Sometimes I wonder if indie filmmaking is worth the hassle. Every Monday I do accounting, updating spreadsheets, tracking the business expenses and sales. Almost every week there are columns marked in bold and red — money still owed. Sometimes these owed columns don’t change for months. Sometimes years.
As I write this, I have been emailing IndieFlix since October 2023, chasing payments owed since 2021. These payments are pennies, under $100, but since their policy is to payout every quarter if earnings are above a $1 threshold, I think it is fair to expect the license agreement we signed to be honoured.
IndieFlix is a funny one. We have two films with them, Friends, Foes & Fireworks and Daughter, going back to the start of 2019. In the beginning they reported and paid on time every quarter and our films would earn a small amount on their platform, barely over three figures. But then one year into the deal a funny pattern would begin to emerge: every quarter like clockwork they would still send the reports but always forget the follow-up part… actually paying the money owed.
Interview with Noam Kroll: Making a Feature Solo & Embracing Micro-Budget Filmmaking
Noam Kroll is an LA-based filmmaker and a well-known proponent of micro-budget filmmaking. Ivan Malekin was lucky enough to interview Noam about his new feature, “Disappearing Boy”, which he filmed with no crew. In this interview Noam reveals exactly how and why he made a film this way, but also talks about the benefits of micro-budget filmmaking and his creative and work philosophies in general.
IM
I'm amazed that you pulled this off as a one person crew, I think it's a little crazy, to tell you the truth. We shot a feature late last year, and for most of it was myself and my partner Sarah were the only crew. Some days we had an production assistant as an extra pair of hands, but we were absolutely exhausted at the end of each day. When it was done, we were pretty much burnt out. So the fact you would have done this all by yourself is just amazing to me. Would you do this again?
NK
I definitely would. And I think it's funny because I totally hear what you're saying and like I've had those experiences too, where I've had small crews or done things just with a friend and then felt exhausted. And I think I've done it enough times that by the time I made this film, one of the intentions I had for it was that it would feel sustainable.