Charlie Steeds: Making 20 Feature Films on Micro Budgets

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What does it take to make 20 feature films and turn micro-budget filmmaking into a full-time career?

In this episode of The Honest Filmmaker Podcast, Jim talks to filmmaker Charlie Steeds about his extraordinary journey from making short films as a teenager to building a career making horror features.

Charlie shares how he financed his first film for around $2,000, how he moved from self-financing into working with sales companies and producers and how his budgets have evolved over the course of 20 feature films.

We also talk about the reality of making filmmaking your day job, including the pressure to keep producing, the compromises that come with lower budgets and how Charlie adapted when the film industry changed.

Charlie explains why he has learned to do almost every job on his productions, from writing, directing and editing to sound and cinematography and why he believes sound is one of the most important areas for independent filmmakers to get right.

We also get into one of the biggest problems he sees in indie filmmaking: rushing productions. Charlie argues that filmmakers often try to shoot too much, too quickly, rather than giving their films the care they need.

And after making three films in just 33 days, Charlie has plenty of experience of what happens when speed becomes part of the filmmaking process.

Finally, we discuss cinematography, inspiration and why filmmakers should go back to the movies that made them fall in love with filmmaking,  studying how they were shot, lit and constructed, then using those lessons in their own work.

A candid conversation about micro-budget filmmaking, making a living from movies, learning your craft and finding the balance between making films for the art and making films to pay the bills.

🎙️ The Honest Filmmaker Podcast — honest conversations about independent filmmaking, careers, budgets, distribution and the realities of making movies.

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Check out the re-release of Jim's first solo directing feature The Witches Hammer - out now on amazon 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0F235F4T8/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

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