The Hardest Part of Making a Feature Film

It's the part that no one talks about.

The hardest part of making a feature film is not the writing, or the money-raising, or logistics, or finding the right cast and crew, filming, editing, or even selling it. No, the hardest part encapsulates all of those things.

Tom Petty said it best:

“The waiting is the hardest part.”

Feature filmmaking is a waiting game. It’s a marathon. And if you ain’t ready to run the marathon, don’t bother signing up for the race. Trouble is, most people don’t know what they’re signing up for. At least, not until they’re already in it.

Any writer knows that patience is the virtue. Going back to the marathon metaphor, Japanese author Haruki Murakami has a wonderful book on his creative process called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. As an avid long distance runner, Murakami contrasts the discipline of running to that of writing his novels. He makes a comparison to the mental stamina required for both efforts. Making a film requires that marathon mindset.

On a feature film, a writer/director (like myself) will be with the project the longest. It could take years to get a script to “done”. I started writing our feature Feed Me back in May of 2022. I’m currently on my umpteenth revision- trimming the fat before we get deeper into pre-production. Or, you could be a writer trying to go through the studio system. Your script gets optioned and then languishes in development hell for years. You wait, and wait.

Mr. Bean via Giphy

The road is long and hard. You would think that by taking matters into your own hands and circumventing the studio machine that it would be easier. It’s not. It’s a different kind of difficult. You’re still taking the project out and trying to get money for it; trying to convince others to take a chance on it, and that it’s worthwhile. It’s not the waiting game then, so much as it is the dating game. You’re trying to find investors, supporters and patrons that are a good match for your project. It takes time.

But let’s say you get your film made. It’s in the can*, and you’re ready to take it out on the festival circuit. You submit to all of the major festivals and then you wait. Months go by. As the notification deadlines loom, you’re compulsively checking your inbox and your mailbox for that acceptance letter. As luck would have it, your film is accepted into a top festival. All of the major distributors will be there.

Your film premieres at the festival! It’s the moment you’ve worked toward all these years. The reception is great! The audience loved it. Lots of smiles and shaking of hands. You’re on cloud nine. You and your team wait for an offer.

The offer doesn’t come. Or, at least, not the one you’d hoped for. After playing out a similar scenario at a few more festivals, you and your team decide to pivot. Self-distribution is the plan now. But it doesn’t need to be haphazard. The rollout should be carefully planned and calculated. This takes several more months.

Finally, the day comes. Your film is ready to be made public to the world. You have your release. You wait for the reception. And…

You see where I’m going with this? It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a lot of hurry up and wait.

And that’s if you’re one of the lucky few fortunate enough to get their movie made and released in the first place. Most projects never get past development. I’m thinking of 90% of Guillermo Del Toro’s projects. It’s not uncommon for some poor bastards to actually get into pre-production before the plug is pulled. Tim Burton’s Superman Lives, anyone?** Worse yet, a film can be completed and then never see the light of day- like Warner Brothers’ Batgirl or Coyote vs. Acme.*** The creatives behind that and the hundreds of crew members that worked to make those films possible have waited for a day that will likely never come.

But I’m preaching to the choir. Last year, the entire film industry waited as SAG-AFTRA and the WGA went on strike. Creatives and crew went months without work. And before that, it was the Covid-19 pandemic.

You’ve got to be made of iron in this business. If you can do anything else, do that. Write a novel, make some music, paint a picture. But if you can’t, then get in that marathon mindset now. It’s going to be a long journey.

The emotional rollercoaster of making a film

For us here at Obsolete Media, it’s been an emotional rollercoaster- one that we’re still on. We’re so anxious to get our film made and out into the world. We want you all to see what we’ve been cooking up. If you want to be one of the first to know, the best way to do that is to subscribe.

We’ve got some exciting things to show you over the next several months. Like a practical puppet character created by KreatureKid! And I’m doing my best to document the journey we’re on. Even the unglamorous stuff.

You’re going to love what we have in store for you. Wait, and see.

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* Fun fact: “In the can” is derived from filmmaking. When movies were primarily shot on film, they were kept in film canisters. Once completed, it was considered in the can.

** There’s a crowd-funded documentary on the Tim Burton/Nic Cage Superman film called The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? which is available on Youtube.

*** Batgirl and Coyote vs. Acme were shelved after the Warner Brothers/Discovery merger and used as a tax write-off.