Telefilm recently announced the third version of its excellent two-stage micro-budget feature production contest. I applaud Telefilm for financing 22 features this way and sticking with this program.

Having watched the development of the program over the last three years, here’s my take on how to finance your first feature for free in Canada:

1. Become a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant.
2. Join one of the film co-operatives on the Designated Partners list. Consider moving to a cheaper city with less competition.
3. At the co-op meet a writer member with a feature script you really, really like and want to direct. Convince a producer member to join you two. (By the way, if you can organize a great party AND you can balance your cheque book, consider becoming a Producer — they are in short supply.)
4. As a trio, make a short film (5-10 minutes) of excerpt scenes from the feature script.
5. Read this year’s guidelines and get your submission together: second-draft script, budget, marketing plans, pitch video, etc. Telefilm usually announces the Micro-Budget program in October but delayed it until January this year (perhaps due to system changes.)
6. Submit to your co-op and cross your fingers.
7. When you’re successful, add the Recommender Letter to your package and submit to Telefilm.

If you’re successful, congratulations! You’ll have $100,000 to $120,000 to make your movie in 12 months and a further three to distribute it digitally.

If you’re not successful, develop a new project and start over. Telefilm will not consider the same project again.

Plus, if you’re not successful at the co-op or Telefilm stages, MAKE THE FILM ANYWAY.

You’re probably asking at least two questions right now:

1. How can I make the movie when I don’t have the $100K?
2. How can I ever reapply to the Telefilm Micro-Budget program once I make my first feature?

The answers, as I see it?

1. The truth is, once you start paying your cast and crew and spending money on renting cameras and equipment, $100K is not enough anyway. If you can entice your co-op buddies and local, non-union actors to collaborate with you on your venture and you use your own or the co-op’s equipment, you’ll actually need much less cash. Maybe $10,000 to $25,000. Find investors or crowd-fund this. You have all the materials you need already!
2. Telefilm (and CAVCO) calls anything over 74 minutes a feature. If your film looks like a winner, commit to it as your first feature and make it the best possible. If it’s not as great as you wished for your first feature, cut it down to something between 61 and 74 minutes, including credits. That way it will still qualify as a feature at those festivals that use 60 minutes or greater to define features, but it will not be regarded as a feature at Telefilm. This is a case of having your cake and eating it too. You will learn so much by making the film that your next feature pitch will be immeasurably better.

My take: another strategy is to stop waiting to be ‘picked’ and just get on with doing it. As Seth Godin says, the only thing holding you back is your lizard brain.