@michaeltrazzi hey!
All in all just above $17,000. 9/10 people on set also included myself, Mike, Gary and our film photographer.
A Netflix shoot is usually minimum $20k, and we want our shoots to be at that level as our aim is to break into film festivals and then streaming services. That's why we had 4 cameras! (Three FX6s and one FX3).
So I would pay this price again though because we have something that is an intriguing interview and super cinematic looking. Which was our purpose with this documentary.
It was a particularly expensive shoot because:
We had less than one week notice to sort the whole shoot and as we are in SF, fly over to NYC and hire a local crew.
Because Gary Marcus was coming to NYC and no longer has an office here, we had to pay for a filming location (when hitherto we've been using people's offices and homes).
Our AirBnB was expensive because there was a chance we might have had to house crew and do some b-roll filming there, so it had to suit both those things.
We had to ship extra luggage on our flights.
I will note that I've been quite successful at getting price reductions on things like crew and gear hire. And I'll continue to fight for value. Mike is also quite experienced with these bigger shoots so he has a good intuition for what should cost what.
Regarding the burn, we also raised $50,000 privately in the last few weeks. So although the interview a significant cost, we thought it was worth it. BUT to finish the documentary we still need to raise a lot.
Michael you should come help us fundraise aha! We could use your expertise.
[Costings below if you'd like a look!]