The New World Of Screenwriting

The New World Of Screenwriting

The Dslr revolution amongst low and micro budget film makers has changed the way that screenwriters are looked at by film makers. 
 

   There are now two worlds. The Hollywood way of looking at screenwriters. The screenwriter is a tool that is to be used, abused and when it begins to make noise to be replaced with a younger and cheaper version. Hollywood believes in the need for quality screenplays, but not necessarily the need for writers. You can still get rich there, but you stand a better chance of hitting it big with a novel as you do with a dozen quality screenplays.

 The indie world of film making offers the screenwriter far less money up front. Face it most of us will be working of spec, but the script will get made and the power of the screenwriter in the micro budget world is like that of the writer in the world of network television. You matter more and if you want to be the film maker then all that is required is a great deal of hard work, a few dollars, a strong computer to edit on and a dlsr camera. Christopher Nolan wrote and directed his first film Following for a few thousand dollars with a bunch of friends. The film was shot over the span of a year of weekends.

 

 
 

  Look at it this way. In the Hollywood system you as the screenwriter is looked upon as a house elf who may serve long enough to earn your clothes. In the micro budget universe you at worst a high ranking resistance fighter and at best a long lost Jedi Knight.Your skills are viewed as important as those of the leading actor, the director or producer.

 


The thing that I wish to leaved you with today is a single piece of advice moving forward. Decide on what kind of screenwriter that you wish to be. A Hollywood writer or an indie writer. 

 Can’t I do both? 

Yes and no is my answer. 

A low budget writer who pens a film like Mad Max can write films like Thunderdome and Fury Road. A guy who writes the Evil Dead can do three Spiderman films scripts. While someone who did Star Wars films for twenty years cannot think in terms of less than thirty million dollars or once you have done big budget horror films such as the Village and the Happening you think that spending five million dollars to shoot The Visit (most indies could have done it shot for shot for less than a hundred thousand) cannot got micro budget. 

Decide which type of writer you are, not want to be, but are and you will be on your way. 

Thank you for visiting today and my final piece of advice is to study film making this cannot help but to make you a best writer of film.


 

The Low Budget Holiday Script

Another holiday season has arrived and we find movies in theatres and on television with holiday themes. This is nothing new. Holiday movies have been part of the film making landscape since the very early days. Simple stories about home and faith and family.

I say home and faith and family while leaving out Santa Claus because after watching two weeks non stop of these kinds of films I am going to suggest that we all take a step away from the I am Santa films.

I understand why many filmmakers pick the Santa film, it is a way of making a movie all inclusive and a way of avoiding questions of faith. I would ask those film makers the question “Is that what you really want to be?” The equivalent of oatmeal or canned tuna? The holiday film that embraces faith and family most of all is the most popular of them all, It’s A Wonderful Life. The second most popular are versions of A Christmas Carol. Even the story of Santa Claus is based upon the life of a Christian Saint.

To do something truly memorable and lasting you may need to embrace this part of the holiday theme.

Switch for a moment to the area of comedy I am not against in anyway films such as - Plains, Trains and Automobiles or the first two Home Alone films. Comedy has its place. Although those movies are not low budget. You should always try to find a place to include a little comedy in your film even if is a serious drama. A holiday film script that is too down beat can be a hard sell. I wish that good old fashion tear jerkers were still popular, but audience are not demanding them. A lead character with a strong sense of humor is a good thing. They may not tell the jokes, but they should be able to get the joke or have the ability to laugh at themselves. 

   

 The great thing about holiday films is that most of them are at their core very simple scripts to write. The plots usually come down to two subjects. Either going home or appreciating what you had at home. A nice twist on this theme is the Nicholas Cage film, The Family Man.

The going home plot can fit perfectly into the no budget screenplay world. You can set one of these stories inside of a car or on a bus. Keeping your characters on the move can keep your story fresh as you introduce new characters and situations every few pages.

A few words on watching your budget in the travel and home types of scripts. Do not constantly change mode of transportation. This works great in a large budget film like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but will kill a micro budget film. If your character or characters are travelling by car you can change vehicles a few times without blowing up a budget. If it is by bus the same bus location can double for multiple buses locations. After all if you have seen the inside of one cross country bus then you have seen them all. Plane and train travel can be done on a low budget depending on area of the country and access to sets. If you or the person that will be shooting your script lives in LA. NY. or a Canadian film making center then this can be done without blowing up a budget.

Now a note on the faith based holiday film.

You can write for a larger cast and crew than a standard low budget film because the film maker will, if he or she is smart, partner with a church or community organization that will open the doors to many free locations such as churches and community centers along with many people who will be willing to offer their services for free. Just remember the trade off in this area is that you must present a G or PG rated story with no subject material that will be objected to. This will include Santa and elves, do not include them. In the faith based world Christmas is a high holy day. Christmas is the beginning of the love story between mankind and god. Although there are a few dozen new family and faith based films coming to television this year there is only one that will playing in theaters. The Christmas Candle, and it like almost every such film has been beaten up by critics. If you want to be loved by critics and to win awards you are not going to get them if you write in this niche. Critics did not care much for It’s A Wonderful Life so understand that you will have little to no hope of winning them over.
    

I may have suggested rules, but the truth is that there are no rules. You can tell your holiday story anyway that you wish if you are going to be the film maker. If you want to take your screenplay to market then you will have to consider some of the basic rules. Directors and producers seem to want the familiar. This is perhaps why there has been hundreds of variations of the Christmas Carol plot.

Last note on the subject, you can mine classic songs for material. By classic I mean those in public domain. If you want to use a modern song then go out and negotiate for permission to do so. One of the most popular Christmas films in recent years was the movie Christmas Shoes. I believe that most movies based upon songs are thinly plotted, but it can get you from start to finish and just finishing a script gets you ninety percent of the way to seeing it produced someday.

Now if you feel that I have left out the subject of horror and holiday films. I did this because I have seen all of the Silent Night Deadly Night films. A few about killer snow men and the legendarily bad Santa Slays. I do not want to aid you in writing a horror movie for the holidays.

Peace on earth and good will towards men.

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Thank you for visiting and happy holidays.