# How To Make Dope Low Budget Films - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/how-to-make-dope-low-budget-films/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Video & Animation · Quick win · Rated 6 /10 # How To Make Dope Low Budget Films By Gareth B. Davies · Updated August 2026 Julian Klepper · Julian Do Movie... You do movie? Beginner · 71 min A fast, chatty pep talk on shoestring filmmaking that trades technical depth for hard-won budget and crew tricks. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fhow-to-make-dope-low-budget-films%2F968948229) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## A pep talk with a production checklist attached "How To Make Dope Low Budget Films" runs 71 minutes and moves through the entire arc of making a narrative short: writing, casting, hiring a crew, shooting, and editing. Julian Klepper hosts alongside a former student, Lola, and the two trade lines in a loose, conversational format rather than a lecture. That format is the course's defining trait. It feels more like sitting in on a mentorship session than working through a structured curriculum, which makes it breezy to watch but light on the kind of step-by-step technical detail a "how to" title implies. The writing section is the strongest stretch. Klepper pushes students toward emotional vulnerability and specificity, then gets concrete: build a full character backstory even if none of it appears onscreen, write conflict as simply as "wanting something and not being able to get it," and rewrite dialogue by recording actors improvising a scene five times and stealing the best lines. The advice to rewrite a script around locations you already have access to, a bar you work at, a backyard, a friend's apartment, is the single most useful budget-specific idea in the course, and it recurs later when the discussion turns to natural light as a free lighting rig. The production section trades craft explanation for numbers. Klepper gives real day rates for a director of photography ($150-300) and a sound person ($150-250), tells students where to post for crew (Craigslist, mandy.com), and lays out a rough total budget of $3,000-5,000 for a low-budget short, including a case for skipping a gaffer entirely if the DP understands basic lighting. This is genuinely useful information that most beginner filmmaking content skips, and it is delivered with specificity rather than vague encouragement. Where the course thins out is technique. Lens choices, camera settings, and editing software are all mentioned but never demonstrated. Adobe Premiere gets a passing recommendation with a joke about Final Cut users, and the entire editing lesson is closer to a philosophy of iteration ("do a lot of versions") than a workflow. Shot listing gets a clear definition and a warning against overcomplicated camera moves, but no example shot list appears onscreen. Students hoping to see any actual demonstration of a technique, a lens test, a lighting setup, an edit being assembled, will not find one here. The most memorable piece of directing advice is the instruction to shoot a silent, non-verbal take of every scene alongside the spoken version, so a weak line reading can be cut around using body language and subtext instead. It is a small, specific, actionable trick that a beginner can use on day one of a shoot. Overall, this plays as a mindset and logistics primer rather than a technical training course. It is honest about costs, generous with crew-hiring specifics, and consistently warm in tone, but it assumes students will source their actual camera, lighting, and editing knowledge elsewhere. For a first-time filmmaker deciding whether a $500 movie is even possible, it answers that question convincingly. For anyone wanting to learn how to actually execute the craft, it is a starting point, not a full education. The standout The instruction to shoot a silent, non-verbal version of every scene so editors can cut around weak line readings and lean on subtext instead. ## What you will learn - · How to write a low-budget-friendly script by tailoring locations and scenes to what you already have access to - · Practical crew-hiring benchmarks: DP rates ($150-300/day), sound person rates ($150-250/day), and where to find them (Craigslist, mandy.com) - · Shot-listing and coverage basics, including why to always secure a wide master shot as a safety net - · Techniques for directing non-professional actors, including the 1-100 intensity scale and getting a silent, non-verbal take of every line - · How to use natural light and simple lighting setups to avoid hiring a gaffer - · An editing mindset built on cutting multiple versions, minimal coverage use, and layering in room tone and sound effects Best for: A total beginner who wants to write, shoot, and finish one no-budget narrative short and needs a confidence boost plus a checklist of decisions to make. Skip it if: Anyone wanting hands-on technical instruction in cinematography, lighting setups, or software-based editing workflows, since none of those are actually demonstrated. Engaging Teacher Clarity of Instruction Organization of Lessons Actionable Steps [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fhow-to-make-dope-low-budget-films%2F968948229)