We built the story around what we already had. About 70% of the movie takes place in my co-writer’s parents’ kitchen… not because it was a perfect location, but because it was free and they would let us take it over for three weeks.

The style of the film was dry and minimalist, lots of wide shots that play out in long takes… mainly because it meant less camera setups. The two leads were my best friends in real life, which made the dialogue easier to write and direct. We just leaned into their natural chemistry together.

By working backwards from what we already had access to, we gained time, control, and creative freedom on a shoestring budget.

Now compare that to my most recent short film, which was probably the first time I didn’t reverse engineer anything. Even though we had a bigger budget, more experienced crew, better resources, and a shorter runtime… it was harder to make.

So if you’re working without a ton of money, connections, or favors to call in (in other words, if you’re an indie filmmaker) reverse-engineering might be the one thing that keeps you making films for the long run. That’s why it’s fundamental to how I designed WRAPPED in 30 Days (btw, 50% off sale ends this weekend!).

So let’s break down how to use this secret weapon, step by step.

1. Writing the Script

This is the most obvious place to reverse-engineer, and where you’ll get the biggest wins.

If your story centers around people, places, and things you already have, your film gets cheaper, faster, and easier to make.

But don’t just look at resources, think about your strengths too.

If you’re great at writing dialogue but don’t have much money or gear, don’t waste time trying to stage a sci-fi prison break with drone shots and VFX. Set your story in a room you already have access to and focus on building great characters. Keep the pacing tight. Let your dialogue be the action.

By working backwards to write something that plays to your strengths and avoids anything you can’t pull off at a high level, you’ll end up with a much stronger final product.

2. Producing

If you’re anything like me, producing gets overwhelming fast. Even on simple projects, the sheer number of to-dos can pile up until you completely freeze up.

And these days, I’m usually producing solo, which makes things even harder… So I’ve learned to work backwards to keep this under control.

I start with a big, ugly to-do list at the very beginning of every project. Any time something pops into my head – “order batteries,” “email location guy,” “figure out what the hell ‘production insurance’ actually covers” – it goes on the list.

Then I give it a priority or a deadline, and boom, it’s off my brain. That alone helps me sleep better. By the way, that’s why it’s the first tab in my Producing Binder Template I send to everyone on this list.

In WRAPPED, we apply the same logic to the entire producing process. You start with scheduling your shoot date, and then work backwards to figure out when all the other milestones need to happen to make that shoot date a reality. Casting, location scouting, shot listing — everything gets scheduled from the start.

Suddenly you’re not reacting to chaos, you’re just following a plan.

3. Directing

This is where reverse-engineering really shines.

Beginner filmmakers often overthink directing or give it a mystical, intimidating aura in their minds. But here’s the thing: if you start by deciding what you want the audience to feel at the end of your film, directing starts getting a lot more common-sense.

I broke it down in this free lesson from WRAPPED that I gave away on YouTube:

If you don’t have time to watch it, the gist of it is that you first ask yourself:

What do you want the audience to think & feel at the end of the story?

What about at the end of each scene?

Each dramatic beat?

Once you know that, all the creative choices become easier – because you know the ultimate purpose for each moment in your film.

If you know the why, the what and how will follow.

And if you can articulate the emotional goal of a scene, your collaborators can help you figure out the best way to achieve it – removing the burden of having all the answers from your shoulders.

You as the director need to have the vision, yes. But the vision does not mean knowing every single answer to every question and decision that pops up. It means knowing how to empower your team to help you reach that end result you’ve determined.

And trust me, actors and cinematographers love this kind of direction because it empowers them and turns them into creative collaborators, not robots. Telling them to do the next take “bigger” isn’t as helpful as explaining the ultimate goal and purpose of the scene.

4. Putting it in Action

When I set out to build something that would actually help people grow as filmmakers, I used the exact same approach I’ve been talking about in this email…

I reverse-engineered it.

I asked myself: What’s the end-goal here? What ultimately moves the needle to progress in filmmaking?

And the answer was pretty clear. It’s not reading more books or watching more YouTube videos. It’s making more films.

Consistently.

Getting momentum.

Developing the skills to make the films actually work, and a repeatable process you can come back to again and again.

So I worked backwards from that idea – If making more films is the key to growth, what would help someone actually do that?

That’s where WRAPPED in 30 Days came from.

It’s designed as an actionable system & guide you can follow to get a short film finished, without getting overwhelmed, wasting time, or burning out. A system you can come back to again & again, improving and leveling up each time.

Oh, and everything inside it is reverse-engineered too.

From the weekly structure, to the included templates that save you tedious hours of writing emails, scheduling your shoot days, or figuring out your crafty list.

It’s all built to free up mental space, so you can put your energy into fun and creative parts of filmmaking.

Plus you get to join a private filmmaking community where you can get feedback, ask questions, and share your work with other people who’ve been there and get it.

So if you’re tired of spinning your wheels and ready to actually start building momentum, this is the best way I can help.

And it’s for the first time ever, it is 50% off until Sunday, so now’s the time to hop in.

Enroll today WRAPPED in 30 Days

(50% off sale ending this weekend)

Not the thing for you?

I still recommend giving reverse-engineering a shot.

Write down your filmmaking goal, and then work backwards from it, writing sub-goals and deadlines for each sub-goal. Step by step. The more distant your ultimate goal, the more sub-goals you’ll likely need.

If you want to share your plan, reply to this email. I can’t respond to everyone, but I do read every message.

And getting something written down is always the first step.

Favorites this week:

Game: Batman: Arkham Asylum (on Switch)

I’m way late to the party here, but I just binged my way through this, and it was only $10 on the Switch store. I got addicted to the fighting mechanics, they did an amazing job designing how it works so that it’s easy to pick up but really hard to master. And the better you get, the more you feel like you’re actually Batman, which is every guy’s end-goal (how do I reverse-engineer that??). Might move on to Arkham City now since it’s also on sale…

Quote:

“The pain of discipline today is always less than the pain of regret tomorrow.”

Let’s make some movies.

–Kent