MFJF map · UK
Making a feature film: the people, the process and the departments
Nobody makes a film; a few hundred people make a film. A UK independent feature goes through six phases, each run by a different set of people, and there is an entry-level job in every one. Read left to right.
DevelopmentMonths to years
A producer and a story. An option on the rights, a screenwriter, draft after draft. Most projects never leave this phase.
Financing and packagingMonths
The producer builds a package: script, director, one or two named actors, a budget and a schedule, and takes it to financiers.
Pre-production8 to 16 weeks
The money closes, a company is set up for the production, and suddenly there is a production office. Most first jobs are here: every department needs a pair of hands.
The shoot4 to 10 weeks
Principal photography: the unit moves to the first location or stage and shoots five days a week, ten or eleven hours a day plus travel. The callsheet goes out the night before.
Post-production4 to 9 months
The crew disperses and a much smaller team takes over, mostly in post houses and VFX companies in Soho, Bristol, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Belfast.
Sales, distribution, marketing and exhibitionA year or more
The sales agent takes the finished film to the markets and sells the remaining territories. Each distributor plans a release for its country.
