MAKING THE JUMP FROM SHORT DOCS TO FEATURES
What I've learned so far from making my first feature documentary
It’s been a little over 2 years since I started work on my first feature documentary, Los Sotoleros. It’s been a slow process so far, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it hasn’t gone quite how I expected it to. Part of that is the personal challenges we’re facing, and part of that is an industry-wide issue, but it all combines to make things more challenging than I expected compared to my first three short films.
Each of those films took me between 9-12 months from development to premiere, with 2 of them having a small budget to work with from the start. By comparison, to date, I’ve been funding Los Sotoleros myself.
So, what have I learned while making the jump from short documentaries to a feature documentary?
WHY DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A FEATURE?
Not every film, and not every filmmaker needs to make a feature documentary. Sometimes, the story doesn’t need 60 minutes+ to tell. Sometimes, the filmmaker isn’t quite ready for it (and most will never be). But you need to know why you want to make a feature. It takes a lot of time and resources, especially in the beginning. If it’s your first feature, you’ll put in a lot of unpaid time to make it work. This is even harder if you didn’t come up through the filmmaking “ranks” and went straight to making your own projects, as I did.
After making three short docs in the past five years, one of which had a pretty decent festival run, I felt ready to take on a feature.
My suggestion, especially if you are new-ish to filmmaking, is to continue making short docs until you have a solid grip on the process of making films. Perhaps one of your films should have had a good festival run (at least at B-tier festivals) before making a feature. You’ll learn the ropes much faster and improve your craft more by making multiple shorter projects rather than one feature.
The other reason I jumped to features now is that there are more opportunities for funding in features (even if it’s still extremely difficult) and more opportunities to earn money on the back end of the film. Now, not every film will make money, but it is still possible (look at this recent case study of ENO, for example).
PERSISTENCE
Once again, this is critical. I talked with a programmer from Hot Docs at RIDM, and she mentioned it’s rare to see a good feature film that was made in less than two years. There have been a few exceptions to that recently (20 Days in Mariupol, which had a team of 2 editors and three assistants in post, and Wuhan Wuhan, which had 2 editors, 2 associate editors and 3 assistant editors). But for most of us that will not have that deep of a post-production team, expect to put in a lot of dedication and time to make the film.
To sustain yourself while making a feature, especially if you don’t have funding for it (yet), you need to be persistent and, at the same time, patient. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and making a bit of progress every day will pay off over time.
I expect to spend another 1-2 years producing and in post on this film, and then ~2 years on the release of the film, so remember – each feature is a substantial investment of your time. You need to be persistent to see it through.
EXTREME AMOUNT OF PASSION
To maintain that persistence, you need a remarkable amount of passion for the story, your craft and the process. To do the dirty work that you don’t like doing, whether that’s making pitch decks, pitching, cold calling/emailing, logging and organizing footage, whatever it is, you won’t be taking those steps if you’re not truly passionate about every aspect of getting your film made. There’s no one that will have more passion for the story than you.
ADAPTABILITY
When projects stretch on for a long time, it’s almost guaranteed to change in some form. Being adaptable and making changes as needed will help you overcome the barriers or obstacles that are in the way. Filmmaking can be, at times, an exercise in frustration, but being adaptable can help you overcome those challenges.
For Los Sotoleros so far, we’ve had changed plans, cancelled plans, altered potential storylines, and long periods of time where it has felt like little has gone right for me. But I believe in going with the flow and handling whatever comes up with patience and flexibility has allowed me to continue pushing on with the project.
CONCLUSION
While the process of making a short and a feature is the same (going from development through production, post-production, and release), the time, effort, and energy needed are substantially different. Keep this in mind as you work on your films and decide whether or not to take on a feature film project.