Hi, I have a budget of $5 mil to write and direct my first movie.

I'd like atleast one well known actor or actress to star in it but I don't know if I can afford them or if they would even want to star in a low budget movie. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

This message has been edited. Last edited by: deathx45,

famous actors can be found in many films produced for far less money than that. I think the key is having a good script that appeals to the actor. People always want to be a part of a good thing, and if your script is good, people will want to be a part of your film.

if you don't mind me asking...How on earth did you secure $5000000? that is pretty big as far as low budget goes.

If you've secured $5m for a feature and don't know how to use the money I feel very very bad for your investors.

Is this a hypothetical question? Perhaps we are talking about something other than US currency?

I don't mean to be skeptical, but in a previous post you mentioned that you don't have a portfolio and have not gone to film school yet. Which really makes this kind of shady. Also a production house that would be in a position to fund you with $5mil would most likely have a producer attached to the show that would handle your finances and such?

Anyway, to secure more famous actors, usually the production house that provides the funding for a project will contact the agents of whatever actors and actresses to see if there is any possible interest in the production.

Here's an idea. Give me all five million dollars. I'll make you a movie and take care of everything.

No problems on this end, other than will it be cash or check?

You sound alittle farfetched. How did you get the $5 million? I'm skeptical at this post because the casting director would handle the actors and a producer would handle the money. And I'm sure with $5 million you would have a crew soooo...

I never went to filmschool and I have never made a film before. I am funding my first film with my own money.

I concidered going to filmschool first, but decided I was getting old, so I want to start making films now.

Any advice on making a film with this budget and how to get the movie into cinemas and on dvd?

Thanks

Yes I have some advice.... first make some films with a budget of .001% of 5 million (ie $5,000) and get some experience.... or you're going to flush that 5 million down the toilet.

How do you make a small fortune in the film industry? You start with a large one.

If you were really smart, you'd find a young, good director and produce his project. If you trust in the director, you might get back way more than you can imagine. In simplest terms, you'd be a producer.

Other than that, Chris is right. Start low ($5,000 is great) and practice. You could make yourself a lot of money.

Your question however is a vague one. A student website isn't the best type to go searching for answers about huge budget productions.

Try craigslist. haha

Death, your post seems arrogant to me. A constant theme on this site is the stuggle of the student (dedicated, talented, hardworking, ambitious, BROKE) filmmaker to get funding for projects. And then you breeze in with millions of dollars AND NOT A CLUE WHAT TO DO?? Frankly, I'm wondering what you might make under those circumstances that I'd ever want to watch, and what major actor/actress would trust someone so confused about basic issues like money management with their careers...You do appreciate, too, that you're seeking advice about managing millions of dollars from high school students? It is very odd.

You know if deathx is referring to a different kind of currency we all would probably look like idiots... For example 5mil Korean dollars are worth slightly less than 5,000 US dollars

But then again, even $5,000 is still probably a very foolish amount to spend on your first film. Theres too many things that you can only learn by repeated trial and error. (or more accurately trial and failure) Filmmaking is tough.

I'm thinking of the scene in This is Spinal Tap where the Stonehenge-stage design is plotted in inches, not feet...

The guy's name is "death" and he can't spell the word "concidered" correctly... either this is a teen pulling some sort of a lie for the sake of getting answers to his questions... or it's a really naive rich person who genuinely has no idea what to do but has an interest and wants help :-D

Now the hard part is choosing which one to believe he is!

Hopefully that didn't come off as too rude, lol.

Thanks to the people who gave advice.

I'll probably give most of my money to a talented young director to make a movie and use the rest to direct my own low budget films.

Hey, deathx45, sounds good.

Good luck!

quote:

You know if deathx is referring to a different kind of currency we all would probably look like idiots... For example 5mil Korean dollars are worth slightly less than 5,000 US dollars

Or 5 million Zimbabwean Dollers... HAHAHHAHAHAHH

You realize if you were to have $5,000,000 it would pretty much be a waste to spend it on anything considering the fact that you could just have it sit in a bank and pump out enough cash flow in interest to make you more money than you would know what to do with.

(Even a 6% interest would imply $300,000 of income annually)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: braininabox,

quote:

I'll probably give most of my money to a talented young director

I'm your man!

Mr Sf.com Chris is right. dont blow all your money in one place cause thats a good amount of money you could use on MANY various projects. Famous actors dont want to be in the film, in fact they couldnt if they wanted to cause they are really robots who have fixed agendas. usualyl their schedules are planned ahead 2-3 years, and its all ****.

find local talent. use your mom or your best friend. I am very interested in those sort of people....most people arnt cause theyve never been given the screen time...give them the screen time and soon you'll have your famous talent you thoguht you had to pay a lot of money for!

I've seen a LOT more skeptical things on this site than someone with a $5m budget. I don't believe his post is arrogant at all.

I think that this fellow may be getting up there in age, has worked a totally different career in another industry and has garnered enough extra cash that he wants to try a different avenue of making money.

If so, good on him or her. I think that death is looking for some advice on what to do with his money and Chris gave him some sound advice at that. In regards to his questions about securing a recognizable name - that shouldn't be a problem providing your script is good.

There's a movie that just wrapped principal photography a couple days ago, called Corrado and they secured more than one recognizable name with a $300k US budget.

There are tons of elements that have to be considered and surely, making your first movie with $5m seems a little crazy to most of us but hopefully death uses a mere fraction of that and moves up from there. Certainly sounds like he or she has enough resources to rent equipment or buy equipment as they see fit.

Death, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me and I'll see if I can help you out.

-Kegan