Filmmaking / Directing

Jason Lives could be considered a Slasher Horror with Fantasy elements too, Dwayne Williams.

Yeah, I immediately think of sci-fi mixed with psychological horror—something about the unknown and mind-bending fear hits hard. Sam Sokolow , what do you think? What’s the scariest genre combo in your opinion?

Maurice Vaughan I’m leaning more toward a fantasy world with a slasher element, but I’m curious—do you think a cyberpunk theme can portray horror as effectively as older settings? The mix of neon-lit dystopia, body mods, and AI-driven nightmares feels like it could create a unique kind of fear.

Oh yeah, Dwayne Williams. Psychological Horror is really scary too. Yeah, I think a Cyberpunk theme can portray Horror as effectively as older settings. I think a Cyberpunk dystopia and things like body mods look creepy.

Dwayne Williams I love genre bending in projects because when it’s done with intention, it can elevate horror by adding emotional layers, unexpected turns, or deeper philosophical stakes. A well-blended psychological or sci-fi element can make a horror story feel more grounded or even more disturbing. That said, if the mix isn’t cohesive, it can definitely dilute the tension. For me, it all comes down to how well the elements serve the core fear.

Dan MaxXx Good question. It depends... Traditionally, every budget would have line-items for those specific jobs, right? Now if it's an IA/Union pic, of course that individual would be compensated for ea. job that they do via the dedicated guild/union and would cover at least the minimums which could be negotiated. Think of Steven Soderbergh or even Sean Baker - especially now. They don't get scale wages. BUT, if you're working on an Indie that's non-IA, I would presume you have the line items built in for the jobs as well, and you should be compensated for ea. in line with the budget. I'll share an exert from my book What You Don't Learn in Film School below describing how I dealt with that in my early days of getting private equity, when forced to wear way too many hats, as its a great often asked. I hope this clarifies for you...

From Chapter 4 ~ GREEN MEANS GO. YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?

What should I pay myself? This is a question I am often asked by independent filmmakers once they get their money and my reply is always the same; you really need to consider what is right versus what is fair and lean toward what is right. I can assure you the investors will be wondering what you’ll be making as a salary and if and when they ask, you better be straight with them.

Some investors take the approach of, “I am investing in you, so you better put every dime on the screen and not be lining your pockets,” or they can take the approach of, “I don’t care if you keep all of it and spend one dollar to make the movie, as long as I get my money back.” For me, it’s paramount to put everything on the screen as we’re working in low-budgetville and want our end product to look as good as it possibly can. There is no one size fits all when figuring out how much money should go to what. I am addressing your fee now, as it will most likely become an issue with your investor and ultimately your team when negotiating their salary or the costs allocated to their departments. This will only keep you up at night as you toss and turn wondering if you’re in the right or not.

PARAGRAPH OMITTED FOR POST

If you’re a complete filmmaker, meaning your hand is in the writing, producing, directing and possibly the editing of your picture, I think considering you landed the money and will be working on this project for several months, maybe you can be a bit more liberal in determining a fee for yourself. In the ‘real world’ it’s not uncommon for someone to take a 2-5% finder fee on money they raise to make a movie, on top of the hefty producer fees and such that come with bigger budgeted films. But since we’re making a non-union movie, you’ll save a lot in those areas. However, always keep in mind there will be many costs that come up unexpectedly (sounds fun, right?), so regardless of what you’re paying yourself, it’ll be on you to cover those costs when they surface.

For example, copying scripts for table reads, the costs of printing sides each day, gas for your PA’s and the unexpected bill from your starlet who needed a second $120 manicure or an unnecessary spray tan on her off day adds up - and at record speed - so I advise you to always underpay yourself up front. Get through the complete delivery of your film and see what’s left when all is said and done…then and only then assess if there’s a finishing bonus you can pay yourself if appropriate. Have an upfront conversation with your investors letting them know what rates are fair for the jobs you’ll be doing and what you’ll be budgeting for yourself. They should be understanding, considering you won’t be out earning a real living while doing this and you shouldn’t go broke in the process.

In the end, I truly believe it’s really how you present things. I’ve had investors or their legal reps ask me what my fees would be. On a $500k movie I have had no problem looking them in the eye and telling them what I was getting paid. Only once I was met with a cocked brow questioning my self-imposed value and I replied with confidence, “WGA minimums for just the script in this budget range hover around $48k. I wrote the script which I’ll be producing and directing, too. I’ll also be supervising the editorial or cutting the picture myself, as well as every other aspect leading up to the film’s delivery. This will take close to a year out of my life. I am not getting paid the going rates for all the responsibilities I will have nor will I be taking on any other projects of any magnitude or substance until we deliver this film on time and on budget.”

I never heard another word about my rate from that day forward.

First , thank you Stage 32 for putting this webinar on. Secondly, thank you Shane Stanley for leading it. If one ever wished to sit down and spend an hour and a half of being mentored by a hugely successful writer, director, and filmmaker, THiS was it! Not only did we learn key elements and fundamentals, but left with a deeper desire and confidence within ourselves. Mr. Stanley met us where we were and talked to us, no ego or talking at us. I look forward to more webinars from him in the future. If you haven’t purchased his book, What You Don’t Learn in Film School, run don’t walk for it holds keys he talked about plus more. Shane Stanley is the real deal. Continued success and we all will dream that bigger dream now.

Welcome, Elle! So great to have you here! Your energy and passion for filmmaking are amazing, and it sounds like you're building something really special in the Eastern Cape. Love that you’re polishing up your Stage 32 profile—can’t wait to see more of your work! If you ever need anything, I’m on the education team and happy to help email me at edu@stage32.com !

Linda Harrison wow, thank you so much for that kind and thoughtful comments. They truly are why I do what I do. Wishing you the very best in your career and endeavors. Best of luck!

This is such a fantastic and timely post, Shane. It’s incredibly validating to watch someone like Sean Baker break down those perceptions in such a powerful way. Your point about using pseudonyms on IMDb is really interesting. I didn't realize there had been such a push for that.

Toni D'Antonio Careful in using the word "attached". I have a detailed post regarding that word. Sounds like you've put in the work with your package, but if you're presenting to investors, make sure you have a film financing business plan (not a pitch deck as they are 2 very different things). If you don't have one and/or updated budgets/schedules, email me at productionbudgets@yahoo.com for info and rates. Best of luck...

Vic Alexander $5 million budget? Is that based on an accurate budget or a guess? Pitching a script to investors or producers you'll need an accurate budget and more. Email me at productionbudgets@yahoo.com for my info and rates if interested.

Thank you so much Patrick. Understood. Anyone who I mention who is attached is under contract or has signed an LOI that gives me express permission to use their name and likeness.. And for all our projects, we have Pitch Decks, Finance Plans, and Budgets but I'd be curious to check out your services and consulting, so I'll email you. :) Thanks again.

As a beginner screenwriter I'm always thinking of few locations/actors and focusing more on the narrative. It's nice getting the perspective of someone who's experienced in the field though.

Patrick McIntire, thank you for sharing your insight. It’s eye-opening (and honestly a little wild) to hear how bloated some of these studio budgets can get, especially when there are incredible indie films being made for a fraction of the cost with just as much, if not more, emotional impact. The shift toward smarter, more intentional filmmaking is encouraging, especially for indie creators who are focusing on quality storytelling.

I remember seeing a video where Francis Ford Coppola showed his binder for The Godfather, Lindbergh E Hollingsworth. It was THICK! I think it'd be easier having separate binders. One for production, one for the script, etc. I use separate computer folders for my scripts. One for the outline/research, one for pictures, one for the script, one for the rewrite, etc.

I have a couple of different ways I do that.

The first is when I'm still developing a project and that goes into the development folder, that contains the project name and under that folder there are various things like screenplay development, pitching material, art, etc.

When a project goes from the development stage to the production page it's moved to one of the production company folders, where there are folders for each year and then project folders and these projects contain folders for different things like budgeting, production and various documents like shot lists, call sheets, shooting schedules, etc.

Then once the production starts there are some new folders for material that's shot, etc.

I also keep a couple of spreadsheets for each production company of important information, like lists of people we work with, actors, contact information, etc.

All of this is set up on a storage system that's backed up and available across different networks so that everyone involved who needs to access stuff can do so and even the post production database is held there so that many different people can do work on a project at the same time.

I set up the system about 8 years ago when we started doing projects and it seems to be a good system since we haven't had any problems yet.

There's also a communication CRM web interface running on the server that we use to communicate and plan stuff. Which makes it easier.

Right now there's about 64 TB of stuff on the server, granted most of the bulk is the raw project files and masters of projects. The development and preproduction files don't take up much space.

It helps that I used to do IT before I got into filmmaking. :)

That's a fantastic system, Vital Butinar! "All of this is set up on a storage system that's backed up and available across different networks so that everyone involved who needs to access stuff can do so and even the post production database is held there so that many different people can do work on a project at the same time." I'm sure that saves you and your team time, money, and headaches.

Maurice Vaughan it does and it's set up in a way that I'm never worried that something might go missing (I seem to have severe data hording syndrome), but at the same time sometimes it seems over elaborate and if I wasn't working with another production company who also uses this system it would probably not be worth it.

The data storage system uses a lot of power, thankfully it is hosted at the production company's office and with fiber being what it is these days, you can hardly tell the difference between something on your workstation and on the storage system.

But I think organization of the information is really important and if it's consistent it makes a lot of difference in saving time when doing something new.

Maurice Vaughan I’m a big fan of keeping organized folders, both digital and hard copy, for just about everything. Back in college, I relied heavily on physical binders for all my production documents. These days, I’ve shifted mostly to digital, and I really appreciate the convenience of accessing my Google Drive folders from any device. It makes collaborating and staying organized so much easier, especially across multiple projects.

Bravo! This looks incredible! While collaboration is important, knowing how to take charge of your production and wear many hats is likewise a huge advantage!

Thank you to everyone who attended today!! How was it for all?

I was not able to attend, yesterday. How do I watch it, today?

Margo Stutts Toombs I believe it is a 48hr turn around. So it should be available tomorrow.

Hello! Will be uploaded by EOD today! Any questions email edu@stage32.com :)

ALWAYS!! SO ON POINT Maurice... thanks for sharing!!

You're welcome, Sherri ZImmerman. That's beautiful. Did you make it?

Maurice Vaughan the problem is not the gig work, it's actually fine, the problem is that film stuff doesn't happen frequently enough. :D

I think he's right, I've known for a long time (since about high school) that it's extremely difficult to make money as an artist in any medium, and so you have to seriously consider a backup career or at least a day job, which is also why so many artists eventually sell out.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh I would tend to agree with you, but in the other hand it's also wrong because art is kind of what makes a civilization worth existing if you think about it. It's literally all around us, maybe not everything is great but then again nothing is.

Well I'm fortunate to live with an artist that hasn't sold out yet she still sells a lot of her sculptures and is able to make a living. It might take some time in between but she needs time to create in between. Interesting is art a business or is business something that happens parallel to art. :)

Vital Butinar oh 100%, we as humans need art in order to survive. It's just unfortunately kind of a paradox when it comes to making business out of art; you can be an absolute genius and everyone loves your work but for one reason or another, you're not making money. On the other hand, you can create slop that everyone hates but it gets you money.

I think it's safe to say none of us like this but that's just reality. Art kinda gets the short end of the stick a lot of times even though it's incredibly important.

You are fortunate and I'm glad she's doing well, and hope she continues to flourish. I think art and business are two separate things but not mutually exclusive; it just happens that not everyone can have a happy union of both and we all want to be the ones who do.

Banafsheh Esmailzadeh oh you put that really nicely and I agree. It's really interesting how in most businesses if people like what you make then you're successful on many levels, one of which is financial. But not with art, like you said and it's funny because I know a camera tech that we work with, that makes a lot of money working on creative projects but hasn't got a creative bone in his body.

Anyway for myself I honestly don't care, as long as I get to live normally pay the bills and do what I love doing that's enough for me. But getting there is a bigger problem. Well at least we got rid of rent now, even though my car just turned 25 years old. I asked I cop a couple of years back when it turned 21 if it could drink alcohol now. :)

You're right, Jack Binder. It's great news for independent filmmakers and indie films. Anora winning big at the Oscars helped its theater run, and I'm sure it helped the movie on streaming too. I just looked up its budget and box office numbers. The budget is $6MM, and the worldwide box office is $46,203,400. That's huge for an indie film with that budget!

The commitment to theatrical is real and contagious, Jack Binder. More and more theater owners are committing screens to indies as well. Get ready for the self-distribution revolution with a completely different economic paradigm. I believe that will be next on the menu.

This is great news for indie filmmakers - and the great news keeps on coming (even FLOW was the first indie animated film to win an Oscar). And I totally agree with Richard "RB" Botto - John Fithian's "Attend" is one of the companies leaning into self-distribution on a theatrical level and that wave is on the near horizon. Exciting times!

Sam Sokolow Look to keep an eye on Attend and the myriad other platforms that have arisen to address indie filmmaking, film financing, and distribution. While there were several start-ups with a crypto origin, not many have seemed to gain traction. I do think this is huge opportunity and there will be breakouts, which will better serve independent film!