In this episode, I’m joined by Jesse Korman, director of Yellow Eyes, the possession horror feature now streaming on Screambox. Jesse has produced over 30 films, directed a long list of music videos, and fronts the band The Number Twelve Looks Like You. Yellow Eyes is his feature directorial debut, made as part of Joe Swanberg’s five-film horror slate shot back to back in Chicago, all on the same budget.
Jesse got the offer right before leaving on tour, which left him about six weeks to build a script from scratch with writer Mickey Solis (often over the phone between soundchecks) and get to set. Instead of writing first and budgeting later, they reverse engineered the story from the money and the schedule: one location, minimal cast, and spending concentrated on the moments that would really land on screen. The result was a 12-day shoot that never fell behind schedule.
Throughout the episode we dig into the prep that made that possible, from shot listing and timing every scene with his DP to pre-rigging the entire house so every room was camera ready the moment they walked in.
Topics covered include:
- How Jesse landed a spot on Joe Swanberg’s five-film Chicago horror slate
- Writing and prepping a feature in six weeks while on tour
- Why a crew rolling from one film to the next becomes a well-oiled machine
- Letting the budget and schedule dictate the script, not the other way around
- Shot listing and timing every scene to never fall behind
- Pre-rigging a single location so every room is always lit
- Lighting through windows and a last-minute day-for-night pivot
- Why a two-person art department moves faster than a 50-person crew
- What a $10M set taught him about wasted time and money
- Casting non-SAG actors and why the union label doesn’t matter to audiences
- Landing distribution through Cineverse and Screambox
- What Joe Swanberg told him on the last night of the shoot
- Much More!
This is Episode 285: How Jesse Korman Made A $150K Horror Feature In 12 Days For Joe Swanberg
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Links from the show:
Watch Yellow Eyes on Screambox
The Number Twelve Looks Like You on Instagram
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28 Comments
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atReverse engineering the story from the budget and schedule, one location, minimal cast, and money only where it shows on screen, is such a smart way to protect a 12-day shoot. The pre-rigging every room so nothing slows you down is a tip I’m taking to my own small music video shoots.
Transcript
atReverse engineering the story from the budget and the schedule is such a practical approach, and it is refreshing to hear a director say it openly. One location, a minimal cast, and money concentrated on the moments that matter feels like a blueprint for anyone planning a micro budget horror feature. I also loved the detail about building the script with Mickey Solis over the phone between soundchecks. Episodes like this are packed with tips, so I usually turn them into notes with an audio to text converter and keep the key quotes in my production folder. Thanks for another great conversation, Noam.
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