So as filmmakers we all want to make the best films we can. Sometimes filmmakers think that a bigger budget is the answer, that bigger is better. This is what I thought when I went down the road and create my short film Red Princess Blues. After going down this road once before with my first short film BROKEN, I thought bigger had to be better. If $8000 was good (budget of BROKEN) then with $50,000 I could blow everyone away.

BROKEN opened a ton of doors for me as a filmmaker. I was contacted by studios, executives, producers, agents, you name it. BROKEN was an ambitious short film, to say the least. You can listen to that story here: How I Made Over $90,000 Selling My Short Film. 

In this episode, I discuss the mistakes I made when I made a $50,000+ short film. Mistakes with

Budget
Crew Choices
Size of Crew and Cast
Production Design
Distribution Plan
ROI (Return on Investment)
Who is the end-user (audience I'm trying to reach)
I do hope to get the opportunity to make the feature film version ofRed Princess Blues someday soon, I'm just not sure spending $50,000 for a proof of concept short film was the way to get that train moving.

I do hope to get the opportunity to make the feature film version of Red Princess Blues. I hope you find some words of wisdom in this episode and that you can learn a few lessons that cost me a bunch of $$$ to learn.

So if you are thinking of shooting a $50,000 short film, FOR GOD SAKE DON'T. Listen to this first, I beg you! = ) Enjoy!