‘Rebel Without a Crew’ Filmmaking by 7K & Josh Stifter

Robert Rodriguez the director who became famous for making El Mariachi, with an ultra-low budget of 7k documented his experience ins 1995 book Rebel Without A Crew, which is now being adapted into a six-part series by Go90 and El Rey Network. Rodriguez gave five first-time filmmakers the chance to replicate his own near-impossible feat. Josh Stifter is one of the five first time filmmakers who mark the 25th anniversary of El Mariachi. Josh talks to indieactiivty about how he single handedly write, shoot, an edit a feature length film in 14 days.

indieactivity: How did you qualify for Rebel Without a Crew?
Josh Stifter: I created a few animations that El Rey was interested in for The People’s Network Showcase: Animation Edition. While I was at El Rey Network, they were discussing this show Rebel Without A Crew. I literally had the book in my backpack and one producer asked me if I had done any live action work. I had! I showed them my youtube channel and they immediately said they’d love it if I applied. I did and the rest is history!

Josh Stifter makes his indie film in 14 days on a 7k budget

indieactivity: What is it like making a feature with 7k?
Josh Stifter: It was obviously a challenge to make the movie for $7,000. That is NOT very much money. However, I’ve spent years making short films and animations with NO money and in one or two days, so I treated this like any short film I did, but just spend more time. I wrote the script in a way that I knew I could do visual effects myself and wrote around props I already owned and knew I could fit in a suitcase on the plane. I only bought necessities, sometimes waiting until the day of the shoot to run to the store in hopes that maybe something would come up along the way or I’d find a work around that didn’t force us to spend any money.

Josh Stifter and Robert Rodriguez

indieactivity: How many hours did you log during shooting?
Josh Stifter: We were allowed to film about 10 hours a day all together for 14 days. That was it. No pickups or reshoots after that. This made me very conscious of every shot I was taking and editing in camera as much as possible to not waste time taking ridiculous amounts of takes, but instead getting what we needed and moving on.

indieactivity: What is it like working with Robert Rodriguez?
Josh Stifter: Robert was fantastic! He’s a wealth of knowledge when it comes to creating independent films. His book has been my inspiration since the early days of trying to create independent film and now I’ve had the opportunity to make a movie under similar constraints, I feel reading to do it all again and make another low budget independent feature!.

indieactivity; How does he direct? Do give a specific scenario?
Josh Stifter: Everything I know about the way Robert directs is from audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes, and his book “Rebel Without A Crew”. When he came on my set, we discussed using a slider and how he prefers to shoot handheld or on sticks. After showing him how I used the slider and, even though it was the most expensive piece of equipment I rented, it was worth the money for the two weeks and added a massive amount of production value, Robert agreed that I had made the right choice. His directing style is to definitely use what you have, collaborate, and don’t waste time fussing over minor details.

indieactivity: Robert Rodriguez is pretty much a home body, how does he start to create?
Josh Stifter: I never asked Robert how he starts a project, but I definitely know he has a “just go for it” mentality. Don’t overthink or spend to much time analyzing or judging yourself, or you’ll never get started. Just start. Create. Make something you’ve never seen before or something you’ve always wanted to try.

indieactivity: What is the production process like on Rebel Without a Crew?
Josh Stifter: Production for the show was very stressful, but that’s generally true of any film set. We not only had the challenge of making a movie under the constraints of a low budget and very little time, we also had to do this insane task publicly and while being filmed. More than anything, the stress comes from the fear of knowing people will watch you fail. So the tight turn arounds, due to the reality crew, or the need to stop and film talking head segments, or being told we couldn’t do stunts without a stunt coordinator wasn’t as difficult as just being the center of attention while trying to create these true and honest moments for my film.

indieactivity: Will Robert Rodriguez, Go90, or El Rey Network become your executive producers (financiers) as your career progresses?
Josh Stifter: God willing and the creek don’t rise…. I guess I’ll have to wait and see!

indieactivity: What is special about Rebel Without a Crew?
Josh Stifter: Rebel Without A Crew is special in that I was granted this amazing opportunity for me to finally take time off from work, go down to Austin with my best friend, and just do our best to make a movie. Neither Daniel Degnan (Father Gil) or I had ever made a feature film. This was something brand new and dream of ours. Robert pushed us to finish each part of the process as quickly and thoroughly as possible. In the end, we were able to do something we didn’t know if we’d ever complete and we’re very proud of how it all turned out.

indieactivity: What advice did Robert Rodriguez give you?
Josh Stifter: Robert gave me a TON of great advice. When I was nervous about blowing up the Teddy Bear, he and I messaged about it and came up with a new idea for how to make a gross, fun sequence that wouldn’t rely on any big explosions or needing to hire a professional. Instead we just came up with some clever visual effects and made the scene as silly as we possibly could. In the end, it turned out to be a favorite scene among people who have seen the film.

Robert also gave me advice when it came to directing my best friend. I was nervous about Daniel’s acting ability, since he had never acted in a feature before. But Robert pointed out that we had the benefit of being life-long friends. The bond and comfort that we have would be incomparable to even weeks of training. He assured me that if I made Daniel feel comfortable and we found the character together, Daniel would do a great job. Robert was completely right. Allowing Daniel the comfort to run with the character and feel comfortable in Father Gil’s boots made the performance shine.

indieactivity: What did you constantly experience working on Rebel Without a Crew that haunts you
Josh Stifter: I’m haunted by the idea that this will be my only feature. I think every filmmaker feels that, but because of the reality show, I was always wondering if making this film was worth it. I came to the conclusion that almost no-one makes his or her first movie on their own terms. It’s a compromise. It’s working inside of the constraints of confines of what you have at your disposal. I had a reality crew as a confine, but I also had Robert Rodriguez leading me into this battle and pushing me to keep going. My crew and I used the reality crew as a motivator to keep pushing harder. Use what you can to push yourself. Even if what you have is just a crappy video camera, some tape and a Teddy Bear.

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