The Honest Filmmaker

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Steve Barton: The Story Behind TERRIFIER, Dread Central & 30 Years in Horror

2026-10-0643:05

Send us Fan Mail This week on The Honest Filmmaker, I'm joined by filmmaker, producer and horror industry veteran Steve Barton. Steve has spent around 30 years in the film business, from working in journalism and founding Dread Central to making films and working alongside some of the biggest names in horror, including George A. Romero and Sid Haig. We talk about the long, messy reality of building a career in independent film, learning on the job, dealing with rejection, working with friends...

How to Make, Distribute & Release a £33K Feature Film with Kevin Walls

2026-09-2926:33

Send us Fan Mail How do you make a feature film for around £33,000 and get it into cinemas without a traditional distributor? In this episode of The Honest Filmmaker, Jim talks to filmmaker Kevin Walls about his feature film Premature , from writing the first draft in just two weeks and bootstrapping the production, through to crowdfunding, a 23-day shoot and the challenge of distributing the finished film. Kevin explains why the film cost around £16,000 to produce, how crowdfunding helped ta...

How Ole Hartmann Made a $25K Feature Film After Writing It in 8 Days

2026-09-2230:03

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you decide you're going to make a feature film, despite having almost no connections in the film industry? For Ole Hartmann, it started while watching Desperado. Inspired by Robert Rodriguez's story of making El Mariachi, Ole realised that perhaps he didn't need to wait for someone else to give him permission to make a movie. He could finance one himself. Six days later, he started writing. Eight days after that, he had a feature script. The result was...

We Thought Making Our First Feature Would Be Easier… with Devin Smock and Sam David

2026-09-1530:09

Send us Fan Mail What does it really take to make your first feature film? This week on The Honest Filmmaker Podcast, I'm joined by Devin Smock and Sam David, who are currently making Hollar, their debut feature. They're about 60% through the film, having already completed a 16-day shooting block and spent around $15,000. Now they're working towards the next stage and figuring out how to get the remaining footage in the can. Along the way, they've learned some valuable lessons about writing f...

From $100 to HELLMARE: Victor Gabriel on Making Micro-Budget Feature Films

2026-09-0833:14

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you want to make a feature film but don't have much money? Filmmaker Victor Gabriel joins The Honest Filmmaker to talk about the making of HELLMARE, his horror feature that cost roughly $10,000 and was shot in just 13 days. Victor started out by making a tiny $100 found-footage film, using friends' houses, borrowed locations and the equipment he already owned. That first experiment wasn't something he was particularly proud of, but it got distributed, made i...

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