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This $800 Feature Film is Going Viral

Short one today, gotta pack a bag for my writing partner Chris’s bachelor party. If you never hear from me again, search the Austin, TX area.

But I saw a movie this week that’s a great case study for us to learn from…

An $800 feature film?

I loooove to see a DIY film make a splash in the world. I especially love to see it documented in industry trades like Variety.

Milk & Serial, a horror feature film made on an $800 budget by Curry Barker, was posted on his YouTube channel that’s a bad idea 3 weeks ago and it already has 591k views and some glowing reviews across the web.

I watched it the other night, expecting a casual watch, but I was glued to my seat. Let’s break down why this low-budget film works, and what we can learn from it.

Runtime

Clocking in at 62 minutes, this film just barely crossed into feature film territory by runtime. And I think that was a wise move, especially considering their distribution platform.

I’m a big proponent that no-budget films in general should err on the side of being too short. My 2 features were 96 and 93 minutes long.

You simply don’t want to overstay your welcome. Also, the shorter the runtime, the more you’re able to concentrate your limited resources into making something good.

Plus, since the film is getting released for free on YouTube (where typical viewers want to watch something short and digestible), the longer the film, the harder it might be to get people to click in.

Format

The smartest move here, and the reason it was able to be made with basically no budget, is the format – found footage. Really, it’s not found footage format, it’s YouTube prank video format. 

Playing into this means the cinematography SHOULDN’T look good, and really frees up a time and money that typically gets alotted to lenses, lights, cameras, setting up shots, etc.

Instead, to keep the film engaging the filmmaker’s focus turned entirely to things like performances, pacing, editing, and just plain old storytelling. 

This is a good example of working backwards to write a film that you can actually pull off. This movie was intended to look cheap, it actually HELPS the story work better. Always a great thing to keep in mind. Speaking of which…

Playing to Advantages

The film is very well plotted, which keeps the story moving and evolving at a great pace, but to me, the standout part of the film is the performance of the lead character, Milk. 

He’s played by the writer/director/editor of the film, Curry Barker, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Curry knew what kind of character he could knock out of the park, and wrote it for himself.

Also, him and his collaborators on the film have been making horror shorts and comedy sketches together for years – and in fact have already gone viral on similar (though smaller) projects.

I haven’t seen any of his other shorts like The Chair (a horror short that’s currently… sitting… at +5M views), but I’m excited to do a deeper dive into his other work soon. 

By building upon genres and styles he’s already very familiar with and has built an audience around – he certainly set himself up for success with this much longer film. 

That’s why even a small short film project is so valuable – they’re all stepping stones to something bigger, even if you don’t know what that is yet.

By the way, if you want to write a small short film that you could film this weekend on a $0 budget, you may want my Instant Short Film Blueprint. In only 2 hours you’ll learn a fool-proof method to write simple, yet compelling short films that are based on the resources you already have.

Here’s a couple of recent reviews:

After this course I feel confident and inspired to create! The whole course is super quick and easy to digest. It definitely does what the name promises.

- Alexa Degante

If you want the most practical, down-to-earth, and realistic approach to true no-budget short film writing, this is the course and Kent is your guy. Best money spent on an "everyday Joe filmmaker" course. -Josh L.

That’s it for this week.

Let’s make some movies.

-Kent

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