Raising Funds for a Low-Budget Film

By Giovanni Galindo @giovanniagalindo



    Making the zero-budget film - sounds like a myth, doesn't it? I thought so too. If you want the short and simple answer to the question, the answer is no. It's truly impossible to create aa film with zero budget. There's always some sort of investment needed to produce a film; even if the financial investment was done with way before the production of the current film.


    As a film student back in college, it baffled me when I heard that short films, 3-5 minutes long, would call themselves a low-budget production, yet have a budget of around $50,000. On the other hand, some people would call themselves low-budget and really only offer everyone on set IMDB credit. But hey, I get it. As a struggling college student, there's no way I'd have the means to pay everyone on set as much as I'd like to.


    This is why my first serious short, Shoot 'Em Up, Gavin! was a huge learning curve for me, and what it means to raise funds for a film as well as what it really means to have a low-budget production. I created a fundraising campaign for this film back in 2018 through Indiegogo. I don't think it was straight terrible, but it definitely wasn't great. You can judge for yourself here.

Reece Smoot - Cinematographer for Shoot 'Em Up, Gavin!

    Quite frankly, I looked at other film campaigns that looked successful and based all of my entire campaign from that. I don't think the campaign was bad, but more than anything I learned you have to really know what you're skill level is at, set a realistic goal, and have something to show before your campaign so people know that they're investment will be worth it.


    If I am honest, I was a little naive with all those aspects. Don't worry, I'll tell you why. My first mistake was asking for money to produce a film when I had nothing else to really show people that would make them confident they're investment would be worth it. Up to that point I had produced a few shorts that were part of class requirements that weren't necessarily great. And since I had access to school equipment, they really were no-budget productions.


    It would be hard to convince people that I need money to make a film when I had already created some films without needing any money at all. This brings me to my second mistake of raising funds. I was not clear enough on where the money was going and why I needed certain equipment and materials. I think you'd agree you'd be iffy to give someone money if you don't fully understand what it's going toward. In the campaign I did very general reasons of why we were raising funds, with terms like:

Camera Equipment

Costume & Props

Travel Expenses


    Now I had a detailed Excel sheet with my budget and how much was going toward each department. In all honesty, I feel as if I should have uploaded a copy of that to the campaign page. If you're getting free money from investors, and especially family, you need to be as transparent as possible on where the money will be going and why you need it in the first place.


    Every crowdfunding site allows you to add perks for certain monetary donations/contributions. You really can't go wrong with these. Most people aren't going to contribute for the perk only, it's just an added bonus. You really need to sell them on your story, and sell them on your ability to create something with high quality. Don't get me wrong, perks are important, and having unique and fun perks for people can create more buzz about your crowdfunding site which can lead to more contributions.

Austin Sane - Sound Recorder for Shoot 'Em Up, Gavin!

    Which leads me to my last point about raising funds for a low-budget film. You have to HYPE it up like there is no tomorrow. You've got to be talking and posting about it to the point that even you are annoyed. I hear people say you don't want to post too many times, as people might just tune it out. I agree with that somewhat, however; with the ways that social media is all set to individual algorithms, you really do want to post pretty consistently to try to make sure more people see it. I wouldn't post three times a day, but depending on the social platform, I think nowadays even once a day could be helpful.


    This brings me back to the perks. If you have fun perks where for example you create short videos or graphics for every contributor, you have more options on what you can post on your pages, instead of just a generic, "Hey! I'm raising for my film! Click the link to find out more!" For example on the second film I raised funds for Lunchbox, for contributors of $25 I created a short rap and posted a video for them that went online.


    For Shoot 'Em Up, Gavin! I had a goal for $6,000. That was going to be to buy a camera, some lenses, pay the main crew for our shoot dates, and some for props and a rental fee for a venue once we premiered the film. After a four week campaign we raised $315. While I had many mistakes, I really do think the biggest factor in falling so short on our funds goes back to having anything to show for it. I had nothing that would make people feel confident that their investment would be put to good use.


    Because of this the the goal of $6,000 was also unrealistic. On the second film I crowdfunded I actually had a much smaller goal and because I already had Shoot 'Em Up, Gavin! as an example of what I could create, we raised more than half of our goal in the first week, and ended up exceeding our goal.


    I definitely don't have all the answers. Even if today I tried to raise funds for a film not sure I would get $6,000. This is why after Lunchbox, I stopped raising money for my films. I connect with people that rent equipment for a huge deal so that I can pay it all myself, as well as work with people on cast and crew that don't mind volunteering on my films in order to get more experience, grow their portfolio, and of course, get that IMDB credit.


    I definitely learned a lot after my first failure trying to raise money for a film. You want to be 100% of what your film will be and that your budget is accurate and fair. After that it's all on you to make sure you give people a reason to want to support your film. You'll definitely be surprised what friends won't even give $5 and what people, that you might have not talked to in years, will contribute. It truly is an interesting process. If you raise money for a film, I wish you the best of luck! It won't be easy, you might not raise it all, you might be criticized on your asking amount, but whatever happens... hope you create your film! We need it.