Looking for some inspiration?

Check out 100+ Indie Film Case Studies: Real Budgets & Schedules from Low Budget Films

I started the @filmparliament instagram page to showcase how independent films used creative cost cutting and problem solving to get made.

I wanted to demystify "movie magic."

Filmmaking is just regular people using a script as a blue print to put it on the screen, together.

Poster of film I Will Follow with Ava Duverney shouting it out on her instagram story.

Ava DuVernay shouting out the case study on I Will Follow*, the $50k feature that launched her career.

I sift through countless interviews (and sometimes conduct my own) to break down what stands out to me.

These are case studies you can actually learn from.

Real budgets, real decisions, real filmmakers breaking down exactly how they got their movie made.

Proof it's possible, no matter your budget.

Scroll through and run with what works for your film.

Sorry to Bother You film poster. Budget 3.2 million, 28 shoot days, Location California

Check the caption for where the idea came from!

Then swipe 👉 for the details on how they made it at that budget level.

Text of the Logline, writer/director name and producers names of the film Sorry to Bother You.

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The text from the Film Parliament instagram caption describing how the film Sorry to Bother You was inspired. It also lists the budget number, number of shoot days and location of the film.
A black background with white text explaining the development story of Boots Riley and his film project.

Click any poster to check it out on Instagram or just follow @filmparliament for new ones as they drop.

Diary of a Teenage Girl Budget $1.5mil Shoot Days 24 Location San Francisco, CA Year 2014 (Jan - Feb) 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts Heller got the graphic novel as a Christmas gift from her sister eight years before the film came
Snatchers Budget $205k Shoot Days 24 Location New York City, NY & New Jersey Year 2017-2018 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts In 2015 Kingman got the idea for the Snatchers.  “I was living in a Brooklyn high rise and ha
Passing Through Budget $100k Shoot Days 19 Location Agde, in the Languedoc region of Southern France Year 2019 August/Sept 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts “After many years working in theatre, writing and directing plays, I de
Feel the Burn Budget $20k Shoot Days 7 Location Georgia (Atlanta & Ellijay) Year 2025(Nov) & 2026 (Jan/Feb) 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts Freddy Long (writer/director) got the idea for this film “during the productio
What is Film Parliament? Glad you asked. I built the self-paced course first. It’s everything I wish someone had shown me before I line produced four features, production supervised some more features & tv shows, and everything else I&
Pillion Budget $1mil Shoot Days 28 Location Bromley & Kent, England, UK Year 2024 (July 29 -Sept 6) 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts Harry Lighton’s (writer/director) spark of inspiration for this film originally came when
Budget $600k Shoot Days 12 Location Los Angeles Year 2022 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts “The Final Rose really came out of the pandemic. During lockdown, my wife had me watching The Bachelor, and around that same time I met m
Budget $40k Shoot Days 13 Location Los Angeles, California Year 2023 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts In this post, Robert DeBoucher (Writer/Director/Producer) took me through how he and his small, but mighty crew made “Rolling&
Budget $600k Shoot Days 20 Location Los Angeles Year 2012 (September) 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts Destin Cretton (writer/director) based the film on his experiences he had working at a residential facility for at-risk teenagers f
Budget $250k Shoot Days 6 Weeks (originally scheduled for 15 days) Location NYC Year 1990 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts “Poison” is Todd Haynes’ second feature and Christine Vachon’s first feature film. He
In 2018, this was my second feature that I line produced. I was brought on to Line Produce “Boy Genius” (originally titled Emmett) after budgeting a different film for the same producers, which we later made that year in Texas called &ld
Another round of some of my favorite words of wisdom that didn’t make it into the final posts! These all will give you a nice boost to keep you going. When you think you can’t do it and you want to give up, that’s when you know yo
Budget $13k  Shoot Days 15 Location San Francisco Year 2007 (Nov) 👇for how it started -> swipe for the facts “You know, it was really a broken heart to make the most simple statement. But it was also the need to affirm to myself and
Budget $200k Shoot Days 19 Location Los Angeles, CA Year 2011 (June) This is Ava DuVernay’s second narrative feature film. If you haven’t read the case study on her first film, “I Will Follow,” check that out! Interestin

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