The Best Micro Budget Film Ever

Advice for newcomers -

I have spent almost 20 years distributing the challenging and interesting British & Irish films that no other company wanted to take on.  So many of these were made by emerging filmmakers and on micro budgets. Many of these filmmakers do fall into the easy trap, that I too have been tripped up by, and that is copying other films that have worked. This can be a sound move but it is unlikely to ever stand out. The goal for ever new filmmaker is delivering something that is good and original.

The best British micro budget ever made, in my opinion, is Christopher Nolan's FOLLOWING.

FOLLOWING is to some degree like other films but for me it was unique and different from everything the year it came to market. Most of us who saw it predicted great things for its young director.

This minor masterpiece was shot over a series of Saturday’s with only enough stock for two takes. The director broke many of the rules – black & white, only 70 minutes long, shooting on film with just a budget of £2,000 (with $83,000 of finishing funding from Peter Broaderick but he did not know that when shooting) yet apparently when Patrick Wachsberger of Summit saw it he said I don’t care whatever that directors next film is I will finance it. This might be an urban myth but that's the reaction every new filmmaker should aim for. Don't not let yourself settle for anything less.


That next film was MEMENTO.

I had wanted the distributing right's to Nolan's film but it was that good so did many other UK distributors, extremely unusual in a first film. FOLLOWING took £36,000 from just one print in the UK ( I felt it should have been released on far more given the fantastic reviews). Interestingly in the film Christopher Nolan has a shot of a door with a Batman sticker on it. I have often wondered if that was accident or design.

For Nolan’s last installment of the Batman trilogy he must have had a budget of at least $250 million for production and more for marketing/distribution. It just shows that if you make an impressive first film you are set up for life !

I have distributed around 50 British & Irish micro budget feature films and seen, at least 500 more since 1998, and the one overriding mistake the vast majority of new filmmakers make, is that there films are just not as good as they could be. Far, far too many of them are rushed into production before the screenplay is right.

I learnt myself the very hard way that you just cannot resolve weaknesses in the script and story during production. I do know how long development takes and, and if you are like me in the past, you will be in great need of that producing/ directing/ writing etc pay cheque but rushing into production before a screenplay is ready will almost certainly cause long term damage to that persons ongoing career, as it has done with many of the filmmakers who made films I have distributed.  Once the film is released it is of course far too late to change anything.

As I have said many times, for so many filmmakers the hardest film to get off the ground is their second one.

New filmmakers have to be absolutely honest with themselves. Compare that film with lots of other successful micro budget films and see if stands up. Be really honest with yourself. You can kid others but don't be so very stupid as to kid yourself.


Compare your script to FOLLOWING. Is it as good ?

Really ?

Only you will know.