vw6xp5nl6t I think it was the dry deadpan kind of jokes. American humor for the most part seems more overt.
@@ceno10101 Miramax famously paid $6 million for it out of Sundance. I imagine they were hoping it would be the next FULL MONTY.
I believe that story and writing matters WAY more than having a big budget film. You can literally create a short-film in 1 or 2 locations max, but if you write a good story with actors that can help convey the message, your job is done & production value comes later.. We don’t need to rely on big studios anymore, instead we should invest in marketing & upload our own films online
Especially since the technology to produce good quality image cost only a fraction of what it used to.
@@cineffect well, film is expensive.
@@Woodsaras True, but almost nobody is shooting film anymore, digital image produced great quality nowadays.
@@cineffect you cant look so amazing with digital as you do with film
@@Woodsaras yes you can, most movies are shot digital nowadays
ohh,....I love this man...No hiding...just held the truth by the throat...Thank you Jeff and more of Jeff on Film Courage
Another thing to think about is having pre sales beforehand. It not always, but does help with the budget along with the tax rebate. From what I’ve learned is distribution & marketing is key and something like that alone costs $$$$$
Have you ever lied about your film's budget?
No but I've been pretty fortunate to not have to spend much so far
my first movie was just 5 thousand dollar and we get a deal with the major label in Brazil, (the producers from city of god, 4 oscar nominated).
We make high-end CGI shorts for little to no budget, and wear that shit like a badge of honor
No because the AFM and festivals like he mentioned has enough folks lying to each other about budgets.
8:00 Speaking to the point of A listers and what they will do, you never had television and movie crossover really until the 2000s when television content started to get bigger budgets and felt more like long form movies (True Detective comes to mind).
But there are very few series out there like True Detective not even the second season is near to the level of season one.
@@bighands69 Disagree, the second season of True Detective is actually quite good, the only problem is that people wanted a continuation of season 1. And this has been the problem of many a series and franchise that was never meant to keep going, but audiences wouldn't give anything new a chance.
@@NelsonStJames
The second season is not as good as the first season on every level.
I wonder if short films with $20K+ budgets and over 15 cast and crew have a better success rate of being selected at festivals than " One Man Bands " with a budget of $2K. If they do, then the industry only encourages film makers with access to money... There are so many great story tellers out there that will never have their short film seen due to lack of money
And that’s why as a filmmaker you have to be able to save money and hustle. If you want something done, you have to breakdown the full amount and work towards it. If you say you can’t get a film done because of lack of funding, you don’t deserve to make a film.
Our thought is that a $2k movie that is 5 to 7 minutes long has a much greater chance of getting into a film festival than a $20k+ budget short film that is 20 minutes long.
But beyond that we say the audience doesn’t care about budget they just want a good movie. You are much more likely to find success and viewership online then you will at film festivals. There are countless short films that have been made with very little money, never screened at any film festivals and have been seen millions of times online.
@@filmcourage that's very true. After reading your comment, it woke me up and made me realize it has actually become a lot easier to get your film seen today than it was 18 years ago.
@@filmcourage So, should Film Festivals still be a thing in the film industry?
Absolutely. There are many positives that film festivals offer such as screening your movie in a theater in front of an audience (which in some cases is cheaper than renting the theater on your own), press opportunities, and meeting others in the industry.
Fascinating. Thank you for uploading!
I agree with people being paid. I live in Perth Australia and except for the governing body we have no studio and no investors to speak off so most of the indie films are unpaid or extremely low budget
Here is the trick… if they haven't seen your movie, tell them you made your movie for a million dollars. If they have seen your movie, tell them you made it for $50000. If they haven't seen your movie, you can at least give off the impression that you're dealing with big numbers. If they have Seen your movie and it sucks, then the low budget explains why it sucked. If they have seen it and it was great, the low budget impresses them. You now are a talented filmmaker
@filmcourage Do you have a video or can you discuss with experts if aspiring to be in mainstream cinema is worth our time and effort as a career path.
Are you able to explore this in the future if not already done so.
@Film Courage what is some advice you could give someone who's trying to write they're own scripted series for television. How could one go about getting distributions deals or even an agent. And does the same rules apply as far as budget goes for television?
Hi James, you may find a lot of gems and inspiration in this interview - ruclips.net/video/jbEdmpRSb1M/видео.html
@@filmcourage thank you
Lol that sounds like me when I told a director I want to make my first movie for $500,000.00 and have him be my director. Right now I'm currently a preschool teacher and we all know teachers don't get paid enough. So the director said. "Wow, where are you going to find all that money for? And I said. I'm going to save like there's no tomorrow.😂
I would suggest you get lots of experience of making $5000 movies first so that you understand what you want to do and do not want do.
NEVER. PUT YOUR OWN MONEY. IN THE SHOW!
@@bighands69 That's true. I will make my first movie for $3,000.00. I wish I could make it for half a million, but I don't have it like that yet. This is my favorite story so I really did want to make this movie for a lot of money I even wanted to have music playing in it but I can't because I will have to pay each song writer $15,000.00 to use there song in my movie. And remember this will be my first movie and with my first I don't have money like that yet.
$250 and $500 - Budgets of my first two films. Dollars… not thousands. 😊
Sounds like me 🤣
Very good... One.. 👌👌👌👌
One producer made his first movie for $1,000.00 and the quality looked great and the movie was good. He then made his second movie for $5,000.00
And studios lie about movie receipts.
In today's cinema Story comes last. There's no talent for great writing today. It's all about basic broad strokes to please the lowest common person who will pay to see it. This is why existing IPs are adapted and ruined when the studios writers rework it and do their own thing with the script. Cost of actors ruins any production too. The more popular a show is the more money they want resulting in the show being cancelled due to higher production costs. Special effects should be of a given high quality yet this where the emphasis is made. No body gets points for great CGI. They are Only criticized for bad CGI. Cinema and TV shows are doomed. There's no good films and TV or even video games today because the quality is so poor and costs/ expected box office value is so high. Then there's serendipity. Without serendipity everything fails.
Most actors pay is only a fraction of the movie cost. Company politics and distribution politics make the movies not creative affairs. Large studio products tend to be made by committees.
^ I don't think he meant to slam voice actors as much as make the statement that A listers are still charging their money to record lines in a sound booth. I honestly think this was a very good rant, up until the part where he endorsed the B list. Most indies have less than 40 thousand to spend on movies- Following and El Marachi were made at a micro-budget level.
Interesting..
talking about Bruce Willis & Mickey Rourke and how their presence in a movie might help it.
Not anymore. The industry has been ruined and most people simply do not even know those legends exist anymore. I could not even tell you want their latest movies are.
Cool
Yes Amen***
Justice League had a budget of $300 million. JG Suicide Squad was half that... Case closed
as a Bangladeshi when i listen to this 50,000 doller at bd 8 lakh taka... that's so odd in this country..
I am spending many Sequels The Jainy Bond 007 with zero money budget,this is just my plays, my games, my hobbies*** This zero budget money for filming The Jainy Bond is very possible using many free apps combinations****
Star Wars didn't have a-listers, with the exception of Alec Guinness and he wasn't a blockbuster actor. Same with Lord of the Rings, that movie, like Star Wars, took nobodies and made them stars.
interesting
Is Charlie Hunnam an A lister yet?
the reZources
I think that this is a bad time for any opinion that even HINTS at cutting craft services for getting a scene or a shot or a location.
Would you please expand on that opinion? What makes it a bad time?
He did not hint of cutting craft services. He specifically said if you had a $500k movie and got an additional $50k would you spend it on a fancy caterer or invest it into the movie. Obviously a $500k film is going to have craft services already.
Sorry but at the end of the day it is all about the movie. It is the only thing an audience cares about.
Wow, like to know what B list actor is commanding $50k a day? lol. I could see $50k for a week, or even for the whole shoot, but a day?
I agree. I think he made a mistake. Thats £1m for a 20 day shoot. That sounds a lot.
7:20 Damn.. throwing shade at voice acting like it's a joke because they can't see their face that it must somehow be less of a performance. sad
Listen, for somebody that loves animation, you learn to appreciate good voice acting, because it's a skill like any other aspect of acting. Not everybody can voice act.
That's not what he's saying. He's saying that audiences go to movies to see a-list actors. Even in animated movies they want to see/hear a-list actors, despite not being able to see their face. Which is how you get something like Chris Pratt playing animated Mario despite there being tons of better voice actors for that role.
Is a guy like Jake Gyllenhaal a-list? probably not but most people will recognize him.
Most definitely, guys got movies he did as a kid, Indies, cult classics (Donnie Darko) and he's a bad guy in a Spider-Man movie. Plus he's star of several successful movies over 20 yrs! Whew...so yeah...I think he's an A lister 😆
He is A- or B probably
Jake Gyllenhaal is a fantastic actor that would be very hard to get hold of and unless you are throwing silly money at him he will be unattainable for most productions.
There are no true A grad movie stars today as most of them live in a sort of semi retired state and there has been no new ones in 15 years.
Careful deployment... ummm somebody hire this guy to defend earth.
Duh