Looking to make a film but don’t have any money? Check out these inspiring filmmaking quotes from the masters of cinema. Even the greatest film directors had to start somewhere…
Trying to make a feature film yourself with no money is the best film school you can do.
Quentin Tarantino
[on filmmaking today] Well, for under $10,000 you can buy everything you need. So now we have to undo the brainwashing of the past 50 years about what a movie can be: that it must be commercial, it must go down easy, it must be structured so that it appeals to the widest possible audience. Even people who read sophisticated books expect that when they go to see a movie, it won’t involve any thinking. They’re willing to give more to a work of literature. A movie is supposed to be something light that you go to, and you have a good time, and you don’t think too much, and you laugh, or you get scared, or you’re in awe of the violence, and you go home, and you forget it. And that has to be broken.
Francis Ford Coppola
See, a painting is much cheaper than making a film. And photography is, you know, way cheap. So if I get an idea for a film, there are many ways to get it together and go realise that film. There’s really nothing to be afraid of.
David Lynch
The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.
Peter Jackson
Low budgets force you to be more creative. Sometimes, with too much money, time and equipment, you can over-think. My way, you can use your gut instinct.
Robert Rodriguez
You ask any moviemaker what their favorite movie experience was, and they’ll say it was one of the first ones, where everyone had to pitch in and do everything together, and you had to struggle.
Robert Rodriguez
We’re in the midst of a digital revolution that allows you to shoot, edit, and distribute your films for virtually nothing. You have the possibility of creating a You Tube sensation.
Jason Reitman
There’s a long history of people who spent that $300,000 on their first film and weren’t quite ready, and then they never did it again ’cause they were out of synch with where they were, and they would never raise that money again.
Richard Linklater
All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.
Jean-Luc Godard
All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
Charlie Chaplin
Whatever story you want to tell, tell it at the right size.
Richard Linklater
When you’re starting out, you know, you have to do something on a very limited budget. You’re not going to be able to have great actors, and you’re most likely not going to have a great script.
Peter Jackson
Create Something Unique
Everybody’s situation is unique, and the one thing I’ve learned is that instead of copying someone else’s model for a low-budget film, you really have to look at what you’ve got available and see how you can tell the story you want to tell, using the things that you have around you.
Christopher Nolan
For a long while, before the concept of no-budget feature filmmaking came into practice, aspiring filmmakers would make short films or simply trailers, for their scripts in order to get attention and they would pour a lot of money into these short films and try and make them look as Hollywood slick as they could, to show they could be competitive. That’s not a great idea.
No matter how hard they tried, with their limited funds they could never make their demo as slick as Hollywood. They’d come off looking like cheaper imitations. So go the opposite way. Why try and make a slick-looking film when you have no money? Don’t even try. Make a movie that Hollywood could never make no matter how much money they have. Tell a story they’d never risk, or make a movie that goes for the throat the way they’d never do, because they are too mainstream.
Fill your film with great ideas, which they can’t come up with no matter how much money they have. They can’t make their movies more creative with money. Only more expensive.
The creative person with limitless imagination and no money can make a better film than the talentless mogul with the limitless chequebook every time. Take advantage of your disadvantages, feature the few assets you may have, and work harder than anyone else around you. When given an opportunity, deliver excellence and never quit.
Robert Rodriguez
What’s Your Favorite Zero Budget Filmmaking Quote?
If you’ve enjoyed the article, then we would be grateful if you could share on social media and your own blogs.
Finally, don’t forget to bookmark the page and keep checking back for new zero budget filmmaking quotes from the masters of cinema.
Related articles:
Making your First Film Quotes
Directing the Movie Quotes
Film Editing Quotes