Shooting a feature in a foreign country.

Cracker Funk

Cracker Funk

Anybody here ever done it? Of course, "foreign" has different meaning to different people, so I should add the context that I'm American.

I have a really great idea for my next feature, but I just don't know how in hell I'll be able to raise the funds necessary for the estimated budget.

So the thought occurred to me -- what if I write a story that takes place in a Country where, because of the conversion rate, the American dollar stretches a long way. I happen to have a very talented actor friend who is Filipino. Maybe I could write a movie for him to be the lead in, that primarily takes place in the Phillippines? Sure would make it easier to pay what little cast & crew I might be able to hire, paying them at local rates.

Any thoughts?
 
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NickClapper said:
The current political situation in the Philippines makes it somewhere I definitely wouldn't want to film. Knowing your work, CF, I suspect that there might be some adult themes involved in the movie (?), in which case I don't think it would be a sensible place to work.
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Interesting. Yes, there would be some adult themes. Thanks for mentioning that.

harmonica44 said:
One worry I would have about shooting with actors who are speaking a different language is, is that, how do you know what they are saying is the actual script, if you do not know the language as well? Even if you have a translator, what if the translator doesn't say cut or point out any errors in the dialogue and what the characters are suppose to mean in the context of the dialogue?

You would be subtitling a movie, based on the assumption of what is actually being said for a lot of it, or the translator's assumption.
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That's one of the reasons I'd want to bring on a co-director who is fluent in Tagalog.

sfoster said:
I thought profit was when your income is greater than your expenses.
I guess I'm just a big dumb idiot, thanks for point out how I don't understand this concept.
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Whoah! What?! I think we've had a miscommunication. I apologize for anything I said that made you think I was calling you a dummy. I was not, though I can see how my wording appeared confrontational.

What I meant was that both you and I, and in fact almost everyone on this forum, knows nothing about turning a profit on movies, because we haven't done it.

YET! Right? :D

My main point, though, was that perhaps I might be able to find a niche audience, in America, with a film shot primarily in Tagalog, simply because there are a lot of Tagalog-speaking people in America.
 
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Will it save money to hire a Phillippino post production crew? Or will it not, because that would mean that you would have to spend money renting a place in the country, till it was finished?
 
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harmonica44 said:
Are Philippinos generally against adult themes though?
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The Philippines recently elected an ultra-conservative president who has kicked off one of the most severe anti-drugs programmes in history. People are literally being encouraged towards vigilanteism against suspected drug dealers, and scores of drug dealers are being murdered by the state on a daily basis.

This New Yorker article this week lays it out pretty well (and shockingly): http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/rodrigo-dutertes-campaign-of-terror-in-the-philippines
 
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Cracker Funk said:
Furthermore, the main reason why I asked this question isn't because I was wondering whether or not I could turn a profit.
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Conversations do veer off subject, don't they... I got lost in the content
and distribution discussion, too.

I have shot in other countries - never as producer and not on the level you
are talking about - so I do have some personal perspective about the logistics.

When you put together a full budget you can ask your friend the local rates
and make a comparison. As I mentioned in my post, if you are the only person
traveling (and lodging) from the States you may save some money. You may
not need a work visa if you are the "producer" - the person paying locals to work.
You may even get government cooperation since you will be employing locals.

It's worth researching. As Nick mentioned you must be cautious about content
in some countries. Even if you do not get government cooperation some countries
have far stricter rules concerning film making than the U.S. does. Your friend can
help you there.

If your "bottom line" is saving money by shooting in the Philippines then make
sure the overall savings is worth the other challenges that come up.

Any idea of what you total budget might be? Do you have a target number?
 
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harmonica44 said:
Bringing in English speaking actors can appear weird though. Audiences might wonder why all the background extras, are of a different race, looking like they are in a different country compared to all the white, American looking major characters.

Also flying in actors and paying for them to have to stay, also increases the budget. I mean how does flying in a cast from America, save money on hiring a crew from the Phillipines for example? It seems the best way to save money is to have a foreign language cast as well. But you can market a foreign language movie to American audiences, to a degree, can't you?

I mean a lot of foreign language films have found success in English speaking countries, and a lot of audiences do not mind subtitles.
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It depends on your script. Maybe there aren't any background extras?
I just looked up foreign films in america .. there are some that made money but it looks like the real successful ones were martial arts films. Crouching Tiger hidden Dragon. Jet Li's Hero. Kung fu Hustle.

But there are some amazing foreign language films that didn't do squat in america.
Is your film going to be anywhere close to the quality of Ip Man?

Helllll no. Ip man was one of the highest grossing films in china that year and it didn't even get a US release.
"The man from where" was koreas highest grossing film of 2010.

The film grossed US$528,175 in the U.S. and Canada combined.

And these are amazingly well choreographed action films with huge distributors and successful behind them - from countries with a film industry that could rival hollywood.

Sure it is possible to market a foreign language film in america.. somehow crouching tiger pulled it off. IDK how because it seems like the odds are stacked against you even more than with a regular film. Especially if you don't have martial artists!
 
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sfoster said:
It depends on your script. Maybe there aren't any background extras?
I just looked up foreign films in america .. there are some that made money but it looks like the real successful ones were martial arts films. Crouching Tiger hidden Dragon. Jet Li's Hero. Kung fu Hustle.

But there are some amazing foreign language films that didn't do squat in america.
Is your film going to be anywhere close to the quality of Ip Man?

Helllll no. Ip man was one of the highest grossing films in china that year and it didn't even get a US release.
"The man from where" was koreas highest grossing film of 2010.

The film grossed US$528,175 in the U.S. and Canada combined.

And these are amazingly well choreographed action films with huge distributors and successful behind them - from countries with a film industry that could rival hollywood.

Sure it is possible to market a foreign language film in america.. somehow crouching tiger pulled it off. IDK how because it seems like the odds are stacked against you even more than with a regular film. Especially if you don't have martial artists!
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Oh okay. I thought that some non-martial arts foreign language films were successful in America such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Oldboy, and Infernal Affairs. Well Oldboy has two martial arts fights, but they were short.

NickClapper said:
The Philippines recently elected an ultra-conservative president who has kicked off one of the most severe anti-drugs programmes in history. People are literally being encouraged towards vigilanteism against suspected drug dealers, and scores of drug dealers are being murdered by the state on a daily basis.

This New Yorker article this week lays it out pretty well (and shockingly): http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/rodrigo-dutertes-campaign-of-terror-in-the-philippines
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This is actually a really good idea for movie. If you are going to shoot a movie in the Phillippines, maybe you should show them a script about this vigilante story.
 
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harmonica44 said:
This is actually a really good idea for movie. If you are going to shoot a movie in the Phillippines, maybe you should show them a script about this vigilante story.
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That sounds really safe. You could also go to Syria to make a film about ISIS. Let me know how that works out.
 
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Well not every idea has to be safe? And why do you have to alert the government about what the movie is about that you are making. The government is always going to want take a piece of the cash pie, so why not just leave them out of it? I don't ask the government's permission, 'is this subject matter okay', any time I have a script I am passionate about.
 
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harmonica44 said:
And why do you have to alert the government about what the movie is about that you are making.
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harmonica44 said:
This is actually a really good idea for movie. If you are going to shoot a movie in the Phillippines, maybe you should show them a script about this vigilante story.
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:lol: Because that's what you said :lol:

harmonica44 said:
Well not every idea has to be safe?
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Sorry dude. But safety is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE especially in another country. Are you serious???? Your own life is not the only life at stake. As a director you don't want to be known as not considering the safety of your cast and crew or even saying safety is not important on a forum.

As a documentarian with your own camera feel free.
 
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There is unrest there so it's both when you are talking about 1) being in that country and 2) being in that country and using the unrest as subject matter.
 
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There are plenty of countries you could shoot in where your dollar could go further. New Zealand and Australia, for example, has the benefit of having English-speaking actors, potentially with American accents. Won't be as cheap as The Phillipines, but it depends on your budget and what you're making (as always).

Depends on your concept, really. You could do something like 'Monsters' quite cheaply (obviously), even something like 'No Escape' potentially.

As always - if you can write your script to be cheap to film, there's no reason it won't be cheap to film :)
 
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