The Black List - Submission of WASTELAND: THE SIXTH STATE

[EvilRbt]

TBL is a crap shoot in terms of reader experience and scores. I have tons of clients who received laughably-bad notes.

In my humble opinion, the path of least resistance is action, thriller, or horror that can be made sub $8-10m and has a solid hook and/or roles actors will want to play. Only those genres are lower-risk in the global market.

Post-apoc stories are abundant in the spec market and it’s really tough to stand out. If the budget is high, chances are slim to none.

That said, one of my clients sold his $80 romantic drama sci-fi for a million bucks a couple of years ago. Never say never.

[figment]

In my humble opinion, the path of least resistance is action, thriller, or horror that can be made sub $8-10m and has a solid hook and/or roles actors will want to play. Only those genres are lower-risk in the global market.

I get that horror could be made for 10 million -- but what is an action or thriller that could be made for only 10 million going to look like? What am I missing?

[Bono]

I get that horror could be made for 10 million -- but what is an action or thriller that could be made for only 10 million going to look like? What am I missing?

I'm thinking most Liam Neeson action-thrillers of the last 10 years after Taken?

[figment]

I'm thinking most Liam Neeson action-thrillers of the last 10 years after Taken?

Hey, Bono. The most recent one -- Retribution, which I haven't seen -- cost 20 million, so double that. That's why I'm scratching my head to think what type of movie is being recommended to write for a budget of 8-10?

Retribution Movie Box Office: Will Liam Neeson's Action Thriller Be a Box Office Flop? - The Filmik

(wild that advertising cost an additional 15 -- almost as much as the film itlself.)

[Bono]

Sure that's the Lionsgate budget... but aren't the movies like that usually cheaper and made in Bulgaria? Starring maybe not LIam but Frank Grillo. All those Bruce Willis like movies that got made that paid him and no one else...

Still I think the advice holds. Write a movie that isn't Mission Impossible and is more a guy stuck in a car the whole movie.

[figment]

Sure that's the Lionsgate budget... but aren't the movies like that usually cheaper and made in Bulgaria? Starring maybe not LIam but Frank Grillo. All those Bruce Willis like movies that got made that paid him and no one else...

Still I think the advice holds. Write a movie that isn't Mission Impossible and is more a guy stuck in a car the whole movie.

Funny you should say that -- The Prince, a movie with Bruce Willis, Jason Patric, and John Cusack, from ten years ago. I watched ten minutes of it before giving up -- budget of 18 million. The Prince (2014 film) - Wikipedia

I guess something like Buried, but that would be a micro budget, I think.

But I get what you're saying -- I assumed 30-50 was more of a realistic goal to write for, not 8-10.

[finalact4]

A writer can write what they love and write a spec for budget. It's not one and done, right? Not to mention it's rare for specs to sell, in general. Sometimes you write to have a strong sample. Sometimes you write for yourself. Sometimes you write for someone else. Sometimes you get lucky. Most times you don't.

And, to be honest, I'm not interested in writing a movie where a guy is trapped in his car the whole time. So not interested. And I wouldn't be interested if someone paid me to write it, either.


Taken was $25m released 2009
Taken 2 was $45m released 2012
Arrival $47m released 2016
A Quiet Place $17M
Rust $7m
The Guilty $14m shot in 11 days

[figment]

Write a movie that isn't Mission Impossible and is more a guy stuck in a car the whole movie.

Phonebooth in 2002 — production budget 13 million.

[EvilRbt]

I get that horror could be made for 10 million -- but what is an action or thriller that could be made for only 10 million going to look like? What am I missing?

True, even low-budget action will prob be $10m-15m, but lots of those are shot in Eastern Europe or places where producers get 30-40% of the cost back in tax incentives. The point was to write something a Millenium or Emmert-Furla might typically make for less than $10m (see: COPSHOP at $6m), and they're often garbage. But if you write a movie that COULD be shot that cheap, the idea is that it does get made for much more with a big star. For instance, TAKEN could have easily been an SVOD foreign-sales POS but it ended up with a strong director and star and got made for much more. Just don't set out to write a $75-100m action picture and you'll be in good shape. As a general rule, avoid helicopters. Hahaha. My picture GUN OF CHRISTMAS PAST w/ Liev Schrieber will be in the $12m-15m ballpark but will shoot in Germany, Finland or an Eastern Europe country and get those tax incentives, so the aim is $6-8m out of pocket for the studio. I purposely wrote it with a RAID-scale because I know how hard it is to get financing.

[JS90]

My picture GUNS OF CHRISTMAS PAST w/ Liev Schrieber

I’m an action fan so I couldn’t help myself and just had to look this up. LOVE the title and LOVE the premise. Best of luck with it!

[EvilRbt]

I’m an action fan so I couldn’t help myself and just had to look this up. LOVE the title and LOVE the premise. Best of luck with it!

Thanks. It should have been shooting right now but due to the strike and Liev doing Broadway in Feb, now looking like March/April. Believe it or not, I wrote it before John Wick 1.