4 Ways Professional Producers Save Money When Making Movies

My first opportunity to produce was actually a bit of an accident. I was still pursuing my childhood dream of acting, and I wanted to audition for the rare opportunity to be in a feature film in Cincinnati, OH (starring one of my childhood heroes-- Wonder Woman, no less.) At that time, it was like a unicorn opportunity, so I offered to volunteer my time in the production office leading up to auditions.

Little did I know that this would be the beginning of the end of my acting career and the start of my true career path of producing. In my time in the office, I quickly observed the producers struggle with raising money, and my first thought was, “why don’t you look at ways to cut the budget so you don’t have to raise as much.”

So that sounds logical, right? But how? Well, I hadn’t gone to film school, and I had actually never worked on a real film set, let alone in a production office, so I, quite frankly, didn’t know any better way than to just start figuring things out and thinking outside the box.

I started brainstorming ways to save money, win-win partnerships, and leverage what we did have (Lynda Carter, the excitement of a big movie coming to a small city, etc.), and before we knew it, we were saving tens of thousands of dollars at a time. Not only that but what we did not realize at the time is that through this approach, we were also building fans and supporters of the film, which translated to even more savings as the film got into production and post.

It became very quickly clear that win-win is the key. What do you have to give that is of value that you can offer in exchange for goods, services, or cash that allow you to reduce your cash budget? Think marketing, experiences, credits, etc.

While making a film for less is often the result of having limited funds or the ability to only raise a small amount, I also urge filmmakers to embrace the concept that even if you have the money, the more money you can save, the less money you owe investors and the greater chance you can give them their money back. This keeps investors happy and wanting to continue to invest in your future films. Talk about a true win-win!

Below are 4 things we did to save money by thinking outside the box. Be sure to stick around to the end if you want 96 more!

1.) Frequent Flyer Miles

There were tons of people in the local community that wanted to see our film happen but did not have the financial resources to invest. Many of these individuals do travel a lot for business, and so we began asking local business owners and frequent flyers if they would like to donate airline miles to sponsor an actor or two, and in exchange, we would give them credit as travel sponsors in the film credits. On our first films, we did not pay for a single airline ticket (except for an actor who “missed his flight" …an entirely different story for another blog), which translated into tens of thousands in savings.

2.) Hotel Rooms for the Cast and Crew

On our first film, we had one hotel donate all the rooms. They were willing because there would be famous actors staying there. We also developed an entire package of marketing perks ranging from invitations to the star gala, titled as the official lodging partner of the film, premier tickets, etc.

Some other things I’ve done with success are if you can’t find one hotel willing to do them all, get several in the area to each donate a few and become collective lodging sponsors (since a few rooms aren’t as big of a deal and easier for some to donate). Or we’ve also gone to non-traditional lodging sources like conference centers, camps, colleges, and even back houses and guest houses of private residents for in-kind.

3.) Transportation

It is hard to get rental car companies to donate cars since it is such a loss of revenue, but we found success in getting local car dealerships to donate 6-8 cars (used that they have in inventory), and then usually between those we have enough to alternate between the out of town crew and the rotating actors, so they have the ability to explore the area, get around and meet union requirements while saving production money. They get credit and marketing perks, and they are enabling the cast/crew to get out and about in the area, which leads to economic development and tourism, which they can boast they helped facilitate locally.

4.) Catering

We got all of the catering donated on our first film since we were shooting in a local community. We asked a company to donate, say 3 meals a week, and we rotated the restaurants to fill our 4 weeks of shooting. You can get donations from more casual places like pizza, subs, and tacos for your 3rd meal and then alternate the restaurant donation for the main meal each day. For breakfasts, we had local organizations sponsor breakfast. So we had everything from their Rotary and Lions clubs to local neighborhoods that all got together to have members bring a dish or donation, and they were literally some of the best on-set breakfasts our crew said they had ever had. One neighborhood had a blender and stuff to make smoothies, tons of breakfast casseroles, continental breakfast items, etc.

Now while it saved us a lot on our first film, I have chosen not to do this for all meals since. Why? You need one person to coordinate this... it is more work than you would think. Why? Your delivery times change based on shifting call times based on the day before’s wrap. You need to ensure every restaurant doesn’t decide to feed the crew BBQ Pulled Pork because it is a local staple (our poor crew). Restaurants are not used to “lunch” being at 1am. You get the idea.

So there you have four ways to save money. Would you like 96 more? You can download the entire list for free HERE.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

For more of Sara Elizabeth's incredible knowledge on getting the money you need to make your film, check out this webinar. 

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