How Budget Strangulation in Independent Cinema can Create Orgasmic Returns

energy or authenticity if we had done it any other way…”[2]

John Favreau re: Swingers

2. Form a Tight, Small Crew

There is not only a level of mobility and flexibility that comes with a smaller production team, but a level of intimacy and connectedness. In order to create an environment where actors can settle into their characters, and the crew can be mobilized to take advantage of opportunities that arise, a small, close-knit yet independent production team can be more productive, and more resourceful than a larger, and more dependent, team.

This is never more apparent than in the recent Australian success, Samson and Delilah, the recent Australian feature, shot and directed by Warwick Thornton, who shot with a crew as small as 6, and rarely more than 12 throughout the shoot.

“There were no grips, no gaffers, no cranes