How to Make a Low-Budget Film

A New Video Series with Filmmaker Travis Mills

In Episode 1, I talk about the strategy of writing what you know when developing a script for a low or microbudget movie.

For a Skype session to learn more about how to make low-budget films, please email me at travismills@runningwildfilms.com

If you’re making a microbudget film, there’s a good chance you’re writing the movie yourself. And getting a full-length script finished is sometimes the hardest part. So where do you start? The old saying goes, “Write what you know?” right? Well how about this, write what you have!

What I mean is look around you. Maybe your uncle has a cool classic car or your best friend owns a business that could be a unique location. What could happen there? Or start with people. Pick an interesting person in your life and write a movie that surrounds them, their personality. And then you probably should cast them to be in it!

When I wrote our movie Porches and Private Eyes, I thought about all the places I could film at in Brookhaven, Mississippi, and THEN I wrote the script.

Think about what you have and use that to start your script!