LOW BUDGET HOLLYWOOD DREAMING

LOW BUDGET HOLLYWOOD DREAMING

Ten years ago the Hollywood idea of a low budget film was ten to twenty million dollars. Now they actually produce films in the million dollar range that turn a huge profit. These films (usually horror or thrillers or faith based) are produced independent of studio involvement. These films can sometimes fool the screenwriter into believing that because of box office success they are Hollywood films and come with the massive up front paydays we have read about.



  Understand that if you are writing a low budget film that you are going to be dealing with a indie director or producer and not a studio. The pay is small, but the opportunity is amazing. Write the next Get Out, War Room, The Witch or Paranormal Activity or It Follows and your future in the industry could be very bright. Just remember that the rules still apply when writing one of these films. Limit the cast, limit the locations and limit the effects that are required to tell the story and you have a low budget film script.

 Even though the M. Night films The Visit (5 million to produce) and Split (9 million) were made by a Hollywood film maker these films are the prototypes to follow as far as crafting the low budget screenplay. If you were to illuminate the High price director and talent both films could have been produced for a forth of those budgets. 







  This post is about Hollywood, but I want you to keep in mind that being able to write a low budget screenplay will be a skill that you will need no matter where you end up working in this industry. To learn more I have a great audio book that will soon be available soon. That you for your time and good luck.

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Your Screenplay, Is a Love Story

The Descent

            Your Screenplay, The Love Story







    All screenplays should be love stories.  Not between the characters on the page, but between you and your characters.  The saddest type of movie to watch is one where the writer clearly hates some if not all of his or her
characters. They have constructed characters who’s sole purpose
is  to show up long enough to eat up screen time and be gotten rid
of in the most gruesome manor possible.
    This has become standard in both action and horror movies.  Just because it
is standard does not mean that you have to follow that rule.  It may take a little more
time to write about characters who have lives and are interesting to both you
the screenwriter and the viewer, but hey no one said that this job was going
to be easy.
    You can turn on Fear net or Showtime Extreme or the Sci-fi channel and
see countless movies populated by characters created to first fail and then die.  You

will never create a great script this way.
    What about Friday the 13th?  What about Halloween?  What about Mad Max?
    What about them?  Do not think about the sequels.  Think about the originals.
Think about the first of each.  Friday the 13th is filled with actual characters.
Halloween spends time letting you get to know the star and her friends.  Friends
who have lives and dreams and plans.  Dreams and plans that do not include
getting slaughtered by a masked killer.  They were not made to be killed, they
mostly happened to be in the way.
    Mad Max is filled with memorable characters.  It is the loss of these characters,
concluding with his wife and child that turns a cop with an unspoken mission to give
the world its heroes back that drives Max over the edge.
    Let me give you a modern example of what is becoming a genre classic.
    How many of you have heard of the movie the Descent?
    You have not only heard of it, but seen it?
    Cool, so did I.  As a matter of fact I was lucky enough to see this movie at
a film festival.  It was the North American premiere and it was one of those rare
moments when at the end the audience, including myself, stood up and applauded.
    This movie held its audience from beginning to end.
    There are no easy kills in this movie.
    There were no empty lives.
    Each character is introduced and defined.
    They actual die as they have lived.
    They actually seem to know each other.  They interact as friends would.  They
all share a common history that has lead them to this moment in their lives.  What a
great job of writing and directing.  There are moments when they don’t like
each other but still care about each other.  If these characters were lost in
the woods and there was nothing chasing them this would have still been
and interesting film.
    The Descent is not a perfect film, we could talk for days about the
alternate endings, but it is a great example of how to populate your script with
characters whom you as the writer and view will get to know and
care about.                                    

Hannibal Lecter

                            

    The lesson is that if the writer does not care about character C then why should
the audience?  Care about them all, even the villains.  Even if the villain is a monster.
Hannibal Lecter is one of the most evil characters to ever appear in a film.  Audiences
can not get enough of him.  His creator must care about him, perhaps even
admires many aspects of his personality.
     Find things to like about as many of your creations as possible and where or
when you can find things to love about them.  It will show up on the page
and hopefully on the screen.  Love your characters and they may in return,
through the gift of fame fortune and glory, show you love in return.

Your Screenplay, Four Corners

    Your Screenplay, Four Corners


          Here is a little advice I picked up from a well known Japanese director.  When asked how he writes a script he would say that he would start with a story board in the shape of a comic script.  Four corners to tell the whole story.  He would draw the 4 most important images in the whole movie
and then write toward those visual moments.  Take some of the greatest
movies of all time and see if you can come up with four shots that tell the whole story. 
    Next about the most important character.  The Antagonist.
    Yeah, you heard me right.
    Heroes are the characters that we love. They are our babies and we treat them
as such, but it is the villain who drives the tension of the story.  The antagonist is the
one that makes drama possible.
    The great Bond movies all had great villains .  The bad guys made Sean Connery
number one.  He had villains who were fun to be around and to watch get it in the
end. Treat them, while they are on the page, as if they were the stars of the story.
Also following a comic book rule here is not the worst thing you could do.  The
hero is usually the mirror opposite of the villain.
    The villain is strong where the hero is weak.  In superman his arch-enemy is the
smartest man on earth.  If your hero is made of water your villain should be made of
fire.  Keep this in mind.  And now some advice from the last action hero.  The
bigger the obstacle the bigger the hero must be.  I like Woody Allen, but he has
never fought aliens and saved the world because no one not even himself
would believe it.
    Also try to keep your characters, both good and bad guys, on their feet.  Tie
their shoes tight and make sure that they do not stumble and fall in moments
of crisis.  In Friday the 13th the girl always falls while running from Jason. 
In too many action film the hero is saved by the villain stumbling and falling
at the moment they are about to win.  Only in comedy should you have
characters flopping like Ric Flair in a title match.
    Let me  leave you with this.  If you want to learn more about writing scripts
read them.  Read your favorite movies, they are mostly free on line.  If you
want a master’s class on the subject read Hitchcock’s The Birds, or North by
North West or Psycho.  He did not do the actual writing on these scripts, the
director influenced every one of them and the attention to detail in these
scripts is why Hitchcock is considered the greatest of all time.

Your Screenplay, Your Location is King

The Movie Saw

    Your Screenplay, The Location is King




    The one thing that will determine the budget of your script more than almost
anything else is location.  It is not so much the location that you chose it is
moving from one location to another.
    Every time that your story changes locations you will have to move cast
and crew.  You will have to also set up again and then there could be electrical
concerns.  There could be new permits that have to be gotten.  How long will you
have access to the new location?  How to feed the cast and crew there?  When you
move locations you are moving everything.
    In the ultra low budget world if you have more than ten locations you are
no longer shooting a low budget movie.  Unless you own or have unrestricted
access to all the locations.  This is why so many low budget movies are in the
woods movies or on the road movies.  These locations are free.
    I am not telling you to set your script in a closet and it will only cost ten bucks
to make.  I am saying that you need to know your locations before you write.
    Saw has a central location, half the movie is spent there and this really saved
the producers a lot of money and surely cut down on the shooting schedule.    The movie
Saw is a good example.  You can have that central location.  Your main characters
spend most of their time there.  Most of the story is told there, but for the sake
of making it more cinematic the script takes us on short trips to other locations.
    Let’s look at easy to find locations.

From The Movie The Devil

    An apartment or a house.  A good sized house is better than an
apartment because it can double for multi locations while at the
same time not requiring the production to pick up stakes and
set up across town.  One bedroom could be in character’s A
house, while another could appear to belong to character B who
could live in another state or even country.  The kitchen
becomes a location, the living room, the basement, the
backyard and the garage if there is one.
    A car and or cars can become separate locations.  Whole movies have
been shot inside of cars.  The last half an hour of the Stephen King Film Cujo
is shot in and around a car. The great budget saving feature here is that the
car does not even have to be working.  It is better if it does not.  The production
saves on having to travel with the vehicle and spending money on gas.
    When you write a script do not let this be the first thing in your head.  The
story comes first, but when you re-write it consider location and budget.
    Parks and wooded area are great to save on money.  Parking garages are
cool too.
    Locations where there is just enough room for conflict, while the tightness
of the space also adds to the conflict are great as well.  The movie The Devil is
a good example, mostly shot in an elevator.  Even if you have to build the
elevator set this is okay.  It does not cost that much to build four walls and a ceiling
that can be moved depending upon the shot.
    About special effects, do not be afraid to include them.  Effects are
cheaper and easier to pull off with the available software today.  I am
not saying that you are free to write the Matrix or Inception, but write the
story and later decide where you may have to cut or alter.
    If you remind yourself that location is important then you will have less
trouble down the road with your script.  It will be far more appealing to a low
budget producer if they can tell early on that you understand the basic facts
of the business.
    This also applies to television movies as well.  Most of them have limited
locations and limited set up’s.  Look at the movies that Hallmark Channel and Lifetime
makes.  Most of these movies are limited locations and limited shooting time.  These
made for television movies are usually shot in eighteen - thirty days.  A low budget
film shoot could be and usually will be between five and twenty one days.
    Knowing the value of locations will help you create a script that will be
more attractive to producers and much more budget friendly if you decide to shoot
it yourself

Movies Talk Too Much

            Movies Talk Too Much
                  

           
    They use to call movies Talkies and for a reason.  In the early days of sound
film characters could not seem to shut up.  They were 90 minute long talk fest.  This
was in large part due to the fact that producers and directors decided to shoot stage
plays once sound arrived.
       I would argue that is was the Hitchcock film Murder that changed forever the
direction of film making.  He used sound like he was conducting a symphony. 
For the first few minutes of the film he allows visuals to tell his story.  And then
during the titled Murder he allows what is heard to tell the story rather than what
is seen.  He balanced both sight and sound better than any film maker ever. 
Hitchcock understood that both were a tool.  Having started out as a silent film
maker he understood the power of the visual when done well.
    Characters will have to talk, but they do not have to talk us to death just because
you are working with little to no budget.
    Let me quote Hitchcock for you, If I want to see people sitting around and talking
for two hours I would stay in the theater lobby.
    But if you want to dazzle all with your Woody Allen or Quentin Tarantino like
grasp of dialogue fine.        
    Look it is your money.  At least I hope that it is.
    But just ask yourself this question, can it be shown rather than said?
We listen to the radio, we watch movies.
    Isn’t that what we all say?
    Let’s watch a movie.
    I am watching tv.
    I saw this great film.
    Never I heard this movie.
    In other words try always to show rather than tell.
    Movies are about visuals.
    What do we see?
    Did you just say something?
    What about the Godfather?
    Exception to the rule?  If you got a Godfather in you then go right ahead,
but I would like to respond with this.  The most memorable scenes from that film are
when Michael is having his enemies killed all at the same time.  We hear the
christening of the baby, we see Michael’s hit men doing their jobs all over
town.  We remember most a fat man running up a flight of stairs, a man
being shot through his glasses, the fake cop doing a hit on the church
steps. Did I mention a horses head on a bed?
    I believe it is at this point the Don would grab you by the shoulders and start
shaking you back and forth while yelling  “Be a Man, What’s the Matter with you,
Be a man, be a man.  Show, don’t tell!”

Your Screenplay is a Circle

        Your Screenplay is a Circle


    You are having problems with your screenplay.  You know how it begins,
but the middle and the end have you at a loss.  I can tell you this much.  The
place that you start should be the place where you finish.
    A good script is a perfect circle and allow me to explain how and why.
    You story will most like begin with your characters living in their idea
world.  A perfectly calm existence is shattered and it is a never ending scramble to return to that perfect life.
    Sounds crazy?
    Remember the Godfather?
    The opening scenes?
    The family is happy and intact.  They are celebrating a wedding.  The
Godfather and is inner circle are in total control of a world that is going to be
attacked from both outside and within.  This world is destroyed.  The Godfather
is shot. Sonny, his oldest son is killed, his enforcer is killed and his youngest
son Michael is beaten.  From this point on there is a never ending quest by those
left standing to put their universe back into its proper order.
    The last scene of the film, after all the violence and bloodshed, is Michael
in his father’s place as Godfather conducting business as his father did when the
film began.  All is right with the world.  The natural order has been restored.
    You can look at a saga like Lord of The Rings and the same holds true.  Where
does that story begin?  Home, comfortable and safe.  After an endless quest
where does it end up.  Frodo and Sam back to where they started.  Missing
a finger here and a lot of bruises there they are back to the perfect world
that they had to flee.
    Some stories begin with that perfect world already shattered and through
flashbacks it is revealed through out the story.  The character is forever trying to
find away to or back to their idea world.  Some characters do not realize that their
world was great until they venture outside of their comfort zone and after having
all of their illusions shattered to they really appreciate what they had going for them.
A great example of this is in the minor UK classic Mona Lisa starring Bob Hoskins.
    Your characters do not travel along an arc if the story is going to be
great and memorable, they travel along a circle.  That circle traveled in the Wizard
of Oz.   Dorothy has to leave home to realize that there is no place like home.
    Send your characters on grand adventures, but always keep the end zone
in sight.  The place that they are headed looks a great deal like the place that they
have just left behind.    I am not suggesting that it should be a steady walk
toward the place that they just left.  Put obstacles in their way.
See if they can jump through an endless series of hoops, but at the
end of it all if they have proven themselves worthy let them come home.
They do not need a hero’s welcome, but they need to return to
the world where they feel most welcome.  There is a line in one of the greatest
of all westerns, Ride the High Country, where the lead say that all he wants at the
end of the day is to come home Justified.  He wants to go off into the world, do
what his code of honor will allow him to do and come back home knowing
that he could not have done things any other way.
    Look at Michael in the Godfather or Sam in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy both
of these characters did things their way.  Always guided by their own personal
code and in the end they make it back to a world where they belong.
    The greatest stories ever told are not straight lines.
    They are not rocky hills and valleys, but as Scarlett traveled in
Gone With the Wind, they are a full circle and the fuller the better.