Should say low budget than $0 budget, because you always need to consider your time you spent doing it, what if someone plans to hire you to do something similar? they would expect $0 budget because it's $0? Filmmakers need to start thinking how to value their time when doing projects like this.

I make a lot of scifi action low-no budget feature films and I'm always enjoy reading articles like this. I am a bit, however, worried about telling everyone how much a film is made (how low it was made) as it will also give distributors or sales agents a way to 'capitalize' your film but also giving you less since they can say "we have to do this and that to make it sell since it's this and that..." mentality and they tent to take advantages of indie filmmakers like us. Hope your agreement with Gravitas isn't like 6+ years agreement, and make sure the expense/distribution cap isn't as high as it should be etc.

good luck.

Nice. We also shot a feature action scifi. We didn’t have it done yet and still in post. Shot it during sep-dec 2020. Here’s the name of the movie and you can find the trailer on YouTube.
Wu Lin The Society

We are currently doing a no budget feature film and we are the first in the state to have cast wearing masks in front of the camera as part of this near future fiction. We also do a lot of a safety precaution. Especially in the low to no budget filming environment, a delay can hurt more on scheduling and planning.

Everyone on our set wear mask and we do daily temp check, contact tracing form and everyone had to read and agreed on the safety guidelines that we put together in June. With about 30+ people on set. We have been good in keeping everyone safe and making sure we still have a good production.

We also understand the style or our film may not be for everyone but suffice to say everyone knows we have the safest set within the low budget indie realm.

And here’s the teaser Wu Lin The Society | Indie Sci-Fi Teaser 2 | 4K Anamorphic

Congrats, and I agree, it's not the gear but the content. I've known a lot of independent filmmakers making it and got distribution deals not because of the gear but because of the story/content, and these are all no budget feature films.

I have produced and also directed numerous indie scifi/martial arts/action films since 1998. All shot within 14 days or less and all edited ourselves. It’s possible. A lot of planning is placed to make sure you have a good running machine.

One thing I’ve learned through the year is never tell people how much or how low it was made when it comes to distribution. Unless you are self-distributing. What is happening that distributors or buyers will google the name of the movie and find all the info. If you have said you made it for $35 for example, they would low now you and you may night get the desired amount. They can say that since you made it this cheap, I will offer your $500 instead of $5000.