How we made a TV pilot on a micro-budget
- Nick Bohle
- Jan 8
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 11
And what I'd do differently next time
If you’ve ever tried to make something cinematic on a micro-budget, you already know the feeling: the money disappears fast, the plan never survives contact with reality, and the only real currency you have left is people—their skill, their patience, their resourcesfulness, and their belief.
For There Are No Squirrels in Lethbridge we built a 51-minute dark-comedy neo-noir TV pilot on roughly $38,000 CAD, while also creating a production environment that was professional, respectful, and union-performer approved.
Here’s what that actually looked like.
The honest budget breakdown
where the money went
Micro-budgets get romanticized online. The truth is: they’re less “scrappy miracle” and more constant triage.
Here are our biggest buckets, from most expensive to least:
Crew — ~ $15K
Cast — ~ $5.5K
Post — ~ $4.5K
Locations — ~ $2.5K
Composing — ~ $2K
On top of that, our budget also covered things like accommodations/hotels, gear rentals, insurance and the inevitable “death by a thousand cuts” expenses that show up in every production (transportation, meals, last-minute buys, backups for the backups, etc.).
What we sacrificed
and the trade nobody sees
I post-produced the entire 51-minute pilot—top to bottom—including composing the full score. And if I’m being brutally honest, I did not pay myself fairly by any margin.
That’s a common micro-budget reality: someone absorbs the overage in time, and often that “someone” is the producer/editor/composer who’s trying to protect the rest of the team.
Another thing is that we couldn't control the environment a whole lot (especially outside) so if you're really keen you may notice some not-so-90s background items, vehicles, etc. However, I was pretty careful minimizing those in post as much as possible.
We also made a strategic sacrifice that always comes back to haunt you later:
Our marketing budget is limited right now. Not ideal. (d'ooh)
We’re rebuilding that runway through continued crowdfunding, events, workshops and more but if you’re reading this as a filmmaker: file that away. I’ll come back to it.
The schedule:
6 shoot days, pickups, and a lot of moving pieces
Our principal photography happened on:
May 17
May 19
May 20
May 21
May 23
May 24
May 28 - Pick ups
In total we shot in:
8 locations around Lethbridge
2 locations in High River, Alberta
9 company moves
That’s not a “small” schedule. That’s a schedule that demands planning, discipline, and a crew that can stay calm when the day gets loud.
What actually kept us alive:
AD power + delegation + Volunteers
If I could tattoo one lesson onto every first-time producer’s forehead, it would be this:
You can’t micro-budget your way out of logistics.
Our Assistant Director team—Bao Hong, Christine Salinas, and Dayna Christmas—was absolutely crucial. They carried an enormous amount of the “dirty work” that makes productions function:
paperwork and reporting
professional, accurate call sheets
food orders and day-to-day coordination
keeping the set moving without chaos
Their work didn’t just make the shoot smoother—it made it possible.
On top of the superstar level AD power we had we also were very fortunate to receive a ton of volunteer help. It came from background actors, production assistants, catering support and more. We were truly blessed to have the community rally behind us to bring this thing to life.
Our crew is also a young bunch of very seasoned filmmakers with many major production credits and it showed. The poise, the resourcefulness, the choices all lead to successful outcomes.
In the 2-4 weeks leading up to principal photography, I had to delegate hard so I could carve out time to build Jack Dawson into the character we had envisioned when writing the screenplay [more on Jack in an upcoming post].
Conner took on a lot of producing and logistics too (and he was pretty green to the production process), so a ton of credit goes to him for stepping up, learning a lot and riding the wave with the AD team and I. Our coordinated effort gave me just enough time to prepare for my role as Jack Dawson.
The weird truth:
you’ll still feel unprepared
Even with months of dedicated work, I still felt unprepared as we got closer. I’m not sure that feeling ever fully goes away.
What changes (for me) is not the anxiety—it’s my ability to operate through it, and trust that I've done what I can in building our cast and crew to see the production through. We've made it here and we have something truly special so it's worked so far. More on that journey as the posts continue.
“Lean crew” doesn’t mean “thin standards”
We kept the crew lean, but what mattered wasn’t headcount—it was synergy.
That came from:
good crewing
good casting
energy management on the days
setting expectations early
and people showing up with professionalism (even when things got tight)
A micro-budget set cannot afford ego, confusion, or vague leadership. Every question you don’t answer in prep becomes a problem you pay for on the day.
What I’d do differently next time
the marketing runway rule
Here’s my biggest lesson from this production:
Stay conservative with your budget in the early stages of pre-production and production.
The more you can save for marketing without compromising production quality or working conditions, the better.
Because once the project is finished, you’re not “done.” You’re just entering the phase where the world decides whether your film exists outside your hard drive.
Festival fees. Deliverables. Publicists. Trailer finishing. Ad spend. Posters. Travel. DCPs. Screeners. Community screenings. Pitch meetings. All of it.
Marketing isn’t a luxury. It’s oxygen.
If you’re planning your own micro-budget… steal these takeaways
Identify your department leads and get everyone on the same page - with tasks - FAST.
Spend early energy on logistics, not “vibes.”
Protect your AD department like your life depends on it (because it does).
Plan like a pessimist, execute like an optimist.
Don’t confuse “lean” with “rushed.”
Save more money for marketing than your ego wants to.
Want help planning your own micro-budget production?
If you’re an indie filmmaker or a business owner who wants story-first production value (without the bloated overhead), you can book a session with me directly.
Help us finish strong
We proved we can build a professional, cinematic TV pilot with Alberta talent on a micro-budget. Now we’re building the runway for festivals, touring, and distribution.
If you want to help There Are No Squirrels in Lethbridge reach more screens:
Follow us:
@Therearenosquirrels on Facebook and Instagram
Donate to our GoFundMe at the button below:
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