Werner Herzog once said that the best advice he can give to young filmmakers is not to wait for someone to finance your film – “If you can’t afford to make a million-dollar film, raise $10,000 and produce it yourself.”

Planning a low budget film is no picnic. You have the advantage of artistic freedom, but as a film producer, there are going to be a lot of problems to deal with.

so here is the trick:

On the one hand, the producer’s job is to produce the director’s vision, but he also needs to keep the budget low. You have to remember that the chances that a low budget film will become a hit are not too big (even though we all know about small budget movies like Clerks, Reservoir Dogs, and much more that made it big).

but…

The odds that the film will be screened at festivals are not bad at all. I’m going to give you a few proven low budget film tips that will help you lower your budget tremendously.

Planning ahead

The first step into saving money is planning. Do a script breakdown once you get the final draft of the script. That is the only way you can understand what the film’s needs are. The breakdown will give you a clear picture of how much money you need to make the film. I’m not going to get into script breakdowns, but I will say that it is a very useful tool for any producer. Once you have the script breakdown, look at the budget and try to cut down on costs. You can do that by cutting down on locations, actors, props, and other things.

For example: If your film takes place in New York City – don’t shoot it in NYC! There are many beautiful cities in the US that are cheaper than New York and still look great on screen.

You can also use existing locations if possible (like your house or a friend’s house). This is always a good way to save money because you won’t have to rent anything

Look at what you got

An excellent way to start is to see what you have. Do that before you decide what film to make. If you own a big house, use that! Did you get a cool car? Make a movie with that car. If it’s talented friends, use them. Take a good look at the unique things you have and own and use them to help you decide what’s your next movie is going to be like and about.

Save money with locations

A good location is the base of every good film. You shouldn’t compromise with it. Still, sometimes it’s better to lower the expenses that come with the location so you can save money that will help you put up a better lighting or more days of shooting.

Here are a few tips to help you lower the location’s expenses:

• Try to use as minimum locations as possible – Yes, it may require you to rewrite the script, but if you’ll stay in one location and work with a small team and relatively simple equipment, You can speed up your shootings with up to eight pages of script on one day of shooting.
• Try to shoot as much as possible in houses –That way, each room can be its location, so you do not have to spend the time to move the whole team around. If you are using different locations in different places, make sure that it will be easy to move from one location to another.
• Shoot in small rooms – If you are shooting in small rooms, it is possible to use smaller flashlights. and you are going to have to use a smaller film crew
• Use every location as much as possible – Try to find locations that have the potential to be a few different locations. Sometimes every corner of a room can be a different location.

Pro Tip:

Do not be embarrassed to ask friends and family to shoot at their houses, but be honest with them about what you are going to do at home.

Tell them how long the shooting is going to last.

Save money with the right cast 

• Avoid the roles of one or two sentences. – Think about it- the cashier at the entrance to the theatre that says, “What do you want to see?” That part can cost you much more than if the role would be played without any words. Now, go over the script again to see if there are characters that aren’t contributing anything to the script.
• Investing wisely production team – A good team is critical, and you should not compromise with them. Try to get a team that will work in return for gaining experience and try to take a professional team for complicated days. The roles you should try to find an experienced crew are a producer, cinematographer, lighting director, sound editor, and assistant director.

Basically, the bigger the budget, the more experienced team you should have. Remember! An experienced crew can save you money. That the more your team is experienced, the easier it will be to move around locations, which should also be taken into consideration. You should also reduce the amount of staff as much as possible and give each member several other roles. It also lowers the production budget and speeds up the shootings.

Pro Tip:

If you are getting the cast in return for food and experience, they should not spend money on anything such as travel. All your crew gets for the work is this meal and a copy of the film when ready. Also, if people are working for you for free, don’t shoot over 10 hours a day.

The right way of payment is by giving the members some percentage of the profits of the film. In this case, there is no need to pay for staff expenses, and the working conditions are like regular freelancers. It is vital to be clear right from the start about the working conditions and terms of payment.

Think about the budget when choosing actors, but…

Do not use incompetent people as your actors. I’m talking about friends, family and so on. The actors are a very important part of the success of the movie, and it is worth investing there. There are many good actors in the industry, even celebrities that will agree to act for free or at a very low salary.

Just remember! There are plenty of actors who had put all their money in drama schools and then went out to find that there is not much work. Make the most of it. You can find actors in community theatres, drama schools, etc. Advertise in those places, and write in the ads all the necessary information such as gender, age, and type of special features role, etc.

Save money with the right crew

In low-budget film productions, the film producer becomes a form of multimedia. To meet this mission, he needs people to help him with the job. I want to review a number of key film crew members in every film production that work directly with the film producer. They are very important even in a low budget film! As a film producer, you’ll need to work well together with them, and they’ll need to understand and support your goals and all of the others. Full cooperation can lead to higher results than expected, so these are the key film crew members that the film producer needs to insist on having to make the director’s vision come to life.

The film Executive Producer

In Practical, the producer breaks the script with an economic eye and apply the changes needed if there is not enough money.  The producer should sit down with the writer and figure out together how to preserve the spirit of the scene with less money. Remember! The screenwriter spent a lot of effort and time writing the script, so be gentle with him. Once the script is ready, the producer should obtain copyright on it.

Production Manager

The Production Manager is responsible for the logistics of all production. He needs to know every detail of the production. Because of this, he needs to have the phones and the details of all the staff. Next to each name on his list should be comments like when you should call, who to ask, what was the last call, and all decisions or agreements that have been reached with them. Production managers are often required to plan the budget. Sometimes this demand will be even before the script was completely finished, and it can be annoying. The production manager is also responsible for getting contracts with posts production offices like editing rooms, sound, music, and so on. While still in pre-production (we’ll talk about this stage later, but it’s basically the period before filming).

Watch this video published by the University of Derby to hear some tips about the work of the Production Manager.