Occasionally the script requests I see on Ink Tip give me a chuckle. Loved this one from today:

We are looking for completed, feature-length, microbudget sci-fi scripts, i.e. scripts in the vein of "Prospect,” "Alien,” "Mad Max,” "District 9,” or even "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Post-apocalyptic scripts that can be shot on a modest budget are also welcome. We are especially interested in reading scripts that have been vetted by contests or festivals, so if yours is such a script, please include a link to the contest/festival's announcement in the personal message space below.


Not sure that any of those could be shot on a "micro-budget"

And did we mention micro-budget? In other words, you let us have the script for free. If we end up making millions, we'll toss some money your way...

Quoted from Grandma Bear And did we mention micro-budget? In other words, you let us have the script for free. If we end up making millions, we'll toss some money your way...

Micro payment

The least these idiots could've done was said, "Just make Primer 2. That's all we want."

That’s if they keep in communication with you. We’re so total glutens for punishment. Lol.

Gabe

From my perspective, I thought it was OK and it was fairly clear what they wanted.

A high concept, but ultra low budget sci-fi. Which I think is a good avenue to explore.

It's easy to imagine a version of District 9 that's more low budget: Change the appearance of the Prawns to something more achievable, and make it more character based than action.

The original Mad Max is easily achievable.


Alien is the difficult one...but you could imagine a script set on an alien planet, all in one location where they've discovered alien life and are performing tests on it. Or maybe some non corporeal entity that inhabits other corporeal life-forms...something like The Thing in space...

If you have a script that matches what they want... it's better than it gathering virtual dust on your hard drive.

I get those weekly request emails and they do make me smile. It's like, we want Titanic but we can only afford a bathtub, or it's something really specific like a feature lenght script about Indonisian badminton players taken hostage by LGBT activists.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw ...It's like, we want Titanic but we can only afford a bathtub...

Made me laugh, Mark!

Quoted from MarkRenshaw I get those weekly request emails and they do make me smile. It's like, we want Titanic but we can only afford a bathtub, or it's something really specific like a feature lenght script about Indonisian badminton players taken hostage by LGBT activists.

Now, if it was table tennis, I'd be right in there!

Does anyone have a feeling for where simple CGI falls on the budget scale?

By "simple" I mean something that should look reasonably photo-realistic, but doesn't need to really interact with anything else on the screen. For example, a robot that doesn't bump into any human characters.

It's obviously not free, but just wondering if this now counts as low-budget effects.

Sfx is always cheaper than vfx.

But it's a hard question to answer. Bumping into things isn't a problem. You just shoot a 'plate' where you pull the thing away and one where you shoot the scene with no movement and then composite then together with your cgi robot.

It all depends on the complexity of design, what it looks like, how reflective it is. To make it look realistic is harder than having a skinny guy in an outfit.

Quoted from MarkRenshaw I get those weekly request emails and they do make me smile. It's like, we want Titanic but we can only afford a bathtub, or it's something really specific like a feature lenght script about Indonisian badminton players taken hostage by LGBT activists.

exactly!

I'm a bit confused though... Taking a big budget story, and making it small budget is really the way to go for independent films.

Take Monsters for example: Your typical independence day story but told without seeing the aliens till the very end. That was a career making film.

Titanic with a bathtub: great. Take a couple of refugees in a shitty raft trying to escape hell with all their dreams of a better life. Then end it in tragedy. You might even win a Palmers D'or.

Fucking autocorrect.