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Who Else Wants a Film

Production Checklist?
NOVEMBER 17, 2015 BY JASON BRUBAKER

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Making a movie is challenging. There are a lot of elements that must come together.
Sometimes you work with good people and this comes easy. And sometimes there is so
much to do, that you feel overwhelmed. The following film production checklist will provide a
brief overview of the independent filmmaking process.
Okay. Before we dive in together, keep in mind that this is only an overview. Without actually
grabbing a camera and working with awesome people, all the resources in the world will do

you no good. So after reading this Film Production Checklist, if you can grab at least one
useful filmmaking tip from this checklist, then we can both be happy.
In full disclosure: Where it makes sense, I have included recommendations for related
products and services. If you click the links and make a purchase, I may receive
compensation. If referrals arent cool, ignore the links! Additionally, it should go without
saying But when making a movie, aside from making an awesome movie, safety should be
your number one concern.

You Film Production Checklist

In the following film production checklist, I broke the filmmaking process into 65 steps.
Obviously some steps will be more challenging than other steps. But like I said, if you take
time to study this film production checklist, you might get a tip or two that can potentially
make your life easier.
Here we go. . .
1. Before you get started, make sure you read and study everything you can about the
filmmaking process. A good place to start is obviously the Filmmaking Stuff website.

2. A screenplay is the blueprint to your movie. Write or acquire a screenplay you want to
produce. Make it something exciting!
3. Complete an initial script breakdown. From there, schedule and budget the project. How
much does it cost?
Note: If youre unsure how to break down and schedule a movie, Peter Marshall has an
awesome Movie Script Breakdown course. Also, some invaluable production
management software can be found at LightSpeed Eps.
4. Write a business plan that details how your movie will be made, marketed and sold and
how much this will cost you.
5. Talk with a lawyer and other producers to figure out your best money strategy. Will you
utilize equity funding, crowdfunding and tax incentives to fund your movie? A little bit of
everything?
6. Following laws and regulations, go after the money. This will require strategy, persistence,
honesty and enthusiasm.
7. Finding, meeting and closing prospective investors on the merits of your movie will be one
of the tougher parts of the process. Every no gets you closer to yes.
8. Most people will want to know how the money is going to be spent, what they can expect
in return and how will you eventually get their money back. Filmmaking is a risky business, full
of unknowns and you should ALWAYS disclose this.
9. Have a plan for the movie when it is complete. Will you take the festival route? Will you
market it to colleges and universities? Will you send it directly to sales agents and acquisition
pros?
Note: While its great to imagine that a movie distributor will hand you a million dollar
check, this rarely happens. In fact, most movies end up in popular marketplaces like
Amazon and iTunes, and others. You must plan for this.

10. After following these steps, you have been networking with prospective investors. The
question is, were you able to get the money? If not, here are some (but not all) of your options.
A. Choose a new movie project.
B. Alter the screenplay to cut costs.
11. Get more favors and freebies. Seriously, write out a list of everything you can get for free,
or at a discount. This includes props, wardrobe, locations, transportation and craft services!
12. Assuming you did get the money, pick a date for production. (And if you dont get the
money, go back and repeat step one.)
13. Hire a lawyer to help you with contracts and releases. If youre short on cash, do a web
search for lawyers for the arts in your area. These folks will usually help with minor legal stuff.
14. Before you have the money, many people will work for little to no money. Expect a lot of
nos before you find the people who can help you.
15. You can make your life easier if you work with people who have production experience. If
you are in a small market, reach out to people who spend their days producing corporate
video.
16. Finalize your script. Get it to a point where you are no longer going to keep changing
things. This is a locked script.
17. Number your scenes. Then once again, break down your script. This involves grabbing
each element, location and character. From this information, create a final schedule.
18. From your schedule and breakdown, create a final budget. You probably know how much
money you have to work with. If you find you dont have enough you have two choices:
A. Get More Money!
B. Modify the script and schedule.
19. Get your crew. Work with a seasoned Physical Producer AKA Line Producer AKA Unit

Production Manager to help you get organized. These pros will look at your schedule and
tweak it.
20. Additionally, if youre going to direct and product, having these pros around to help out will
open the door to relationships with 1st Ads and crew. These folks will help you hire the right
people. They will know a good payroll company. And many know a thing or two about tax
credits in your state.
21. I know. Money is tight. So if you cannot hire a location scout, you may have to scout and
procure locations yourself. This means you will knock on doors, introduce yourself, your
project and your goals. The goal here is to appear reasonable and sane.
22. What can go wrong with a location probably will. So you will want to have a 2nd and 3rd
location added to the mix. This way, should something happen, you will have a fall-back plan.
23. Assuming youre directing your own movie, you will want to find a director of photography
who shares your sensibilities and has equal enthusiasm for the project.
24. Your DP will help you find an asthetic for your movie. Given your cost constraints, you will
most likely shoot in HD.
25. Marketing: Create a website specific to your movie. Make sure you have a way to get site
visitors on your mailing list.
26. Later as you get into production, you will be able to add a movie trailer. (The goal: increase
your mailing list subscribers and create a website you can later modify into a sales funnel.)
27. If youve raised money, you can hire talented actors interested in your project. But in the
event your budget is tight, try to cast people with large social media followings.
28. Once you have all of your actors, you will want to find a location for a table read. Go
through the script. If you wrote it, now is a time to take some notes for a final tweak.
Note: Anything you change in the script also changes the budget and the schedule. Seriously.

29. DO NOT skimp on food. You will want someone in charge of Craft Services. They should
be good at going out and getting deals on food and catering. If you can not find anyone to do
this for you, youll have to do it yourself. Allow me to repeat. . .
30. Make sure you have adequate food. If you are doing a union shoot, there are guidelines
and rules you must follow. If you are doing a non-union indie, then some advice is: GET
QUALITY!
31. Do you have all of your permits, releases and agreements? Do you have production
insurance? There are so many different types of insurance, it will make your head spin. Make
sure you talk with some experienced insurance professionals to make sure you have adequate
insurance for your movie!
32. Meet with your Camera Department and find out how much memory youll need
(assuming youre shooting in HD). If youre shooting film, which might be costly for your first
feature you will want to have an idea of these needs too.
33. Try to take as many naps as you can. This is a fun, but stressful time. So sleep. Eat. And
take time to exercise.
34. Once you have all the above stuff checked off the list, you will want to meet with your
department heads and make sure everyones needs are met. Assuming youve maintained
limited locations, with a limited cast and crew, you will probably still be baffled by the amount
of questions that come flying at you.
35. Seriously, you would think youre making a gazillion dollar movie. But this is indication
people care about their work. They care about the movie. And they want to make it a success!
36. This goes without saying, but dont be a jerk. Seriously, never forget you are making a
movie. Enjoy the experience.
37. Did I mention you need plenty of sleep? I am serious here. Making a movie is going to
demand a TON of energy. You need to keep up with the physical and mental demands.
38. Commence production. Defer to your 1st AD and Line Producer to keep everything

running on time and under budget. Keep your cool and always remember to have fun!
39. During production, try to constantly get press to profile your movie. It would be great to
create buzz, get people to your website and get them to opt into your newsletter mailing list.
40. After the WRAP, have a wrap party. Dont sleep with your cast and crew, get overly drunk
or make a fool of yourself! You are a professional. Act like one.
41. After you recover from your hangover (I just warned you), you will probably start editing the
movie. I suggest sharing the edit suite with another set of eyes. And do be nice to your editor.
Those professionals can offer valuable feedback. Listen to it!
42. Your first cut will be rough. Screen it with a group of people who have never seen the
movie. Get feedback.
43. Take the feedback and refine your edit. After that, take a week off Do not look at the
movie or mess around with it. This way, when you come back to the suite, refine and refine
again.
44. Have another small screening with people who have not seen the movie. Take notes. Take
those notes back to your edit suite.
45. Add some sound FX to your movie. Clean up actor dialogue and rough areas. Sound is
more important than visual.
46. Screen the movie again. This time, have the screening with a new, small set of people.
Take notes. Go back and refine.
47. When you have a cut youre happy with, then you can begin to plan your next strategy.
Find out how to sell your movie.
48. There are opportunities for traditional distribution. With some qualified professionals,
analyze each deal. Find out if the deal will fit your business objectives. If not, PASS.
49. What if there are no traditional deals? If you planned accordingly, you will have a strong

mailing list, a marketable hook and a plan for reaching your target audience.
50. When you are ready to start selling, refine your website into a sales funnel. Upload your
movie to one of the many popular VOD platforms. Refine your movie poster and artwork to fit.
51. Upload your trailer to YouTube and all the other video sites on the internet. I prefer to
stream from YouTube because I dont have to pay for streaming and I can monitor viewer
comments.
52. Write press releases related to the release of your movie. Have a blog component that
details your movie and allows other people to comment.
53. Play around with your key words and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If those terms are
new to you, find someone in your network who understands the importance of the web.
54. Marketing is all about telling memorable stories and getting into the conversations. Adding
your thoughts on website forums is one way to get the word out about your movie. But if you
totally disregard the conversation thats bad form.
55. Create both a Facebook and Twitter handle for your movie. The purpose of this page is to
lead people back to your site.
56. Have adequate social share buttons on your website so people can easily tell their friends
about your movie.
57. If you have the budget, purchase some offline advertising in publications related to your
movie. (This assumes youve taken time to define your target audience and ways to reach
them!)
58. Wait. . . You dont have a website yet? Stop what youre doing and head to Bluehost and
grab a domain name and website hosting for your movie website. (I prefer utilizing WordPress
for all movie sites.)
59. All of these methods are intended to get people back to your website. The purpose of
your site is to get people to watch your movie trailer and click the BUY NOW button. Anything

that distracts these visitors must go! Install Google Analytics.

60. If your website visitors fail BUY NOW, then at least try to get them to opt into your mailing
list. Do you need a mailing list?
61. Out of all the people who click the BUY NOW button, some will actually buy. If you have
access to the contact information, reach out and personally thank your customer.
62. Assuming you are generating revenue, consider using that money to purchase more
advertising and repeat the process. In internet marketing, they call this scaling a business. The
name of the game is: Conversion Rates. Read this marketing article.
63. Sooner or later, you will figure out how to jump-start your next project. And you will realize
that making movies and making money making movies is possible.
64. The thing to remember is long term perspective. On average it takes seven meetings to
make a relationship! Most people quit long before they get to meeting number seven. Not you!
65. As a final thought, I would ask you to consider the following questions: Given the
resources that you have right now, what is the movie that you will make this year?
I hope you enjoyed this brief film production checklist. If you did, you might want to download
your copy here.

One more thing If you really like this film production checklist, please share it with every
filmmaker you know. They will thank you for it and frankly, I will too!
FILED UNDER: FILMMAKING
TAGGED WITH: BECOME A FILMMAKER, FILM PRODUCTION CHECKLIST, FILMMAKER CHECKLIST, FILMMAKING, HOW
TO MAKE A MOVIE

About Jason Brubaker

Jason Brubaker is a Hollywood based film distribution consultant,
specializing in Video On Demand. He is focused on helping YOU
market and sell movies more easily by growing your fan base, building buzz and
creating community around your title. He is also available for speaking engagements.

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ABOUT JASON BRUBAKER

Jason Brubaker is a Los Angeles
based movie distribution executive
specializing in direct to consumer
distribution strategies. As the founder of Brubaker
Unlimited, he currently consults with media
companies, rights holders and content creators to
develop strategies to source content, maximize
distribution, grow audiences, build buzz and create
community around each title. [read more]

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