What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

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  • What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

    Hi, I've written several scripts back in 2011. And I have many other ideas, but they all seem to be in the £100-500,000 range.

    I'm trying to write a new one in 2012 with a view to working with a £10,000 budget.

    What are generally the most popular genres on this level of budget? I have three in mind already: Horror, drama and thriller.

    I don't want to make a boring movie about people sitting down and reminiscing on their teenage years OR yet another zombie movie...

    Has anyone here ever written for or worked with a £10,000 budget?
    Last edited by MPrince; 01-17-2012, 02:58 PM.
    I post too much.

  • #2
    Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

    Originally posted by MPrince View Post
    Hi, I've written several scripts back in 2011. And I have many other ideas, but they all seem to be in the £100-500,000 range.

    I'm trying to write a new one in 2012 with a view to working with a £10,000 budget.

    What are generally the most popular genres on this level of budget? I have three in mind already: Horror, drama and thriller.

    I don't want to make a boring movie about people sitting down and reminiscing on their teenage years OR yet another zombie movie...

    Has anyone here ever written for or worked with a £10,000 budget?
    Contained supernatural, thriller, sci-fi, if you can manage it.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

      Any real movie examples, SBScript?

      -- I thought there'd more be more posts on this thread...
      I post too much.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

        You're talking about a 5-10 minute short here, right?

        Rather than thinking in genre you should be thinking in style. What costs money? Multiple locations. Special effects. Large numbers of cast and crew. Complex editing. Think of ways to tell a story without this and you've got a microbudget film.

        Even Saw cost $1.2 million and that was mostly two guys chained in a room for 90 minutes.

        I recommend reading Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez for some inspiration.

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        • #5
          Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

          Porn.

          And if you don't want to do that, listen to Rhodi.

          HH

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          • #6
            Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

            Primer had a 7K budget. Very ambitious, smart Sci-Fi flick. I think the directors pulled a lot of favors...but there's an example.

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            • #7
              Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

              Originally posted by MPrince View Post
              Any real movie examples, SBScript?

              -- I thought there'd more be more posts on this thread...
              The Cube, Paranormal, Pi, Bound, Tape, Primer.

              I'm not going to argue about budget levels, I know range from 10k-more particularly on Cube. VFX have come so far that something like the Cube could be done for a lot less money these days. I include Tape because I think that it plays like a thriller. However, the above movies have concepts and plotlines that could probably be done at the level you're describing.

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              • #8
                Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                Anything character-driven, that can work in few locations and be shot in long takes. So you have more options than it may seem.

                I'd consider making a road movie. Can be shot cheaply and doesn't need a lot of production value.

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                • #9
                  Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                  I was also looking at films like Phone Booth, Red Eye, Vacancy, Hostage (Bruce Willis) and Panic Room.

                  They give you a lot of ideas.
                  I post too much.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                    I don't think there is a most popular budget genre.

                    If you're trying to cut costs some things to think about are having fewer locations, fewer actors and limited SFX.

                    £10,000 is pretty much no budget. That's essentially paying for equipment and a bag of chips for craft services.

                    Even Saw cost $1.2 million and that was mostly two guys chained in a room for 90 minutes.
                    Wasn't Saw originally written as just two guys chained in a room and was meant to be an ultra low-budget film. I thought I read that somewhere.
                    Last edited by christopher jon; 01-18-2012, 04:23 PM.
                    Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

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                    • #11
                      Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                      PRIMER? EL MARIACHI? Every feature film Brain Damage distributes?

                      Because things were more expensive back then (no digi): CLERKS, BROTHERS McMULLEN, etc - most of the indie guys got their starts on features that cost $25,000 - those films could all be made for $10k now.

                      Thriller, horror and drama are probably the main genres because they can be done inexpensively. If you have a contained sci-fi idea like CUBE or PRIMER you can pull it off.

                      I'm doing a $25k thriller later this year that was originally going to be a $10k film when I was going to put it on a credit card (which is how these things used to get done) - I'm doing Kickstarter now, and have upped my budget to add some production value and cast. My thriller is 2/3rds in a house, the rest spread around some locations I can get free. Each secondary location has a confined cameo I'm getting some sort of "name" for - though I'm using "name" generously. Found a cool high concept story that's BODY HEAT meets DREAMSCAPE.

                      I think the hard thing is finding the story that is exciting and contained. I think if you have that, and pull it off (the easy part... not!) the genre isn't going to matter as much. The reason why the hundreds of $10k movies that Brain Damage distributes are almost all horror is because a *Hollywood* horror movie doesn't really have stars in it, so your $10k horror movie also doesn't need stars... just B&B. And "people trapped in a ___ with a maniac/monster" is a staple of *Hollywood* horror films. So the film has a chance to pass as something bigger (even though most suck). The last reason for horror ends up being - if there's enough blood and boobs, even if the film sucks someone will rent it.

                      My theory is that if I have enough suspense and twists and boobs, my thriller will sell.

                      NOTE: there were no boobs in PRIMER.

                      PS: I know a "real" producer with an office and everything who makes a living doing $10k movies that end up on your Blockbuster shelf (or Netflix - but probably not in your queue). He does a dozen a year, in LA, often with "names" in the cast (iconic TV stars from the 80s who need a job). This has become a serious part of the film biz since the middle fell out.

                      - Bill
                      Free Script Tips:
                      http://www.scriptsecrets.net

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                        Originally posted by christopher jon View Post
                        £10,000 is pretty much no budget. That's essentially paying for equipment and a bag of chips for craft services.
                        Maybe he can borrow the equipment. I, for instance, have a friend who runs a small production company (he does corporate videos mostly), and has a few cameras (a couple of 5Ds among them, I think), and a lot of the necessary stuff. Maybe you know someone who knows someone. At that budget, the trick seems to be paying only if you can't find any other way to get it.

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                        • #13
                          Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                          Oh yeah,

                          Some guy named Bill Martell, who coincidentally just happened to post here has a ton of good tips about this very subject on his website.

                          This is actually a topic I wish were discussed here more often.

                          Not every writer is going to get a six figure deal and have Will Smith attached to star.

                          There isn't a lot of information on how to write for lower budget features and what those producers are looking for.
                          Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                            I read a book some 8 years ago titled The Guerilla Filmmakers Movie Blueprint that dealt with the subject of low to almost-no budget movies, from idea to distribution. It was written by a team of British indie filmmakers who had a few really low budget movies made. I don't know if it has been updated since then, but it was a very interesting read.

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                            • #15
                              Re: What's the best genre for a £10,000/$10,000 budget?

                              I did a monthly column for IFC Magazine for just over a year and own all of those articles - many just sit in the vault. The *reason* why I am making my stupid little film is to get info and material to add to what I have and end up with a book on making your own movie.

                              But, since any people are asking questions (here and other boards) I'm thinking of putting together what I have now and getting it out there... then doing a longer version after a make a fool of myself trying to make a movie for next to nothing.

                              One of the things I'm doing for my stupid little movie (for the book) is trying to get a "name" for my lead to work for next to nothing... who I do not know. I've selected the perfect candidate - a TV actor originally from near my hometown who has been in a bunch of movies in small roles and needs a career boost. I've "stalked" him on FB, tried to get him to notice me by being funny (worked) and have a couple more steps in my plan so that we're almost pals when I ask him if he'd like to work in a no budget movie for close to no money at all... but play the lead. Be the star. One of the things I want to do is show how *anyone* can do this... if it works. If it doesn't work - it'll be a great comedy chapter.

                              So many people are doing films like this now, there needs to be a book on the *writing* side of it.

                              - Bill
                              Free Script Tips:
                              http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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