Hard Lesson from the Front Line.

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  • #31
    Re: What Do You Get For $1 Million?

    Someone said "Hollywood runs on fear". Would that be the similar to 'The Speed of Fear', seen elsewhere on this board? :rollin

    Does it cost a pile of money to do a shot at an airport or of a plane landing? How about 1/2 day on a yacht, something like that? I have a script where the the number of characters is small (<15), almost the entire story takes place at one location, etc. However, it has a few things that might be higher priced, like those mentioned above.

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    • #32
      Re: What Do You Get For $1 Million?

      Spin: six of one, half-dozen of another. If it all balances out, the budget may end up being very reasonable. Bottom line: write what you need to show. Let the others sort it out. And good luck!

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      • #33
        Re: What Do You Get For $1 Million?

        HConn:
        "writerly, can't you write a low-budget script you believe in?"

        No.

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        • #34
          Re: Budget - call me one crazy writer

          maybe some day...
          Between SERENDIPITY, LIAR LIAR, AND SHALLOW HALL I actually know the screenwriter who sold for big $$ and not once did they say to themselves "I'm going to write low-budget." They just wrote (and wrote and -- you get the idea).
          Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't and god knows it's good advice and is probably true but it just doesn't neccesarily work for everyone.

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          • #35
            Re: Budget - call me one crazy writer

            lol at writerly.

            Have you looked at Bill Martell's website? He has an article about writing low budget stories. It's not really about the content of the story (well, it is a little). It's mostly about the way the story is told.

            Interesting stuff.

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            • #36
              Budget

              Harry & Jay - thanks.

              To me, stories are about characters - and that has nothing to do with budget. I've written huge scripts, I've written cheap scripts, and I've written cheap scripts that look like huge scripts.

              Thinking about budget is what accounts for all of the stuff I have onscreen. I could have written a script about terrorist who hijack a 688 attack-class submarine and aim nukes at NY that cost $200 million to make (Michael Bay territory) - but I figured out how to write the script so that it could be made for $3 million... and it was made as an HBO World Premiere movie. The difference - the small version became more about the protagonist (at least until the director got hold of it) and less about the hardware. I think it became a better script because I couldn't do a huge battle scene at the end - I just had my protagonist, no cavalry. (I wish we had a more organized director so that we would have had time in the schedule to shoot the Empire State Building end I wrote - but he cut the scene for time... because he was behind schedule. Original end has a couple & kid like in SLEEPLESS on top of the ESB as it's hit by a missile and explodes. We talked about casting Tom Hanks' brother (who works as Hanks double and voices the TOY STORY TV cartoons.)

              Lowering the budget usually just makes the stories more about the characters. You can still blow up submarines and airplanes and have Stealth Fighter plane dogfights... I did.

              - Bill

              PS: There are 4 articles about writing low budget linked in this thread - none are about really low budget stuff. The two blockbuster articles are about writing big Hollywood action flicks that cost less.

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              • #37
                Re: Budget

                Thanks for both Dr Stiggers and Bill Martell for this thread.

                You guys are already preaching to the converted!

                EJ

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                • #38
                  Re: Budget

                  This thread has had so many good comments that I have copied and saved it. Great thread, guys!

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