If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in a few weeks – it’s been a very busy start to the year! Earlier this month I produced some content for a major network (hopefully I’ll be able to share more here in the future…) and within days of wrapping, I started working on a feature film. Now that we have our first week of footage, we’re still two weeks away from shooting. I’ll definitely be posting more about our process when it’s over, but while I have a few days off I wanted to give you a little background on the project –
As many of you know, it has been a long-standing goal of mine to make a feature film. Over the past few years I have shot a number of short films, mood films, and other small projects as a means of trying out ideas and experimenting with new techniques that might be beneficial in later making a full feature film. While I’ve been itching to direct a feature film for some time, deciding which project to pursue and at what scale to pursue it was the hard part. I had a lot of ideas, treatments, and scripts, but I realized that even the most feasible of them would require at least a year of fundraising and development before they could be produced.
A few months ago, a casual conversation over lunch with my wife, Jen, turned into a development meeting as we began exploring the idea of a narrative feature film that could be fully executed within our own resources. In other words, the goal was to create a project that could be written, shot, and edited on a shoestring budget (so that it could be entirely self-funded), while still delivering an incredibly powerful and important story.
Before any basic concepts or premises were written, we were committed to a few rules that would ultimately help guide the creative and logistical process of making the film. The first rule is to only write about scenes, sets, or characters that we know we can achieve that fact without spending a lot of money. In other words, there are no explosions or car chases. We also knew we had to keep the story primarily focused on two characters and write in a location that was visually beautiful while also allowing us to capture them with minimal crew and gear.
It’s surprising how much these limitations can enhance the creative process. Knowing what we cannot write about makes it clearer what we can write about. Within a day we had a complete story outline and two weeks later the first draft of the script was completed. That was less than two months ago, and it’s almost unbelievable to think that we’re already in production!
It’s not uncommon to spend months or even years developing a script…in fact, most of the time that’s all it takes to really hammer out the best script possible. That said, this particular project relied heavily on spontaneity in every aspect – especially in terms of acting and music, so writing the script in a similarly improvised manner actually worked best for the story.
That said, writing the script quickly was just one of the reasons we were able to get into production so quickly…
Ultimately, it was our initial decision to keep things small that made this happen. Every aspect of the story, characters, locations, and other key creative decisions was crafted to be executed as easily as possible. Even with our small staff…all this adds up to less time spent on logistics and more time on creativity.
I often advise filmmakers to create projects for themselves based on the resources they have. If you have the opportunity to own a car, a property, an actor, whatever it is – I always recommend writing a story around those elements. Unless you have a large budget and the freedom to spend whatever you want, writing a script based on your resources will automatically help you succeed.
It’s one thing if you’re just writing a script to spec with the hope of later producing/funding it in a more traditional way. But if you want to go out and actually direct something now, you need to live within your means. Personally, while I certainly hope to raise funds for larger projects in the near future, what’s most important to me right now is directing some fresh, exciting content that can be put out into the world this year.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from being successful in the film industry, it’s that you need to create as much high-quality work for yourself as possible. Not every project will succeed, and when you put too much pressure on a project (usually by delaying it for a long period of time), you may fail. On a truly independent level, some of the best films are spontaneous, and any project that takes too long will eventually run out of steam altogether. For me personally, recognizing these is a big reason why this feature exists…
When we finish production and my time is freed up again, I’ll be sure to follow up with a detailed post about the entire process. I’ll cover writing/development, casting, staffing, gear (hint: URSA Mini and Sigma cinema lenses), and more. I have a lot of great content coming to you soon, so be sure to check back as soon as I start rolling it out!
Also, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter Stay tuned for more updates as things develop!
Looking forward to sharing more with you soon, I’ll provide you with some screenshots of the project so far:
