The Terminator was originally written to take place in the future. Because of budget restrictions, James Cameron & Gale Ann Hurd rewrote it to take place mostly in 1984.

George Miller set the first Mad Max in a post-apocalyptic world because they could only afford to shoot in the Australian desert.

Kevin Smith maxed out his credit cards to make Clerks, then returned most of the gear for refunds.

Almost 20 years later, the Duplass brothers adapted the same model to make The Puffy Chair.

Tangerine was shot on 20 iPhone 5’s that were later returned.

So what was your excuse again?