SAI/ BFI: First Feature

I have been on the fence for a long time about writing and directing a feature film, with my primary concern being that if I messed it up... there would be no second chance. A first feature is different to the others in your career, in that no-one would presumably give me money to make a second feature if the first one proved not successful. A short film may be easy to shake off if it didn't go the way you wanted it to, however a feature would be much harder to bury! Am I a mature enough filmmaker to step into these new waters? 

The SAI/ BFI course has given me the confidence to believe I am capable of making this first feature very soon, and not messing it up! Financing is the easy part, with an SEIS/ EIS scheme, a solid plan and network of support. The hard part will be making sure that this feature film is the right film to make, and that it has a story worth telling, and indeed is a film worth making... not simply a film to progress my career. 

I believe the key to achieving this goal is to make a feature film that comes from my own life, something that speaks to my own values and experiences, featuring characters that I draw from myself and the relationships I have with the people around me. 

It needs to be practical, utilising lots of exterior locations, a small cast and no huge VFX or action sequences. I would like to shoot this film on a budget of approximately £150,000. The final requirement would be that whilst honest, the film would also need to be commercially viable, it would need to have a clear "movie poster" design and fit into a pre-determined market. 

I believe I have many of these elements in place already, and will spend the next year refining the idea to it's most appropriate form to fit every requirement.