Feature filmmaking balances art and commerce. Leonard Guercio explains the business mindset that helps indie filmmakers move on to their next project.
Feature filmmaking is a communal effort which, when successful, negotiates the delicate balance between art and commerce. Since the birth of motion pictures, a veritable army was needed to bring a movie to life. We all know the scenario. A writer dreams up a movie script, a producer finds the writer’s story, then finds the money to produce the story, hires the director and they, in turn, choose the actors as well as the entire production and post-production crew. However, now with the advent of HD cinema, a moviemaker needs fewer people to realize his or her dreams in stunning images once possible only by shooting on film. A unique idea, its careful execution and a clever marketing strategy are the primary keys needed to open doors through which, in the past, only a select few could enter.
Last year, a filmmaker friend finished his fourth feature production. It was also the first feature he produced entirely in the digital domain, shot with the Panasonic AJ-HDC27 Varicam 24p camera and edited on Final Cut Pro. His three previous films were all shot in 35mm and cost one to three million dollars to produce. For this movie, he had employed a crew of 40 and had a $400,000 budget. Able to do more camera set-ups per day, he finished his movie ahead of schedule and $15,000 under budget. With successful distribution, he made a respectable profit for his investors and a small sum for himself. From that digital production experience, he learned that he could further streamline his next feature production by working with a $200,000 budget and an 8-person crew. With successful distribution, he hopes to at least double his returns and promote a business model that will be attractive to investors. His primary goals
Technology
are to continue making movies and to build a body of work from which he will enjoy future profits.
As moviemakers, most of us are primarily interested in crafting good stories. Yet earning a profit from our work is as important a consideration as creativity and technique. The trick is to create a balanced business model, one that satisfies our artistic and technical standards as well as the financial concerns of our investors. Since at least half of show business is business, adopting this balanced approach to making movies may very well get us to the next project – and that’s a good thing.
Leonard Guercio is an independent filmmaker and an adjunct film professor at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Keep learning filmmaking
Want more lessons like this? Join StudentFilmmakers free for live webinars with working pros, and stream on-demand filmmaking classes in cinematography, directing, screenwriting, sound and post.
