So many filmmakers suffer from “analysis paralysis” and as a result never make a single feature film.

With no obvious path, they find themselves stuck between a number of options, unable to decide what their best move is.

Should they make something for no-budget? Crowdfund for a DIY production? Try to raise millions for a bigger budget movie? Or take another path entirely?

Each of the above has its benefits and drawbacks. Smaller projects are faster and easier to get off the ground, but much harder to market and get in front of an audience.

Bigger projects offer the opportunity to work with notable actors and get your noticed by the industry, but can take years to pull off. If they even happen at all.

The solution is not to put all your eggs in one basket. It’s to diversify your effort and maximize your odds of success on all levels.

In other words, rather than having one project on the go – have three. One for each budget tier and production level. They can feed off each other and make it far more likely you will get ahead.

Here’s how it can work, starting from the top down –

The $3MM – $5MM Budget Film

If you’ve never made a feature film before, it would be incredibly hard to raise millions of dollars for your movie. But that doesn’t mean you can’t at least get the wheels in motion.

Projects on this level take years to pull off, even under the best of circumstances. But until they are in production, they don’t require a substantial amount of your time beyond writing the script, taking meetings, and strategizing.

Many filmmakers refuse to make a DIY feature because they feel it will prevent them from working at a higher budget level. But that simply isn’t true. The two project types are so vastly different, that one would never have to interfere with the other.

Make your tiny DIY movie now to get some practice and build a team, and it will only make you a more enticing investment down the line.

But make sure you have a different script / story / idea for your bigger budget movie. Too often, filmmakers have one idea that they plan to scale up or down infinitely in order to get it made.

Unfortunately, that could not be less practical.

It’s much more effective to write specifically for the budget level you want to work within. The $3MM – $5MM range is optimal for your larger budget concepts. Big enough that you could level up your career (and actually pay yourself on the production). But not so gigantic that there is no way you could ever get the money.

The $100K – $250K Feature Film

There are more and more films made at this level every year, and I only see that trend increasing.

It is much easier for a financier to turn a profit with a $100K investment than (let’s say) a $750K investment. As both scenarios will result in relatively similar films with similar production value. The latter simply will have more resources and likely a faster turnaround time.

As we speak, there are financiers and producers specifically working in this budget range and making films exclusively for AVOD, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

Some are producing several of these films per year, and turning a healthy profit by hedging their bets. Rather than investing $1MM in a single film that is high risk, they can invest the same amount in 5 – 10 films, and increase their odds of turning a larger profit.

With that in mind, this is a fantastic budget range to be developing within at the moment. There is a relatively strong likelihood of raising funds given the market conditions (especially for a first time director).

That said, films written at this tier must truly be designed around the budget. Bigger concepts can fail miserably when scaled down to this level, and some smaller / DIY ideas don’t scale up. The goal is to make your $100K movie look like it was made for $1MM. If you have a concept that can achieve that, you are ahead of the curve.

The No-Budget DIY Feature Film

There is no reason every burgeoning filmmaker shouldn’t have a no-budget film in development at all times.

The only investment you really have to make is your time. Which is significant, but well worth the effort – regardless of the outcome of your film.

No-Budget projects give you more bang for your buck than any other tier on this list. For $0 (or close to it) you get to actually make something – hone your voice, develop your directing skills, expand your network immensely, and build your body of work.

These projects are so often overlooked by filmmakers, usually as they choose to prioritize bigger budget ideas. But it’s to their own detriment, as these DIY projects are exactly what lead to the bigger budget films, and allow you to direct with confidence when you get there.

They are also some of the most fun and rewarding projects you can possibly make. You can schedule them around work, spread out the shooting days, and make it easier on yourself while actually improving production value.

Not to mention, they can make a massive impact on your career, despite their humble origins. My $0 feature Disappearing Boy indirectly led to my first funded movie Teacher’s Pet this year.

Or look at filmmaker Pete Ohs – his features shot with no-crew have earned him spots at major festivals like SXSW and Slamdance, while attracting collaborations with notable artists (Charli XCX), and garnering industry-wide attention.

There is a huge amount of power in just getting out there and making something, which is why I am such an advocate of the no-budget model.

That said, it doesn’t have to prevent you from exploring other budget tiers too. And in fact, it will only make it more likely that you will land financing for your $100K movie or your $5MM feature down the line.

If you feel stuck between ideas, remember that you don’t have to choose just one. You can have three irons in the fire.

One movie you can start making today. One that you can reasonably raise funds for in the near future. And one as a longer term project on a higher budget level.

If you can do all of the above you are ahead of 99% of other filmmakers who are stuck spinning their wheels.

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