IMDB is a wonderful website. It's invaluable. But they don't only
list feature
films. They list TV episodes (actually series, but with listings for each
episode). And they list short films. One minute. Two minutes. Ten
minutes. Twenty minutes in length. I'm discussing feature films.
If you include everything, of all lengths, designed for any and all mediums,
than yes, your number isn't some wild ass guess with no basis in fact. It's
still a guess but it's closer to reality. If you're talking about
actual feature
length films made with at least the hope of a theatrical release, then your
number is way way way off.
Even if we accept the IMDB number as being accurate, and double it for
the rest of the year, it's only half the number you first gave and only an
eighth of the number you later increased it to. But, of course, we can't
really accept the IMDB number because it isn't only feature films. And
while this film you give as an example might be feature length -- I'll take
your word for it, since what's on YouTube is just 10 minutes long -- it's also
apparently soft-core porn, which can be made very very cheaply. The
acting, from the couple minutes I watched, is hardly top quality; the lighting
and camera work also leaves a good deal to be desired. For a Troma
direct-to-DVD, it's fine, but it isn't theatrical quality. And I'm guessing I
must have missed the parts that qualify it as being much better than what
comes out of the studios.
Oh, and if you want to throw credits back and forth, I've worked on major
studio films and independent films. I've been a guest speaker at film
festivals and distribution markets in the US, the UK, France, Italy, and the
Screen Producers Association of Australia (an organization of independent
film producers) just asked me to come speak at their conference in
November. (I've even been on panels with Lloyd Kaufman.)
I've worked with George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, Jim Henson, Tom
Hanks, John Boorman, Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Ken Russell,
Anthony Shaffer, Robin Hardy, Richard Lester, Richard Donner, Howard
Gottfried, Danny Melnick, Frank Oz, Frank Marshall,
Luigi Cingolani, John
Carpenter,
Oliver Stone, Ed Pressman, etc. etc. etc.
So I do know what I'm talking about.
Craig.
At 08:42 PM 7/22/2008, Robert D. Brooks wrote:
So, if $20 million is a 'low budget,' this is what I did with about
1/8th of 1% of that amount (meaning I would have to make this movie
almost 1,000 times - just to have a budget high enough to be
considered 'low')... Although, I'll warn anyone that dares
click: NSFW (it is a Troma-film after all, so don't come crying to
me if...)! ;o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTMoKB9Zk0E
Cheers,
Bob
PS. Note to Craig: You may just notice a couple names in the
credits there: one is currently the chairman of the Independent Film
and TV Alliance and the other is the head of the oldest independent
film studio in existence, so while I may not have your 30 years in
the business (only about 20 here), understand that I do know what
I'm talking about! And, just to prove I'm right:
http://www.imdb.com/List?year=2008
You'll notice that there are about 12,000 movies listed there - just
from the last 6 months (and they only list a fraction of all the
movies made - very few student films, foreign films,
ultra-low-budget films, etc...). I guess I should be expecting an apology?...
----- Original Message ----- From: Craig Miller
To: Robert D. Brooks
Cc: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:20 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Can a major director shoot an "epic" on a low budget?
You're missing the point. You're wrong about the number of movies made.
Your numbers all seem to be wild guesses and you haven't specified if
you're talking about feature length films or including all lengths
and formats.
I can only believe you're doing the latter because your numbers are just
way, way off for the former. (And what makes you think each film festival
gets applications for a completely different group of films? Sundance
requires it hasn't been shown anywhere else before them but most
festivals have no such rule. And they don't say films can't play other
festivals after them.)
Please don't insult us by suggesting that only you are so smart as to know
about films not made by the Hollywood studios or that we don't know about
low budget films. I assure you, that isn't the case.
And if you think the super low budget filmmakers all make wonderful
movies, you clearly haven't seen a significant enough percentage of them.
A large percentage of the indies are godawful. As are the majority of
studio pictures. But they don't suddenly become good because they're
made with low low budgets.
I've been in this business over 30 years now and I've worked with and seen
pictures at all different budget levels. The budget -- high or low
-- isn't what
makes them good.
Craig.
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