How Jesse Korman Made A $150K Horror Feature In 12 Days For Joe Swanberg
Show Don't Tell: Micro-Budget FilmmakingShow Notes
In this episode, I'm joined by Jesse Korman, director of Yellow Eyes, the possession horror feature now streaming on Screambox. Jesse has produced over 30 films, directed a long list of music videos, and fronts the band The Number Twelve Looks Like You.
Yellow Eyes is his feature directorial debut, made as part of Joe Swanberg's five-film horror slate shot back to back in Chicago, all on the same budget.Jesse got the offer right before leaving on tour, which left him about six weeks to build a script from scratch with writer Mickey Solis (often over the phone between soundchecks) and get to set.
Instead of writing first and budgeting later, they reverse engineered the story from the money and the schedule: one location, minimal cast, and spending concentrated on the moments that would really land on screen. The result was a 12-day shoot that never fell behind schedule.
Throughout the episode we dig into the prep that made that possible, from shot listing and timing every scene with his DP to pre-rigging the entire house so every room was camera ready the moment they walked in.
Topics covered include: How Jesse landed a spot on Joe Swanberg's five-film Chicago horror slate Writing and prepping a feature in six weeks while on tour Why a crew rolling from one film to the next becomes a well-oiled machine Letting the budget and schedule dictate the script, not the other way around Shot listing and timing every scene to never fall behind Pre-rigging a single location so every room is always lit Lighting through windows and a last-minute day-for-night pivot Why a two-person art department moves faster than a 50-person crew What a $10M set taught him about wasted time and money Casting non-SAG actors and why the union label doesn't matter to audiences Landing distribution through Cineverse and Screambox What Joe Swanberg told him on the last night of the shoot Much More! Links from the show:
Watch Yellow Eyes on Screambox
Jesse Korman on Instagram
The Number Twelve Looks Like You on Instagram
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