How to make movies With $6

How to make movies with $6 or less, the recipe:

A producing partner

Don’t leave home without it. Your first step in getting a film made is getting a friend who will do it with you. This can be a friend who is interested in doing some aspect of the work that you’re less keen on: a writer, an actor, a director.

If you want to do all those things, you can still find a co-producer who will just want to co-produce. Probably best place to find it is among the people you know. Call up your cousin Linda who never made a movie either and have fun making thousands of mistakes together. 

You could also try finding your partner in crime at a local facebook group for filmmakers. But key point is: don’t do anything else until you found that person.

If you have a partner, you won’t get stuck. You’ll keep going despite all obstacles. Without a partner, even the stupidest little thing will feel insurmountable and you’ll be throwing in the towel before you finish reading this article.

The Script

If you’re working with a script, make it under 10 pages and and have it take place in one or two locations that you have easy access to.

That said, a script isn’t necessary. You can just write the essence of the story and then let your actors improvise it. The Game of the Name, at the bottom of this page, is an example of it.

Don’t wait for the best short script ever. Please don’t be brilliant. Forget being original. Definitely don’t be a trailblazer. For sure don’t be heart-wrenching. Don’t be anything spectacular. Seriously. The effort to be brilliant is the fastest road to nowhere.

Be yourself. Have fun. This is a $6 short. You’ll make more of them. The brilliance will come from practice and experience, and from you being yourself and having fun with your producing partner.

Remember that flowers grow from poop. Go make poop. Just don’t spend more than $6 on poop.

Casting

Call on your actor friends, or turn your friends into actors – the ones you think could pull it off. If you never made a film before, I strongly recommend starting with one that has only two actors in it.

You could put a posting in Backstage or Actors Access, one of those, but if the posting costs $60 then you’re $54 dollars over budget. Let’s not get crazy. The advantage to actor friends is that you don’t need to hold auditions. (I know auditions can be fun, but they’re not fun for the actors ya’ll. They’re a lot of work.)

If you don’t have actor friends and you want to be making movies, it’s time to put that task on your to-do list. Join a local acting class or directing workshop and start getting to know these crazy people. They’re fun as hell and you want to be friends with them. They’re also likely to be keen on being your producing partner, if you write their dream roles! I’m being serious.

The schedule

Your $6 short is a one-day shoot. Pick a Saturday or Sunday. Decide who in your team is indispensable to you. This will likely be your producing partner (or your lead actor, if your producing partner is both.) Set a date that would work for both of you and etch it in stone. If anyone else can’t make that date, they get replaced. Stick to your date or it’ll become a moving target.

The CAMERA

Everybody and their mother has a camera. Borrow one, or find a shooter looking to test their camera and show it off. Or use your phone camera Why not.

Watch what Kathryn Bigelow creates using the iPhone13 Pro.

Do you need to go buy an iPhone13 before you shoot something?

Hell no.

That’s not within your $6 budget. Whatever camera phone you have can capture a riveting story!

LIGHTING & GRIP EQUIPMENT

Just kidding. If you’re making a $6 short you won’t be using grip or lighting equipment because you don’t have the budget for the parking tickets that this kind of gear seems to require. Shoot during the day. Your lighting equipment is the sun!

LOCATIONs

You don’t have to shoot in just one location on a $6 budget. You can film in your mom’s apartment, the park, the deli, whatever. Since your crew is teeny-tiny, you are mobile. Just don’t go crazy ok? Two or max three locations that are no more than a half hour apart from each other.

SETS, PROPS, COSTUMES

There was this movement of filmmakers called Dogme that insisted on creating films shot with available lighting only (no gear!) and where all props and sets had to be found objects that already exist at the location. I mean, if you’re the creative type, and obviously you are, how fun is that? If you must: then favors, barters, on-loan, whatever.

Your film should be contemporary and your actors should be grabbing stuff from their own closets, or their friends’ closets, and come to the set wearing what the character would wear cause you don’t have the budget for “holding”. (“Holding” is a space where actors can rest, eat, get changed, etc. If you wanna sound all profesh, use the word “holding” in a sentence when discussing locations and people will be super impressed. Also use the word “locations.”)

If you wanna get into it, tell your actors to bring a duffel bag with a few different choices so you can pick and choose, but ask them if they’re cool to change outfits in the car.