![]() ![]() ![]() Filmed MOS (recording picture without sound) in 16mm black and white, they were written, shot, directed, and edited by Araki. Previous No-Budget Experience: After making shorts as a film student at USC, Araki made two features Three Bewildered People in the Night and The Long Weekend o' Despair for $5,000 each. Every film requires its own unique producing approach: Sperling's piece, including advice on insurance, permits, dealing with unions and actors, provides an overview for producers mulling over the pros and cons of a no-budgetno-budget shoot. For further notes on nobudget filmmaking, we refer readers back to Andrea Sperling's article in our last issue. All three filmmakers were in the position of calling in favors or bartering something experience, future work, deferred pay, or simply the excitement of working on something out of the ordinary in return for their crew member's dedication. And Nick Gomez, one of the central figures in New York's Shooting Gallery, is a real leader in the New York lowbudget scene. Gregg Araki needed only a small crew for The Living End and had earned a reputation on the basis of his other features, making it easy for him to attract interested crew members. El Mariachi was filmed with at most a two-person crew. All three directors and their producers were able to marshal the support of cast and crews while paying little or no money. It's important to note that the budgets accompanying this article list cash expenses only and don't include deferments. They have been willing, to share their secrets hoping they will enable other filmmakers to make features with small change. The striking diversity of these three features shows that resourcefulness and resolve can produce miraculous results in many different genres and styles.Īraki, Gomez, and Rodriguez have generously agreed to let Filmmaker publish their budgets, and have been very candid in their explanations of their nobudget methods. They each had experience making something for nothing and were convinced that they could do it on a larger scale. As young filmmakers (Rodriguez was 23, Gomez was 28, and Araki was 29) with limited experience and no commercial track records, none of them had easy access to major sources of financing, but they didn't let that stop them. They had all made films before (Rodriguez and Gomez had made shorts Araki had directed shorts and features). Instead of spending years raising money from film companies, nonprofit sources, and dentists, each of these filmmakers decided to make a film utilizing the limited resources they could easily and quickly put together. El Mariachi's entire budget might not cover a week's location fees for an average Hollywood feature. The successes of Laws of Gravity, The Living End, and El Mariachi within a nine-month period prove irrefutably that terrific features can still be made for next to nothing. ![]() There have been notable examples of no-budget features during the past fifteen years (including Return of the Secaucus Seven, Chan is Missing, and She's Gotta Have It, but they were seen as lucky exceptions to the rule that feature filmmaking requires hundreds of thousands of dollars. Made for a fraction of the cost of many resume shorts (which can cost upwards of $100,000), these full length features achieved greater festival play and much wider distribution than most successful shorts while effectively showcasing their directors' talents. The Living End ($22,769) was a third feature that boosted Gregg Araki to a new level of prominence and opportunity. ![]() Laws of Gravity ($38,000) and El Mariachi ($7,225) were first features that launched the careers of Nick Gomez and Robert Rodriguez spectacularly. With ample supplies of creativity, ingenuity, and determination (and miniscule amounts of cash), these writersdirectors were able to complete outstanding features that achieved festival success, critical acclaim, and national distribution. In 1992, three young filmmakers proved that exceptional features can be made for less than the cost of a mediocre short. (First appeared in Filmmaker Magazine, Winter 1992/93) Peter Broderick goes below the line with today's guerilla filmmakers ![]()
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