Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

    I know, I know. Producing a film requires a huge collaborative effort between writer, director, financiers and all the "nut-and-bolts" people that transform words on the page into a visual art form. But my question is, should spec screenwriters be mindful of production costs while creating their story?

    I was sitting on a Florida beach recently, watching dozens of people wade in the surf, and wondered what if novelist Peter Benchley wrote JAWS as a screenwriter? Imagine screenwriter Benchley creating his story (in the age before CGI) with the "production monster" tapping him on the shoulder, "And just how do you propose we create (and pay for) three giant mechanical sharks?" Or, "Do you have any idea how difficult and costly it will be to film all those underwater scenes?"

    I've read on this board and elsewhere that spec screenwriters should write with production costs in mind, and that "contained" (restrained?) scripts are more likely to be considered by budget-minded producers. That all may be true, but for me, such thoughts stifle creativity. They round the corners, and threaten to transform a rich, interesting world, into a dull one; sort of like the JAWS sequels - which were written for the screen.

    I say, "Kill" the accountants while creating your story. That mindset has been incredibly fruitful for me with my current project. My projects may never get made, but it's fun again to write with story front and center.

  • #2
    Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

    Hmmm. Kill the accountants... You mean like this? (Kids in the Hall "Trapper" sketch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITLXo19248g

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

      Originally posted by cvolante View Post
      Hmmm. Kill the accountants... You mean like this? (Kids in the Hall "Trapper" sketch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITLXo19248g
      Yes, but without the leghold traps. I prefer a swifter, more humane way to control vermin. Funny stuff, thanks!

      On a related note, I wonder if freedom from production cost worries are the reason why comic book and video game IP's are so popular (and successful in terms of B.O.). Their worlds are chock full of rich, outrageous characters and plots that capture the reader and gamer's imagination, but would likely cause a bean counter to blanch if they were to show up in a spec script.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

        It's a tough call. When I'm talking to other screenwriters, I usually go with this: if your concept could be made as a cheap indie movie, write like you're trying to get it made. If not, forget budgets and just write the best script you possibly can. Most likely anything you're writing on spec isn't going to be made, so it should be an example of your writing at its peak.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

          Originally posted by UnequalProductions View Post
          It's a tough call. When I'm talking to other screenwriters, I usually go with this: if your concept could be made as a cheap indie movie, write like you're trying to get it made. If not, forget budgets and just write the best script you possibly can. Most likely anything you're writing on spec isn't going to be made, so it should be an example of your writing at its peak.
          I was focusing more on traditional spec scripts that get tossed "over the transom," but yours is a very sensible approach to the problem. If the writer is personally producing and financing the project with limited resources (his or others), then substituting a Toyota for a Mercedes, or an apartment for a beach mansion, is perfectly understandable, though in the early writing stages, I may still prefer to write it big and bold, and then pare it down per the budget.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

            Originally posted by bioprofessor View Post
            I was focusing more on traditional spec scripts that get tossed "over the transom," but yours is a very sensible approach to the problem. If the writer is personally producing and financing the project with limited resources (his or others), then substituting a Toyota for a Mercedes, or an apartment for a beach mansion, is perfectly understandable, though in the early writing stages, I may still prefer to write it big and bold, and then pare it down per the budget.
            If you're writing your spec to get some attention or to use as a writing sample for write for hire and/or writing assignment jobs, then you shouldn't think about such things. Want to get it made? Think about budget. The bigger the budget on your script, the fewer the producers or production companies there are to option it. The smaller your budget, the more the world of production opens up. That's just a fact. Looking to break in? Write great scripts that can be shot on lower budgets. I'm seeing this every day. I have four specs in play right now because each one of them can be made for 5 million or less. If they were 30 million dollar films none of them would have a chance in the filmmaking climate today, as a newcomer. Again, this is my opinion, but based on my experience. I have as of today, 6 produced distributed films on my resume, all shot 5 million or under. Have I optioned more expensive scripts? Yes, but only after my lower budgeted successes.

            If you write a hundred million dollar script, there are at most about half a dozen entities that can produce it. They all say no? You have a door stop of a script. You write a low budget script? There are dozens of places who can buy it and make it.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

              Originally posted by EdFury View Post
              If you're writing your spec to get some attention or to use as a writing sample for write for hire and/or writing assignment jobs, then you shouldn't think about such things. Want to get it made? Think about budget. The bigger the budget on your script, the fewer the producers or production companies there are to option it. The smaller your budget, the more the world of production opens up. That's just a fact. Looking to break in? Write great scripts that can be shot on lower budgets. I'm seeing this every day. I have four specs in play right now because each one of them can be made for 5 million or less. If they were 30 million dollar films none of them would have a chance in the filmmaking climate today, as a newcomer. Again, this is my opinion, but based on my experience. I have as of today, 6 produced distributed films on my resume, all shot 5 million or under. Have I optioned more expensive scripts? Yes, but only after my lower budgeted successes.

              If you write a hundred million dollar script, there are at most about half a dozen entities that can produce it. They all say no? You have a door stop of a script. You write a low budget script? There are dozens of places who can buy it and make it.
              Thanks, Ed. Good information. I really appreciate you sharing your experience.

              The dark comedy script I'm writing takes my characters to Singapore, so I'm guessing I'm over $5 million, but hopefully under the "door stop" range.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                Good points above, especially EF's.

                To share a recent experience...

                I wrote a Western script. I wrote it for many reasons, but mostly because the idea has been in my head for years. But knowing the uphill battle to get a Western made, I crafted both the idea and the script with idea of minimizing production costs. From the cast and focus the story to the locations, the interior, exteriors.

                And Drew - Mr. Script Mechanic, noted in his feedback that one of the strongest positives of the script is that it is modestly budgeted.

                To take the experience further, I feel that by consciously writing in that mindset, it made the script better because I had to cut away any fat in action, in set pieces etc. I had to focus on the smallest and "least expensive" ways to advance the story and explore character.

                Granted, I won't take that 'least expensive' approach with every script. I've also written bigger budget scripts with no regard for numbers or accountants. One is getting some traction, but we'll see.

                My feeling is, as a writer, sometimes it's all right to step out of the vacuum and sometimes it could help more than you'd expect.
                #writinginaStarbucks #re-thinkingmyexistence #notanotherweaklogline #thinkingwhatwouldWilldo

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                  Kill the accountants? We can do that. We don't even need a reason.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                    Originally posted by Richmond Weems View Post
                    Kill the accountants? We can do that. We don't even need a reason.
                    #writinginaStarbucks #re-thinkingmyexistence #notanotherweaklogline #thinkingwhatwouldWilldo

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                      I never worry about the cost of production when I'm writing a screenplay. (Of course I've never written anything that requires a cast of thousands either.)

                      I posted a short horror screenplay on misc.writing.screenplays.moderated, about five pages and some people liked it. One guy considered filming it, but thought it would be too expensive.

                      Then a props guy, who also wrote screenplays, said he could do the props for about $300. He had ideas that no one else even considered.

                      So I completely agree. Kill the accountants.
                      "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                        i think their ghosts would haunt me.

                        I can only work if I can conceive the project being film otherwise its just typed masturbation. I have a couple of ideas that have died on the vine at page 5 simply because I can't turn off the voices that tell me it would be too expensive to film. Having said that the concepts are still there fermenting away in my subconscious , each time they bubble to the surface there's another couple of million bumped off the bottom line.


                        My voices say "If you write a screen play that only ten percent of producers want to produce and there's only one producer who can afford to produce it you're probably toast. However if you write a screenplay that only ten percent of producers want to produce and there are ten who can get the money together you actually stand a chance."

                        Then they continue... " you understand don't you? It's a matter of numbers. You don't understand do you? Oh **** you always were crap at Maths. We're much better at writing.... Oh God why don't you give up. There's a job going holding the stop/go sign, take that, take that, take that...."

                        Yup that's pretty much it.

                        One vote for leaving that bastards alive.
                        I heard the starting gun


                        sigpic

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                          Originally posted by Southern_land View Post
                          i think their ghosts would haunt me.

                          I can only work if I can conceive the project being film otherwise its just typed masturbation. I have a couple of ideas that have died on the vine at page 5 simply because I can't turn off the voices that tell me it would be too expensive to film. Having said that the concepts are still there fermenting away in my subconscious , each time they bubble to the surface there's another couple of million bumped off the bottom line.


                          My voices say "If you write a screen play that only ten percent of producers want to produce and there's only one producer who can afford to produce it you're probably toast. However if you write a screenplay that only ten percent of producers want to produce and there are ten who can get the money together you actually stand a chance."

                          Then they continue... " you understand don't you? It's a matter of numbers. You don't understand do you? Oh **** you always were crap at Maths. We're much better at writing.... Oh God why don't you give up. There's a job going holding the stop/go sign, take that, take that, take that...."

                          Yup that's pretty much it.

                          One vote for leaving that bastards alive.
                          You (and others) make valid points - at least the anecdotal evidence presented here suggests that big-budget concepts narrow the prospective buyer field and subsequently lower the potential for a sale for new writers. But it is worth pondering if writing creatively, and without the budgetary constraint and hand-wringing experienced by screenwriters (and not novelists), adds value to the story.

                          Is it mere coincidence that epic comic book stories (Batman, Spiderman, etc.), mega-selling video games (Mortal Kombat, Pokeman, etc.) and best-selling sci-fi novels (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc) are hot IP's that have been the basis for blockbuster movie franchises? Yes, Hollywood is smart to use such popular IP's, but they wouldn't be popular if they didn't first capture their original audience's imagination by creating rich, entertaining characters and worlds.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                            Originally posted by bioprofessor View Post
                            You (and others) make valid points - at least the anecdotal evidence presented here suggests that big-budget concepts narrow the prospective buyer field and subsequently lower the potential for a sale for new writers. But it is worth pondering if writing creatively, and without the budgetary constraint and hand-wringing experienced by screenwriters (and not novelists), adds value to the story.

                            Is it mere coincidence that epic comic book stories (Batman, Spiderman, etc.), mega-selling video games (Mortal Kombat, Pokeman, etc.) and best-selling sci-fi novels (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc) are hot IP's that have been the basis for blockbuster movie franchises? Yes, Hollywood is smart to use such popular IP's, but they wouldn't be popular if they didn't first capture their original audience's imagination by creating rich, entertaining characters and worlds.
                            And they all captured audiences before becoming screenplays. Every single one of them. Name one in the last five years that was an original spec script. And there you have the reality.

                            The people who would put mega millions into a film demand that pre-sold audience to justify the cost. You don't get that with a spec no matter how good you think it is. It's still a gamble they are not willing to take.

                            But hey... it's your script and your writing and your decision.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Kill the Accountants (while you're writing)

                              Originally posted by bioprofessor View Post
                              Is it mere coincidence that epic comic book stories (Batman, Spiderman, etc.), mega-selling video games (Mortal Kombat, Pokeman, etc.) and best-selling sci-fi novels (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, etc) are hot IP's that have been the basis for blockbuster movie franchises?
                              It's not mere coincidence that they were books and video games, not movies.

                              Edit:

                              For one, I really like budget-conscious writing. I like many things which limit, because by setting limits, they also give direction.

                              What is the result of writing cheap? Writing intelligent and clever.
                              Last edited by goldmund; 08-18-2014, 12:05 PM.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X