Introduction
Whether it’s a commercial, short film or feature film, this book is for you!
If you’re just a beginning filmmaker with an idea or have made several films, then this book is the right book for you! Many beginning filmmakers will attempt to make a short film, or several short films, without ever making a feature-length film.
In my book, I give detailed information, from step A to Z, for achieving the desired results. The chapters include: “Becoming a Filmmaker,” “Assembling a Team,” “Writing a Script”, “Preparing Contracts,” “Locations”, “Finding Cast and Crew,” “Finding Props,” “Equipment & Costumes,” “Create A Shooting Schedule,” “Create a Budget”, “Shooting The Film,” “Website”, “Film Festivals, “Distribution,” “Marketing Your Film & Playing Your Film in theaters!” Without any money or resources, I pounded the pavement of Los Angeles, in search of making a feature film. I opened up the yellow pages and after three days of calling all over town, I secured all the equipment necessary to shoot my film free of charge, without knowing a single person on the other end of the phone line!
My first film, Above The Sunrise (a 1950s drag racing film/love story), was made for $761 and was shot in thirteen days and completed in March of 2001. After auditioning over one thousand people, securing a 1950 Ford truck, 1929 Ford hotrod, 1950s houses, and so much more (free of charge), I was able to gather the props and locations for the film. Above The Sunrise ranked in the top twenty-five of five thousand films in a New York grant contest.
My next and most recent film, The Bombers, was written in five days in July of 1999. It was made for $20,000 and was shot in twenty days (completed in June of 2003) with a cast of twenty-one actors and has recently played in various theaters across the country (free of charge)!
All the sweat, years of work, and tremendous resourcefulness that I’ve poured into my films is put into my book in detailed steps for any filmmaker to understand. How To Make a Hollywood Movie for Under $800! This is a filmmaker’s Bible for the serious beginner or advanced filmmaker who desires to save a great deal of money and time in making a Hollywood film.
Ask any stranger on the street how much it costs to make a film and he will tell you millions of dollars. Ask a studio executive how much it costs to make a film and he will tell you in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Ask any independent filmmaker how much it costs to make a film and he will tell you between, $50,000 and $100,000.
Ask me how much it costs to make a film, and I will tell you $800 or under! I made my first film, Above the Sunrise, for $761. To make it even more impossible, it was a 1950’s love story.
Film school tuition costs between $4600 and $6500 for six weeks. They can teach you how to operate a camera, edit on an avid system, and the basic understanding and process of shooting a film. What a film school cannot teach is how to make a Hollywood movie for under $800.
If I could have the opportunity to show every filmmaker who has read my book, step by step, how to make a Hollywood movie for under $800 in their small town, mountain or city setting, I would be overwhelmed with joy to help them reach their dreams in completing their film! Since, I am unable to be there in person, I am providing you with a tool on how to do just that, my book, How To Make A Hollywood Movie for Under $800!
Ken Costanza
kensfilms@hotmail.com
www.thebombers.org