Rebelde Sin Equipo

I came out here to learn the rules, and I knew full well from the beginning that I would break them.

I still remember seeing Robert Rodriguez on television right before the release of Desperado; he talked about how he used what he had, and had written the script around who was going to be available on what days. Then they said how much El Mariachi had cost. Seven thousand dollars? The man had made a film for the combined price of the two computers in my dad’s office. If that’s all it took, then why wasn’t I going out to make one right now?

A few months later, Desperado hit the video stores, and I was able to take it home and see what Mr. Rodriguez could do with seven million.  I was transfixed. The man had essentially flipped off the entire film industry, circumventing whatever rules had been established in the process of making “good movies.” Movies cost lots of money, took way too much time, and eventually ended up being a muddled jumble of several people’s vision. He shot quickly, cheaply, and on his own terms. How crazy is that?

Now I’m on the edge of making my own film, launching myself directly into territory which astounded me ten years ago. Some of my friends that my proposed budget is leading me directly into a cinematic suicide mission, because we all know it’s impossible to shoot a film on a budget of less than six figures. A colleague of mine is getting together funding to make a horror movie for three hundred thousand dollars, which is a plan which appears more than sound. The catch? He doesn’t even like horror films. I’m sure he’ll go on to be successful with this endeavor, just as he is successful in everything that he does. As for me, I’d much rather go down in flames doing something that I love, knowing that I blew far less capital in my failed attempt than I would have if I had made the film in the supposedly proper fashion.

I came out here to learn the rules. I’ve spent four years beholden to the rules of unions, permits, lengthy postproductions, and films which undeservedly balloon to hundred-million-dollar budgets. It’s time to take all that I’ve learned and witnessed and throw it out the window. There’s movies to be made.