The Three Pillars Of Successful Low Budget Horror Film Production with Jen Handork

Jen Handorf, veteran of five Brit low budget horror flicks, shared her experience at the London Breakfast Club today.

It was an insightful conversation with a producer who has been prolific in production and effective in distribution and sales.

Having worked on so many films, Jen has managed to distil her basic advice down to three simple strategies for success.

1. Get the great script with something remarkable. It’s not good enough to be good, there is an ocean of good stuff out there, it needs a remarkable hook. I wrote about this some time ago, you can read that post HERE.

2. Get the great cast. Find actors who will believe and deliver, not your friends unless they actually are world class actors. Too many horror films are beset by bad acting because filmmakers just don’t engage with professional actors. I would add, write great female leads too, and dip into the massive and amazing talent pool of actresses available. I wrote a post on that HERE.

3. Record great sound AND do an amazing sound mix in post production, not forgetting the Music and Effects mix for foreign sales (M&E mix). The M&E is your sound mix without dialogue so it can be revoiced in other languages. I wrote a post on recording foley for your sound design HERE.

Many other tips, tricks, strategies and tactics were discussed in depth which you can hear in the podcast.

Chris Jones
www.ChrisJonesBlog.com