Show Don't Tell: Micro-Budget Filmmaking

In this episode, I’m joined by writer / director Kenny Riches to talk about his fourth feature film, Mouse, a micro budget slow burn thriller he wrote, directed, edited, and stars in alongside his real-life mother.Set in 2007 Salt Lake City, Mouse follows Denny, a lonesome petty thief who signs up for a pen pal service and gets catfished. The film won the Grand Chameleon Award and Best Narrative Feature at the Brooklyn Film Festival, Best U.S. Narrative Film at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and is now rolling out theatrically.Kenny’s career is a great case study in why micro budget filmmaking isn’t just a stepping stone.His 2015 feature The Strongest Man got into Sundance as a blind submission (mailed in on DVD), premiering in the NEXT section alongside Sean Baker’s Tangerine. That led to signing with UTA and the classic water bottle tour. Instead of chasing studio comedies, he kept writing and directing his own work, including A Name Without a Place, and eventually Mouse, which he shot over 25 nights and weekends spread across several months.We get into what it’s like to act for the first time in your own film, why editing yourself can feel like cutting a stranger, how a weak dialogue scene became one of the film’s best moments once he replaced it with a single overcranked shot, and why he thinks prep is the single biggest factor in a smooth edit. We also talk about finding the balance between hands-on authorship and true collaboration, and Kenny shares his definition of a great director.Topics covered include:Casting his real mom (a first-time actor) opposite himselfWhy non-actors can sometimes be easier to direct than semi-experienced actorsGetting into Sundance with a blind DVD submissionPremiering alongside Sean Baker’s Tangerine and what he learned from SeanThe real economics of a $30K film that hit $65K by the end of SundanceWhat actually happens after Sundance: UTA, general meetings, and the water bottle tourWhy he turned down director-for-hire comedies to keep writing and directingHow an art background shapes his do-everything approach to filmmakingBuilding false walls to turn a craftsman kitchen into a galley kitchenWriting Mouse during the pandemic after producers wanted to wait for a bigger budgetReplacing a dialogue scene with a single overcranked, wordless shotMuch More!Links from the show:Mouse / Dear DennyDualistKenny Riches on InstagramThe Mouse Trilogy on InstagramThe Davey FoundationSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined once again by filmmaker Joe Burke, whose micro-budget feature Burt was shot in seven days for $7,000 with a three-person crew. When Joe was last on the show, Burt was just premiering at Cinequest.Since then, the film has gone on a remarkable run that most indie filmmakers dream of. But before finding all of its success, the film had a tough year. Including 28 festival rejections back to back, despite David Gordon Green coming on as executive producer. Joe talks candidly about this experience and how close he came to walking away from the industry.Ultimately though, the tide turned for Burt after premiering at Cinequest, and winning awards at Phoenix Film Festival, and the Florida Film Festival. Joe then landed an LA Times feature, booked revenue-share runs at independent theaters across the country, and ended with four sold-out screenings at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.Topics covered include:Making Burt in 7 days for $7,000 with a three-person crewGetting David Gordon Green on board as executive producer28 festival rejections over 14 months, and what kept Joe goingHow the mid-tier festival landscape has changedWinning at Cinequest, Phoenix Film Festival, and Florida Film FestivalPitching critic Katie Walsh and landing an LA Times featureRenting the Fine Arts Theatre and selling out a self-booked premiereBooking 50/50 revenue-share runs with independent theaters nationwideGetting 25 festival fee waivers by leveraging wins in follow-up emailsOpening night at Anchorage and four sold-out screenings at Palm SpringsSelf-distributing through Filmhub and owning the film outrightWhy Joe left TV directing, his reps, and the DGA path behindMuch More!Links from the show:Burt - Official WebsiteJoe Burke on InstagramSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined by Jesse Korman, director of Yellow Eyes, the possession horror feature now streaming on Screambox. Jesse has produced over 30 films, directed a long list of music videos, and fronts the band The Number Twelve Looks Like You.Yellow Eyes is his feature directorial debut, made as part of Joe Swanberg's five-film horror slate shot back to back in Chicago, all on the same budget.Jesse got the offer right before leaving on tour, which left him about six weeks to build a script from scratch with writer Mickey Solis (often over the phone between soundchecks) and get to set.Instead of writing first and budgeting later, they reverse engineered the story from the money and the schedule: one location, minimal cast, and spending concentrated on the moments that would really land on screen. The result was a 12-day shoot that never fell behind schedule.Throughout the episode we dig into the prep that made that possible, from shot listing and timing every scene with his DP to pre-rigging the entire house so every room was camera ready the moment they walked in. Topics covered include:How Jesse landed a spot on Joe Swanberg's five-film Chicago horror slateWriting and prepping a feature in six weeks while on tourWhy a crew rolling from one film to the next becomes a well-oiled machineLetting the budget and schedule dictate the script, not the other way aroundShot listing and timing every scene to never fall behindPre-rigging a single location so every room is always litLighting through windows and a last-minute day-for-night pivotWhy a two-person art department moves faster than a 50-person crewWhat a $10M set taught him about wasted time and moneyCasting non-SAG actors and why the union label doesn't matter to audiencesLanding distribution through Cineverse and ScreamboxWhat Joe Swanberg told him on the last night of the shootMuch More!Links from the show:Watch Yellow Eyes on ScreamboxJesse Korman on InstagramThe Number Twelve Looks Like You on InstagramSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined by filmmaker Joe Burke, back on the show to talk about his micro-budget feature Burt.Over the past year, Burt won Best Comedy Feature at Cinequest, Best Picture and Best Ensemble at Phoenix, was the opening night film at Anchorage, and landed a slot at Palm Springs International.It also got a full feature in the LA Times, was taken on a year-long theatrical tour, and is now being self distributed.Burt was shot in seven days for $7,000 with a three person crew, in black and white, no stars, built around a real street musician with Parkinson's. It was finished at the end of 2023 and then rejected by 28 festivals over roughly 14 months, including places where David Gordon Green, the film's executive producer, personally emailed on its behalf and got nothing back.Throughout the episode, Joe is candid about how close he came to leaving LA, and about the moment he stopped waiting on gatekeepers and went around them - ultimately finding success on his own terms.Topics covered include:Making a black and white feature in seven days for $7,000 with a three person crew28 rejections in 14 months, and what that does to youWhy an executive producer like David Gordon Green still guarantees nothingRenting a 400-seat theater instead of taking a festival slotHow the LA Times story came together, and what it unlockedCold emailing theaters for 50/50 rev share with zero upfront costCustom trailers, posters, and flyers cut for each individual venue50 waiver emails, 25 yeses, and why follow-up is the whole gameWhat the run actually returned: audience and credibility, not repsGetting into the DGA, then leaving his agent and manager at 30Owning the film forever instead of selling itMuch More!Links from the show:Burt - Official SiteJoe Burke on InstagramJoe Burke - Official SiteSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined by filmmaker Pete Ohs for his third appearance, and there's a lot to catch up on. Since we last spoke, Pete made Erupcja, a feature starring Charli XCX that he shot in Warsaw with no script, a crew of three, and the same Canon 5D Mark III running a Magic Lantern raw hack he's used on every film in his process.The film premiered at TIFF, in a year where he also had The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick at SXSW and Obex, which he co-wrote, shot, and edited with Albert Birney, at Sundance.Throughout the episode Pete tells the full story of meeting Charli at 3am in a Lower East Side bar with Jeremy O. Harris just before Brat came out, and how the project survived Brat summer to shoot three months later, right before her world tour.We get into why he pitches actors an experience rather than an idea, how his "don't care" philosophy kept the stakes low even with a global pop star on board, why he finally signed with a manager, and how he wrote his first script in years using the exact same process: two weeks in a friend's backyard, three scenes a day, all in the Notes app.Topics covered include:Meeting Charli XCX at 3am with Jeremy O. Harris, weeks before BratPitching actors an experience instead of a scriptShooting every film on the same 5D Mark III with a Magic Lantern raw hackWhy "don't care" is baked into his process, even with a pop star on setHaving three films on the festival circuit at the same timeSpotting the carrot on a string and not chasing false opportunitiesWhy he signed with a manager now and not years agoWriting a feature in two weeks, three scenes a day, in the Notes appThe simple math behind his 70 to 80 minute featuresEveryone should make movies, but not everyone needs to see themBeing honest with yourself when your film isn't getting into festivalsWorking through the top ten festival deadlines and letting sales agents handle the restIntuition as a director's most important skill, and how to train it dailyHis new Patreon as a virtual DVD special features hubMuch More!Links from the show:Pete Ohs on InstagramPete Ohs on PatreonSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined by four-time Grammy nominee Grace Potter to talk about her new record Trespasser, the microfilm series she built alongside it, and the long road back to the film career she walked away from at nineteen.Grace left film school to become a rock star, signed to Disney in 2005, and wrote the song that closes Tangled, but she never stopped writing screenplays or thinking like a filmmaker. Her way back in started with a music video she wrote and directed herself, and she's been shooting ever since.Throughout the interview we get into her guerrilla approach to production, why she's trespassed on more locations than she can count, and what Mick Jagger taught her about instinct you have to earn.Topics covered include:Leaving film school to become a rock starSigning with Disney and writing the song that ends TangledHow songwriting and screenwriting use the same muscleWhy the first idea is usually the right oneDirecting her first music video, and the broken rib that followedGuerrilla shooting, trespassing on locations, and working fast Trusting the goosebumps as your creative compassThe Viper Room pitch that launched her film careerWhat Mick Jagger's silver jacket says about preparation and instinctAuditioning actors instead of musicians to build her bandWhy she chose microfilms over another music videoMuch More!Links from the show:Grace Potter - WebsiteGrace Potter - Album & Micro Series LinksSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined by Legion M co-founders Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan to talk about the new Green Day comedy Nimrods, hitting theaters August 14, and how the world's first fan-owned entertainment company ended up behind it and Coyote vs. Acme after three years on the shelf.Jeff and Paul break down a model that doesn't exist anywhere else in Hollywood. Over 60,000 people now co-own Legion M, with an average investment of $500 and a minimum of $100, and they've raised roughly $30 to $35 million across the studio, individual films, and their new film fund. As Jeff puts it, their entire existence has cost less than the first ten minutes of a Marvel movie. Along the way they financed the William Shatner documentary in four days with two emails, produced My Dead Friend Zoe with Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, and co-released Fackham Hall with Bleecker Street.We also get into the business realities most filmmakers never learn: why the group of people green-lighting projects narrows every year, and why your movie ultimately boils down to its trailer, title, and key art. Paul walks through the New Year's Rev to Nimrods title change, and tells the story of pitching Green Day on a Comic-Con panel only to be told that punk rock bands don't do panels, which is how Billie Joe Armstrong ended up performing from the roof of an ice cream truck while the band threw ice cream at the crowd.Topics covered include:How a fan-owned studio works, and why it has advantagesGetting to 60,000 investors one at a time, and the goal of reaching one millionThe three ways to invest: the studio, individual films, and the film fundHow Legion M polls its community to decide which projects to pursueThe community response that pushed them toward Coyote vs. AcmeJeff's contrarian take on David Zaslav and the shelving decisionWhy they went after Nimrods and Obsession out of TIFF, and what happenedThe title change and the marketing balancing act around a Green Day audienceThe Comic-Con activation with Billie Joe Armstrong and the ice cream truckWhy distribution should be the first thing a filmmaker thinks about, not the lastJeff and Paul's definitions of a great directorLinks from the show:Legion M - WebsiteSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined by writer, director, and bestselling comics author Michael Moreci, whose reentry into filmmaking came in the form of Revealer, a single-location horror film set in a 1980s Chicago peep show booth. He wrote the film in about ten days and it later premiered on Shudder.Since then he's co-written and co-directed the heist comedy Holiday Hold-Up, written on Syfy's Revival, and continued a long career in comics on series like Barbaric and Dick Tracy.Throughout the episode we get into the discipline that lets you write a feature in ten days, why he thinks directing is mostly pre-production and post, how the crew community at Flyover Studios in Illinois has become the lifeblood of everything he makes, and the hard lesson that the second film is harder to get made than the first.Topics covered include:Writing Revealer in ten days and more or less shooting the first draftWhy a thorough outline is what actually lets you write fastWearing the writer hat and the director hat, and why you can't wear both at onceSplitting one narrative feature between four directors, one per characterClarity of vision as the thing that makes every on-set decision easyHow an abandoned Air Force base became Flyover StudiosBuilding a crew community that stays, grows, and moves laterallyWhat writing for a cable series taught him about what he doesn't wantWhy comics training makes you fast, economical, and better at editingSomehow holding the Dick Tracy comic rights, and the value of just askingAll of this and much more on today's show!Links from the show:Michael Moreci on InstagramTessellation official siteRevealer on ShudderFlyover Film StudiosBarbaric from Vault ComicsSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this solo episode I break down the process of writing a musical score for the first time on my upcoming short film Crow.Topics covered include:Why the advice to "specialize in one area" was never right for meEditing the entire rough cut with zero music in 10 to 20 second chunksLocking in sound design before any temp score so music never becomes a crutchScoring all five cues out of order, starting with the final cue and working backwardsWhere the process stands now: rough guitar demos down, next up is re-recordingMuch more!Big thanks to Soundstripe for executive producing the film and sponsoring this episode.Check out their new Soundstripe LIVE tool at soundstripe.com/noamSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday

In this episode, I'm joined by filmmaker and re-recording mixer Mark Hensley to talk about his micro-budget feature Clown and Out in Valley Village, which he shot guerrilla style over the course of a year with no crew, a cast of two, and a total budget of around $4,000 (half of which went to a single permit).Mark shares how he found the script through a Facebook writing group, cut a 200-page draft down to something shootable, and built a workflow around editing each scene the night it was shot so he and his actors could review the footage and reshoot anything that wasn't working.We also dive deep into his remarkable background in sound, from recording music at the Record Plant in Sausalito to mixing major network TV shows in LA, and the practical audio techniques every indie filmmaker should steal from his playbook.Topics covered include:Why shooting slowly over a year with no crew is a creative advantageOperating as a one man band with the S1H, an RS3 Pro gimbal, and lavs into cameraWhy no single plugin fixes bad dialogue, and rescuing scenes with tools like DX ReviveHaving actors re-run scenes as audio-only safety takes to patch dropouts in postWhen emotional production sound beats technically perfect ADRShooting guerrilla style in LA, and why a boom mic is the one giveaway to avoidKnowing your coverage in advance instead of shooting every scene wide-medium-closeRenting vs. buying gear, and why becoming a filmmaker means owning a cameraWhy anybody can become a filmmaker, even starting at 55 with zero experienceSign up for my newsletter for exclusive filmmaking insight each Sunday