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Indulge me for a minute: what is the least amount of money to make a film? In this day and age of big budget complexity in the movie biz, there’s something incredibly cool about this kind of ingenuity. Pics are being made by shooting video on an iPhone and editing on a desktop. Today, the 25-year-old son of Deadline contributor Ray Richmond is screening a film shot entirely on one of those nifty 4-inch, 6-ounce Flip UltraHD camcorders that cost well under $200. Then writer-director Josh Richmond spent less than $10K on casting, shooting, editing, and producing his first feature, the mystery Diamond Bar. Knowing he couldn’t land a distributor, he hit on the idea of paying a theater to screen it rather than vice-versa. He’s forked over a few hundred bucks to premiere the film on the big screen at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in West Hollywood at 5 PM. UPDATE: Springing up all over are film festivals specifically for micro-budget pics made by young filmmakers. One of them is The YoungCuts Film Festival.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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and then he got the idea to have his dad’s boss plug his movie on their website hollywoodnepotism.com
Think you hit the nail on the head.
Gee Nikki, based on the responses you’re getting, it seems everybody woke up this morning and took a bitch pill.
I commend anyone that does anything in this business.
Haha. Yep. BINGO
BWahaahahahaha… oh… BWAHAHAAHahahahahah! Man, you nailed it. Like we really need studios making movies even cheaper, or trying to force creators to make’em even cheaper…
I can already hear the video bookers at the labels “So, we want to make this video for nothing, literally…”
This is the type of thing that seems revolutionary only to old people.
This is what I love to see. Film makers using whatever they have at their disposal to make films and get their work out there. A certain Chris Nolan made his debut on a shoestring and look where he is now. Great stuff, Nikki.
only chris nolan’s film was better. respectfully this is shit. he could have done so much better at the same price if josh could give it some more throught
Sorry Nikki, no indulgence on this one. Why the F is this newsworthy? Every year there are literally thousands of films being made under the exact same conditions. Highlighting this one is a slap in the face to all the other starving film makers out there, and the film probably sucks too.
You were up front about it being a shameless shill, but still. This is disappointing, and not why I come to this site.
Just went to the website and checked out the trailer.
If that film cost 10 grand, somebody’s walking around with about 9 grand in their pocket.
Ditto.
Now if only the rest of us indie filmmakers could get this kind of publicity – without being the son of one of Nikki’s contacts.
Ingenuity my ass – this is hardly original.
There are hundreds, maybe thousands of indie filmmakers doing this exact thing and getting essentially no press. Good ol’ nepotism.
And if anything close to $10k was spent on that film- based on that trailer, it’s a complete abomination.
I’m really skeptical of those who think they can just pick up any damn camera and make something worth watching. I applaud how technology is allowing for the common man to make a film, but I do feel it also paves the way for a lot more crap out there. After viewing the trailer for this film, it seems like the film would fall into the latter category. I’m happy the kid made something, but it seems like it should never see the light of the day. What happened to aesthetic value in American cinema?
Great…so stop whining about lack of access, diversity,agents,development deals, getting your script read, your project “greenlighted”…get out there and make your damn movie. Do it this weekend !
no…your the one who is driving all the senseless filmmakers out there to do so…it takes time and effort to get it done. be careful when posting something like this.
Are you effing kidding me? This is news? Did the movie win an award? Has anyone even seen this film? Or is it just Richmond’s son getting a shameless plug?
Keep it relevant or get lost.
Or better yet, make adoption papers available.
Kudos to him!
This is a potentially new business model gaining momentum among entrepreneurial filmmakers that can lead to a wide range of new, niche content via streaming/downloading — good for talent, good for audiences.
What’s the model? Make a crappy looking movie, get Dad’s boss to plug it, and screen it at a local theater for free? Don’t see the “business” part of this “business model.”
Pretty much the Roger Corman model.
wow. i thought people on here were being mean until i watched the trailer. i can’t get that 1 minute and 45 seconds of my life back and i am PISSED to have wasted it on THAT.
Gareth Edward’s Monsters (2010) was made with 15k.
And it IS actually a good movie.
Wow! What a douche YJC is, cannot even get teh facts right: MONSTERS cost over $ 500,000 to make. The $ 15 k number he pulled out of his alzheimer’s-ridden-arse was that it was SHOT on $ 15 k worth of equipment… But yes, that is an amzing thing and the film is great.
Thank you troll for clarifying – what would we do without you.
I think he was just speaking to the equipment.
you and i are in lock-step on this, discerning man…as a professional writer-producer, i’m not just looking for content to spew, i’m seeking excellence in storytelling…which requires a higher level of craft, consciousness and commitment.
I like Ray’s writing… he’s a welcome add to the deadline team.
Let’s call this a mulligan.
The film’s trailer is a year old according to youtube.
It’s nice of the kid to let people in for free, rather than to charge them to try to recoup.
Mulligan.
10K?? That must have been one hell of a craft service table because it certainly isn’t on the screen.
What’s the endgame? How do you monetize this model? Rent out theaters and show your movie for free…? amazing…
That trailer for DIAMOND BAR was about as exciting as growing up in the city of Diamond Bar.
I agree with the 80% responders who are disgusted by your post of this kid’s “ingenuity.” Ingenuity my ass. He just did what we all have done (myself 3 times now), only he will reap benefits because of who his daddy is… or at least works for.
There are thousands of micro-budgeted films that do the pay-to-play game, have tried it myself, so WHY is this kid getting ANY attention here? It HAS to be due to connections to Deadline. And that is revolting… Why? Because by being here, no matter how sucky the market deems his film — and by revealing it “couldn’t get distribution,” you’ve told us a lot, everything actually, as many NO BUDGET films have made it all the way — the power of your column assures this kid will get UNDUE attention from agents and managers now.
As a struggling filmmaker who has made films on similarly low shoestring budgets and pushed them as far as they could go up the proverbial hill — to top prize wins in legit festivals like Los Angeles Int’l, Boston Int’l, Tribeca, Palm Springs, etc. and et. al. — I feel sad that you have reduced your e-column’s level of integrity by seeing fit to give this film a spotlight: Had you not done this, the film would have rolled out tonight with only friends and family in attendance. Maybe, if it was in fact good, it would get into fests and even a dvd distribution deal…
Do this kind of thing again and I assure you, you will lose a slew of those who support your column.
Truly Disgusted.
ps Chris Nolan spent almost 2 years and well over $ 100 making FOLLOWING, shot on 16 mm film no less, and got his break when it made it into a legit festival (SLAMDANCE) where a manage saw it and took him on… that’s the way the game should work.
Actually, Nolan got his break when Next Wave Films (which was former division of IFC set up to fund post for fine cuts) saw the film. They agreed to take it on in post-production and submitted it to Slamdance. Without that initial support, he may or may not have had a career.
True! Basically yopu cite the step before SLAMDANCE… I accept that revision.
Quit your whining. Just because you didn’t get any attention after your “top prize winning” films doesn’t mean you deserve anything more than this young go-getter. Work hard, persevere, and things will come to you. You can’t hate on other peoples’ opportunities just because you don’t have the same thing. Your whining just cements the fact that you probably don’t deserve success, that’s why you don’t have it. Grow up. Live in the industry as a mature adult, not a little kid who doesn’t get the same toys as another kid.
Everyone should suffer for their film?
Bitter much?
Just because someone has the Means to make a movie, that doesn’t mean they should. I can see some agent selling this movie with the cred “it was just on DHD” with the subtext of “well it has to be good”…alas, only if that were true. SHOWBIZ…GOTTA LIVE IT!!
I just wasted a minute of my life watching trailer (which I’ll never get back) and now I’m suppose to pay $10 parking and 1.5 hrs to watch this?? Sorry, life is waaaay too short. But thanks for the offer.
Nikki
Thank you for posting this article. There is a whole filmmaking revolution happening now thanks to technology. This is my latest animated short that I again shot with my iPhone and edited on my desktop. It cost next to nothing. Nowadays, with the drive to make films anyone can do it. http://vimeo.com/19016510
Best,
Sascha Ciezata
iT’S ALIVE! ANIMATION
Dear Sascha,
Good move…good movie.
And, it did not go unnoticed that Paul Mazursky and Henry Jaglom did the voices.
Animation is ALIVE and APPRECIATED!
I have to agree with the comments above. You can eek out a lot more quality from $10k than what I saw in that trailer.
What’s the big deal… Nepotism?! So what? This is Hollywood. Nepotism is the way things have been done for about a century… why should this site do things differently.
And by the way, a little media attention to one small filmmaker’s project is good for ALL indie filmmakers. Stop complaining and start riding some coattails!
Ultra low budget film making is nothing new – despite what the digital revolutionaries want you to believe. Even when it was all *gasp* film that you had to cut up with razors and then glue together by hand, people were doing it for next to nothing. Fewer people, sure, but one might consider that the bar to entry made it so that only those most passionate about the craft actually did it.
Didn’t watch the film, so not criticizing that piece in particular – just the notion that making it easier to make films somehow makes films better.