Now we are talking about a completely different universe compared to that of being a film director. A filmmaker needs to have a much broader, wider spectrum of skills, talents and characteristics. A micro-budget filmmaker needs to have even broader skills than a filmmaker. A micro-budget filmmaker most of the time works as a one man show. Writing, directing, producing, acting, shooting, editing, color grading, sound editing, music composing, self promoting and selling, all of those are sometimes united and held over the responsibility of one person – the filmmaker.
He or She is the closest to a real artist as any filmmaker might consider herself or himself to be. To handle in your hands so many different and extremely difficult skills, disciplines, and jobs requires total determination, practice, surrender and obsession to the filmmaking process. Only then this process becomes a real artist's expression of her ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories ,knowledge and desires. I experienced it by myself. When I got involved in so many different aspects of the process, I became the process and the process became me, I surrendered to the story, and the story absorbed me in it. I have never ever felt bored, tired, not interested or sick working and spending time for this project. This is what I understand passion is all about, life is, and the meaning of total happiness must be. I have always felt an extreme magnitude of happiness, joy and gratitude working about the project.
Of course there were so many downhills filled with negative emotions and so many problems, but they were not because of the process which was happening but the expectations and desires for the result. The goal and the result, made all of the problems and sufferings around the filmmaking process. But for all of these I will write a little bit later.
NoOne as a micro budget film brought with itself the first and probably the biggest problem – the lack of budget. I wanted from the very beginning everyone working on the project to be paid for and to be paid very reasonably but for sure not cheaply. I think that brought with itself a huge mountain to be climbed for me, Yavor and Blagovesta. We spent a huge amount of time looking for money, actually almost through all of the time we were lacking money, in pre - production, production, and post production. We always were with money shortage, money debts and this is for a very long period of time, almost four. This problem could destroy not only the film project, but our friendships, partnership, relationships, families and lives. On top of this we had a new born baby, and I felt that the family responsibilities and the film responsibilities combined together are for as the HBO acquisition manager told me, a MARVEL superhero.
This is one of the biggest and most important lessons which I learnt, if the movie doesn't have budget a reasonable amount of budget which to be enough, in order the production to pay to everybody including its producers, director etc, because Yavor, Blagovesta and me weren't paid, then nobody has to be paid up front. It is for the better of the entire production. There are so many options for the cast and crew, which could be negotiated about their remuneration package – deferrals, co-producers credits and rights and percentage from the profit are only a few from so many others.
What else can determine the success of a micro-budget film is its screenplay. Especially how well and clear the story is developed and the story equals its main characters. I mentioned once before, that during the editing I found out that the screenplay was lacking enough focus and enough depth to our central character's plot, and the directing was lacking this specific point of view, so when I tried to fix it in post production during its editing and sound design it wasn't so convincing and powerful as I wished.
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