you were given funds ONLY to make the movie? Small budget, 5 figures.
Yes.
Is there a follow-up question?
No. It would be a waste of money and everybody’s time. I know nothing about making movies.
Not really. I sort of left it up to anyone who wants to respond with what they want. I don’t wanna sound like I’m trying to steal ideas.
I think about making one all the time. I almost did, but people are not dependable. But I didn’t have a budget when I tried.
Which movie?
Yes.
Would it be a good movie?
Probably not.
Do I get to pick the genre?
If so, a documentary of my weekend in Vegas could suck up 5 figures easily. just keep the cameras rolling at all time and I think it meets the criteria of the OP.
To be serious, Robert Rodriguez famously made his first film, El Mariachi, for about $7000 (only 4 figures), so it can be done with creativity.
Sure, assuming it’s a message I agree with.
Alright, leaving it open to creativity.
You say “small budget, 5 figures” but since you didn’t specify the movie, I’ll note that 5 figures could be a pretty impressive porn movie budget.
5-figure documentaries could also have some legs.
I’d also like to see how well one could make a movie using a video game engine.
I admit to having trouble answering the question because I don’t really what costs what in the film-making business. I could easily have an idea for a scene but finds that actually doing it halfway decently starts at 6 figures.
I served with Robert Rodriguez. I knew Robert Rodriguez. Robert Rodriguez was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Robert Rodriguez.
Sorry, I only make billion dollar movies.
Yes, I’ll make a movie. When do we start?
Of course! I would make it an homage to the crappy B-movies I love so much, so it wouldn’t require a big budget. It would look like a lost Hal Needham flick from the mid-80’s. Judicious use of cgi and modern editing would cheapen the cost a lot.
Hey, Dark Star had a budget of $60k. Pretty good start for Dan O’Bannon’s career…
I’d do it, and I’d go for a horror film.
I can think of a handful of films made crazy cheap, besides El Mariachi…Primer, Blair Witch, Jahar Panafi’s Offside…mine would be massively worse than those, of course, but it would be fun.
Well, I know Oliver Robins (Poltergeist) who is today an indie film maker, so I’d give him free rein and see what happens.
I’d write a movie script for that, sure. It would be a bitchy comedy.
Sure. I’m starring and the soundtrack will have a whole lotta ‘Wah-Wah’ pedal in it. 
Uhhh… a biopic of the 90’s British band The Stone Roses. Nice.
You mean work for free? No thanks.
I made a short film with about $5000. Almost nobody got paid, so that covered things like costumes and props. If I had had $50,000 I would have paid everyone, maybe stretched it to be a longer shoot and a longer storyline.
Nobody I know can make even a fairly straight domestic feature-length film for less than half a million, and more likely at least $2m, if everyone expects to be paid decently for their time. The reason movies are expensive is because there are a lot of moving parts, many unexpected and hard to anticipate, and it adds up fast. Catering alone can eat up a big chunk of change.