Just a few indie films listed here to show you how little they were made for, how much money they made, and how successful they still are today.

The Blair Witch Project - This film was in the Guinness Book Of World Records for "Top Budget:Box Office Ratio" (for a mainstream feature film). The film cost $22,000 to make and made back $240.5 million, a ratio of $1 spent for every $10,931 made.

Pink Flamingos - Directed by John Waters
John Waters got a loan from his parents for $12,000. This crazy little movie shows you what an insane script, shock, and a 300 lb. pound transvestite can do for an investor. The film became a cult hit making more than $6 million dollars. This gives it a cost to gross ratio of 500. Just for comparison, Titanic's cost to gross ratio is 3. According to production designer, the art department's budget was about $200. Half went to purchasing the trailer, half to decorating it.

El Mariachi - Directed by Robert Rodriguez
This film initially cost $7000 to make. Director Robert Rodriguez raised $3,000 of the $7,000 by volunteering to be a human "laboratory rat". He was used to test a cholesterol reducing drug. Paid $100 a day for 30 days, he wrote most of the script while locked in the lab. One actor was a fellow "rat", but could not speak Spanish. He delivered his lines from card held in his hand or out of shot. The film to date has made millions.

Clerks - The cost of obtaining the rights to the soundtrack (approx. US$27,000) outweighed the entire production costs for this film (approx. US$26,800) - a first in motion picture history.

Most of this information was found on the IMDB.com website (The Internet Movie Database) which is the authority for the movie business.