[ This is a guest post by filmmaker Louis Iacoviello. ]

It all starts with an idea - So my friend Vaughn Verdi and I are at lunch one day and he tells me about this crazy idea he has for a script. Two friends on a road trip who meet and alien who wants to get on American idol. Okay.... hmmm.... sounds interesting.... funny.... are you taking any drugs I don't know about?... Tell me more! We were walking on the street behind Aroma coffee in the Valley when he tells me this. One block away from where Robert Blake shot his wife, not that their is the least bit of significance there, just trying to give you a picture. We had been discussing ideas for things we could shoot ourselves when he told me. It's about a couple of fringe folks who pick up a hitchhiking alien in the desert, whom they assume is just some lonely soul who got lost in the desert after a rave. They then encounter a few more oddballs who do a lot of drugs, shoot guns and play rock and roll, very poorly. The alien has an amulet that can end the world, and he (he was a man at this point) wants the start a band to compete on American Idol, in order to spread his message of love and acceptance. He tells me it would be self contained and easy to shoot, most of it either taking place in the van or at the shack in the desert where the weirdos hang. Then he tells me he most likely has the van already secured. Okay???

Then comes the script - We meet up and talk about the idea a few more times. Actually Vaughn just rambles wildly over the course of a few hours and I nod. Maybe two weeks later he tells me to come over and do a table read of his new script, tentatively entitled Night of the Alien. Really? Already? Did an alien visit you at night and mind meld it to you??? So we do the reading, and its just the two of us doing all the characters at this point. Its hard to digest something when you're reading it aloud for the first time, especially while acting out 28 different parts, but I remember liking it VERY much right away. It was wild and full of energy, jumping all over the place in time, just like the characters it was chronicling. So we did a few more reads, adding people as we went, and the script got better and better.

"What is this script about...?" - When you live and work in Los Angeles, you usually know people, or know people who know people. When this is the case, you show your script to them, to try and get some $$$. In our case, nobody wanted to make our little film. "Its really funny, but what's it about?", was the general response. "Its doesn't really fit into any genre I can sell. Got any low budget horror?", was another. What to do....what to do...

We go it alone! - Vaughn tells me we are going to shoot it by the end of the year. Its now probably July and he says were going to shoot before New Years. Okay??? How??? Remember that the script seemed to fly out of him overnight. A couple of days later, two members of Vaughn's posse step up and offer to produce. They start doing the legwork a producer must do, scheduling and paperwork, but get stuck somewhere in the middle of asking people for money and dealing with the Screen Actors Guild, which wants us to pony up around 5k, plus insurance we can't afford. At this point Vaughn decides to take matters into his own hands. Hell bent on shooting by the end of the year, he gently parts ways with his producing friends, for the time being we hope, and begins to work on producing things himself. Okay? Don't we need money to shoot? And a crew maybe? Just asking... He tells me he wants to use Neil Lisk as our DP, but Neil is expensive, and since we have no money, this probably wont happen. Not to be deterred, Vaughn keeps up with the gentle emails and phone calls and status updates and such, just to keep things moving. A few days later, as if the aliens came to him again in a recurring-abduction-nightmare-anal probing-mind meld sort of way, he tells me Neil is on board and willing to shoot for FREE, if we do it over the Holiday when he's not working. It is now October by the way. Just two short months from our start date. No biggie. There are only a few little things left to do like finding money, a crew, locations and about 20 actors!!!

Action! - The rest is a blur. Pre-production. Not only is everybody working for free at this point, but some people are actually chipping in. Power couple Rob and Pia step up with some money. They are also handling production design, art dept, craft services, and god knows what else. Then Kelly and Suzan Jones step up to do sound, second camera, grip, act, photography, and god knows what else. Vaughn owns a Panasonic HMC150 and has Final Cut on his computer. He meets actors and makes his picks. He also hires several non actors, mostly friends. More people he knows he can count on. Were dressing a large wear house Rob found for a little over $100 a day. Were shooting. Actors are bailing at the last minute. People I recommended are showing up 4 hours late for shooting. Grips are filling in for the missing cast. Green screening a van in somebody's garage. Picking up lunch for 30 people at an El Pollo Loco in the barrio.

That's a wrap! - Viola!!! We finish principle photography in January, start editing, and the footage looks amazing. All in all, this film cost us well under 10,000, and so far no one can tell. The performances are great, since we had the time to do it right. Its funny what you can do with out a budget or producers breathing down your neck to hurry up. Another friend has just stepped up to do all of the digital effects, another for the opening credits, and another to compose. People will do anything if they believe in their leader.

Be indie smart -If you're trying to make a film with no money, don't give yourself a bunch of work you cant do. Keep it simple. Minimal locations. Write with locations and characters /actors you have at your disposal. Fine tune your script and make it great. It all starts with the script. Once you have it ready to go, GO! Anybody who tells you NO, ignore them. To learn more about our Little Film That Could, check out our blog @ http://alienmovie.blogspot.com/ and Facebook Fan Page