Conventional filmmaking is slow and expensive and requires permission. You are always looking for money, appealing to investors, appeasing funding bodies, running crowdfunding campaigns. You just want to make films but it seems like an endless waiting game.

We have been there. Pitches that go nowhere. Years in development hell. Money poured into chasing money that never comes. So we got tired of waiting and asking for permission. We slashed our production costs, focused on micro-budget filmmaking, and gave ourselves the greenlight to make the films we want in a matter of months from concept to wrap.

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What people are saying about this course: 

This is a really informative course. It's obvious that the teachers have a lot of passion behind what they do and a ton experience. I look forward to making my next film with some of the tips and ideas shared here in the course. - Laura Swartz

This a great course. It has very practical advise for indie filmmakers, and a step by step process to make a micro-budget feature in a few months. I'm going to apply it to my first feature. - Jared Evans

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Machination is our fifth feature film shot in the last four years. We had the initial idea for the film during the lockdown in April, 2020, and spent a few days at the end of the month writing the first draft outline. May was spent redrafting and refining the outline. In June we approached cast and planned shots – a period that was a mix of development and pre-pre production. One month of official pre-production and rehearsal began in July. Finally, in August, we went into a 10-day production period and wrapped principal photography.

This planning was all done between outside work commitments and between shoots on other productions. That makes Machination a feature film completed from first draft to wrap in four months, mostly part-time, during an uncertain time in the world where many productions shut down completely. And the budget was only $8500. And we still paid everyone.