Filmmaking / Directing : Full costs and income of a £1million indie film by Marlene Hamerling

Hi. I saw a quick little flash notification at the bottom of monitor that someone had posted here. But there's no comment, and the email didn't show up in my Inbox. Could you please re-post? Thanks.

Thanks for sharing!

My pleasure, John.

FYI, I tried downloading the complete budget from the link, but it contained just a few lines and no figures. OOPS! Otherwise it's a great article. Thanks to everyone involved.

I saw the same article. It's a great read and a real eye-opener for anyone unaware of the costs and time involved in DIY distribution. What puzzles me is why he didn't bother to attach name talent to his film. It would have significantly boosted his bottom line.

Charles, it was just something I stumbled upon, so I can't help you with the broken link. But I agree with Erik that what's there is a real eye-opener. As for attaching name talent...I wonder if he started out thinking he was making a "small" film, but it got out of hand.:-) I found the following on wikipedia. It's pretty interesting and may explain why there's so much financial data in the article. "Marcus Markou went so far as beating blockbuster G.I. Joe: Retaliation during its opening week in London.[6] This success places the film among the Top 5 self-distributed UK films in the past 15 years.[7] It led Marcus Markou to become a speaker about the subject of self-distribution such as a Masterclass at the London Breakfast Club[8] and a lecture at BECTU's Freelancers' Fair in 2014 about "new opportunities for distribution".[9] The film is a subject of case studies, such as the book Selling Your Film Outside the U.S. which dedicates a large section to Marcus Markou's approach to distribution.[10] "In 2014 Markou was nominated by the London Critics Circle Awards for Breakthrough British Filmmaker.[11]"

Thanks for including your Wikipedia reaearch. The additional info is very helpful.

Excellent article, but if you note his largest cost was "Other" expenses. Securing "in kind services" could have dramatically reduced that. One must really use preproduction to secure locations and services for as little as possible. Winging it means headaches and costs.

David, absolutely. That's why I never do anything myself that I can get someone else to do. They usually do it better, anyway, leaving me to keep all the ducks in a row. To quote Billy Crystal in Running Scared, "It is such a pleasure to deal with professionals."

Ain't that the truth.:-) Great that you seem to have found people whose PR doesn't far outstrip their actual abilities.

Erik, glad you found the info useful.