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A low budget film is a very cheaply produced film. Young or unknown directors often make a low-budget debut film due to a lack of funding from studios, who are not willing to invest in a film which seems unlikely to become successful.

It is not determined what amount of budget qualifies a film as a low budget production. Low budget is relative from country to country, and varies depending on genre, e.g a comedy film made for $20 million will be considered a modest budget, whereas an action film on the same $20 million would be considered low budget.

The most successful low budget film was the 1972 film Deep Throat, which cost only $25,000 to produce, yet brought in over $600 million, though this figure is often disputed. Another successful low-budget film is Clerks by director Kevin Smith. Clerks was made on less than $30,000, but its success helped launch the career of Kevin Smith, who as of September 2007 has made six more films.

A micro budget film is that which is made on an extremely low budget, sometimes as little as a few thousand dollars. An example of such would be the popular 1992 El Mariachi, in which the director Robert Rodriguez was unable to afford second takes due to the $7000 budget. Despite this, it was a success, both critically and commercially, and kick-starting the young director's career, which continues today, 15 years after his debut film.

Another example would be the 1977 cult film Eraserhead, which cost only $10,000 to produce (Although it may be worth noting 30 years of inflation since the film was made). Director David Lynch had so much trouble securing funds that the film had to be made over a 6 year period, whenever Lynch could afford to shoot scenes.

• B-movie
• Experimental film
• Video art

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