have been nearly impossible. Therefore, The Plow That Broke the Plains was initially a silent film with a musical score and narration added later. On September 3, Lorentz secured cameramen Ralph Steiner, Paul Strand, and Leo Hurwitz, each with experience in documentary film production and influenced by the work of Soviet filmmakers. Lorentz scouted locations for filming through examining and researching photos taken by the Resettlement Administration and began filming in September 1935 in Montana. Over the next 7 weeks, Lorentz and his cameramen traversed eight states from the Montana-Wyoming border to the Texas Panhandle. Because The Plow That Broke the Plains was Lorentz's first film, he had difficulty communicating his ideas to the cameramen and filming locations became a point of contention between Lorentz and the crew. Additionally, the cameramen became concerned that the final script had not yet been written either. This resulted in Steiner, Strand, and Hurwitz creating their own script that voiced their own political positions that indicted capitalism, human greed, and a “lousy social system” for the devastation of the Great Plains and its residents. Following the Dust Storm sequences in Texas, Lorentz fired the crew and headed to California where Resettlement Administration photographer Dorothea Lange helped him capture scenes of migrants searching for work. Additionally Lorentz needed to finish the film with stock footage, but because the Hollywood community wanted to prevent the film from being completed as many considered it New Deal propaganda, they instructed studios and film libraries to refuse Lorentz's requests. Through friends, Lorentz was able to obtain the stock footage and complete the film after learning how to cut and edit the film himself, due to not having any budget to hire an editor. Budget The Resettlement Administration proposed to have The Plow That Broke the Plains produced and accompanied with music at an estimated expense of $6,000. Despite the budget allotted to film production, there were times that he worked without pay due to Congress debating whether or not the film should be created. Although Lorentz was salaried, he made only $18 a day, which was less than the cameramen working on the project. The film's final budget, however, end up at $19,260, three times the original budget. Because the initial budget ran out before the film's completion, Lorentz was forced to pay for the music, editing, and final printout from his own pocket. Upon completion, Lorentz went into