Top Films With Rock Bottom Budgets

I saw the film 'Primer' a couple of days ago. It was released in 2004 but I only heard of it recently. It's a movie about a group of scientist entrepreneurs looking to make their fortunes who come up with a mind blowing invention. I don't want to spoil the plot so can't go into too much detail (in fact, frustratingly, the nature of the film means that I can't really go into ANY detail), but suffice to say, it's the best film I've seen this year. For me, I know I've seen a good film when I keep thinking back to it beyond the day on which I watched it, and this is definitely one of those films.

For me, the brilliance of the film is all the more sweet because the writer / director / producer / actor Shane Carruth made the entire film on a budget of $7,000. For anyone who ever wanted to make a film, this is inspirational. Of course this isn't the only film made on a shoestring budget, far from it, there are countless films that have been made for, we are told, virtually nothing. But when one sees one of these films, if it stands up in it's own right - not just as a novelty because it's been made for such an amazingly small amount of money - it stands testimony to the fact that ultimately, it's the story that makes a good film. If you have a good story and you have the talent, passion and conviction, you can make a good film, money or not. This is more true now than it ever was - we live in an age where if you choose to, you can film and cut a feature on your mobile phone and broadcast it to the World using YouTube.

Here are some other films made on a shoestring (budget listed after the name) that are well worth checking out:

• Clerks - $27,000 (grossed over $3,000,000)
• The Blair Witch Project - $22,000 (grossed over $248,000,000)
• Paranormal Activity - $15,000
• Eraser Head - $10,000

Also check out Driven - (budget £32,000 and counting) - this film is still in production, but it's shaping up to be awesome. It's being produced by my business partner Rob Fletcher, you can see a trailer here.