How To Get Your First Film Made | Filmmaker Q&A

How do you actually get started as a filmmaker when nobody is giving you money, grants, connections, or permission?

In Episode 66 of Off The Lot, Anthony answers questions from emerging filmmakers about what it really takes to start directing, finance your first projects, break into the industry, and eventually build a sustainable career.

We cover why grants should be treated as a bonus — not a plan, how to make films with the resources you already have, whether filmmakers still need traditional distributors, what micro-budget movies can realistically earn, and why your first feature may be more valuable as a career-building tool than as an immediate financial success.

Anthony also breaks down:

• How to start directing without waiting for someone to hire you

• The biggest mistakes that kill low-budget films

• Why your script, budget and schedule have to match

• Whether applying to Telefilm and other funding programs is worth it

• How filmmakers can build an audience through YouTube

• How to actually get your first job on a film set

• When film markets like TIFF are worth attending

• What filmmakers should realistically expect to earn from a micro-budget feature

• Why making the movie is sometimes only the beginning

The central idea is simple:

Start where you are. Use what you have. Make something. Then make the next thing bigger.

Off The Lot is the podcast for filmmakers building careers outside the studio system.

Subscribe for conversations about independent filmmaking, financing, producing, directing, distribution, and what it actually takes to get movies made.