Planning a low budget feature movie
Low Budget in Hollywood usually means a film is made for around £500,000 - £750,000. That's not the sort of 'low budget' figure I would use when I talk about making low budget feature films. I'm talking £10,000 - £30,000. Still a lot of money to an average person. I don't know many people with £30K just sat in their bank ready to be used on a high risk low reward feature film. That being said, however, it's still something that I intend to do. I need to raise £30K - £50K+ in order to make a super low budget feature film that I've written. I'm not talking about Tell No Tales which is now completed - that one really would come in at around £500K. I've written another smaller movie that involves only three main roles and two smaller roles. The crew would be minimal and most of the film is set inside a caravan, in the middle of nowhere.
The idea of the film is to make it good enough for festival entry and enjoyable enough to get more work from it. Maybe even forge a career from this as well. Unfortunately, I do feel that the bar has been raised for the indy filmmaker. Yes there are more avenues to take when distributing content, like YouTube and Vimeo but this also means the competition increases. Thus making a break through in the industry that much harder. This is a whole subject I could talk forever on so I'll swiftly move on. This movie, currently titled 'What Divides Us' takes place during one day. It is intercut with a few flashbacks inside a normal looking house. This is all to keep the budget at an all time low. The image below should give you some kind of rough idea of mood and atmosphere I want to capture in my film.
A reference image from the feature film What Divides Us to give a feel of the tone and atmosphere that I want to create in the film
The premise is as follows:
Hiding out in a caravan in a remote location, Zoe, an outdoors adventurist, has to protect her pregnant girlfriend, Laura, from a fatal plague that’s eradicated the country’s population. Using her existing knowledge of survival and living off the land, she follows strict rules to keep them alive. Kill what you catch. Ration what you have and don’t get greedy. Distance yourself from others.
With their relationship already waning from the strains of survival, it’s then exacerbated when two infected strangers discover their location, turning their isolated safe-haven into a nightmare.
I have written both a simple and detailed treatment for the film. I'm currently getting feedback on this first, before I begin the writing process. Once enough people have seen it and liked it, then I'll get cracking on a 80-90 page script. More on this as I know more...
Over and out.
