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There´s a special board for screenwriting discussions in Imdb in which I´ve been ghosting for a while, and some of the regulars (profesional writers, prodco readers, etc) offer extremely good advice.
Just wanted to share a very useful post I read there:
"I hate to beat a dead horse, but this has come up again and I was able to have a very long talk with a well known big time successful producer about this very subject this week.
Basically, it all boiled down to the fact that he said producers DO look for scripts and writers that understand budget. I asked him specifically about taking a more expensive script from a new writer and rewriting it down to budget. Will he do that? He said, "With all the thousands of scripts out there, I can find one I don't have to spend money to rewrite down just as easily. All I need is a writer who is smart and aware and knows how much things cost to begin with."
He went on to talk about how the studio system hires out the more expensive films to known writers and the best way for any writer to break in is to write a good story and keep the cost down. He's tired of new writers who don't understand this. He says the film schools should be teaching it as much as anything else.
New writers stand a 90% better chance (his percentage, not mine) of selling a script in the 1 to 5 million dollar range. (this isn't taking into account how much the main actors will cost, this is all below the line costs) He tells his readers to look for story first and cost a close second. He can and does (his words) get established writers to write the bigger films.
I asked him to list the things that a writer should keep in mind when trying to write for budget. He did:
Characters: Keep it to a minimum and get rid of one line characters. Actors are a huge cost and one line actors cost more than anyone thinks on the back end with all the SAG residuals and other costs that go along with that. A one line actor can cost thousands.
Special Effects: Just because you can write it, doesn't mean it's easy. Yes, the cost of CGI is coming down, but when they see it in there they hear cash register sounds.
Guns and explosions: Explosions are EXPENSIVE. You can have them in a low budget script, but make them count. Make them part of the story. Ask youself, "Will not having this explosion change the storyline?" And surprisingly, gunfire is expensive. Again, put it in if you need it, but make sure it's integral to the storyline and cut down on the people using them.
Too many locations: Keep the locations to a minumum. Can you go back to the same ones instead of adding new ones? And remember OUTSIDE is a lot more expensive than inside and understand that if you have a scene on Mount Rushmore, most likely it's gonna cost too much. Filming inside a mall is expensive. Big city downtown streets are expensive. Etc... etc....
CROWDS: Big crowds... football games, basketball games... especially professional sports... way expensive. The mall. Street scenes in the big city with crowds.
Stunts: Very very expensive. Take more time (time is money) and cost a LOT. Yes, again... if you need it for the story, put it in, but keep it reasonable, not James Bondish. And car chases are MEGA expensive. (To the people who have read my last script: Yes, I have a car chase in my last script and yes, I sold it. But it is absolutely integral to the plot and many people's favorite scene, but I kept the crashes and cars to a minimum.) You want a car chase or crash, put it in. But it's doesn't need to be like the Blues Brothers.
I'm sure there's more, but this was his quick list.
He was funny and open and we had a great talk over lunch, but he was dead serious about budget. Hollywood is very very aware of the down trend in attendance these days and so the costs need to be controlled for films to show a profit, so they have the money to make more films.
I know that we've had this discussion before on here and that a lot of writers were pushed out of shape because they thought they shouldn't have to think about these things.
It's your choice. But the real world it going to embrace writers who understand it."
Sounds difficult to write with all that limitations but this sounds like a very good advice. What do you think?
It's great advice. I think Bill Martell has an article somewhere saying just the same thing. If Hollywood wants a big budget movie, they'll hire an established writer. I think spec writers should always try to keep the budget down. When you're trying to break into the business, your best chance is with an indie prod-co, and they obviously don't have huge budgets at their disposal.
Very helpful advice - you actually don't realize how much your script would cost while writing it until a reread or rewrite (for me, I certainly never thought about it until this post). Going over my work I realized there are numerous one-line characters which drive the plot nowhere, which can't be good.
I never heard a pro saying: Hey, pal, it is too poor script why we don't put here a learjet and we explode it at the top of Kremlin in the same time Godzzila arrives and meet with ahelpless Julia Roberts and so on...
Mr. Z, that was very good article. It's funny that I read that because I've written three feature scripts, all well over a 20 million dollar budget, and I was thinking that same thing. Why haven't I sold a script? Well, I'm an unknown writer and nobody is going to spend 20 plus million on a script that I wrote and have a Indie company pick it up. It's too much. My script feature script "Numb" has been looked at by several producers and directors that wanted to do it, but it was the budget that prevented it.
So, what I did to solve this problem was I thought I needed something to open doors with . I wrote a short script (60 pages) where the whole story takes place in one room and only has three main characters. I pitched the script to local producers and sure enough, it got made and only cost 7,000 dollars.
I know what you're thinking, it's a short! So what! Well, that short open a lot of doors for me and now I have a feature that's in pre-production with a respectable producer and DP attached to it.
So I say start small and work your way up. Think cheap and you will go far.
Te only time I write with a budget in mind is if someone has asked me for a script and they tell me what the parameters are for writing it. When I write for me, I just go. I figure at some point, I'm going to be high enough on some food chain to bring out my big ideas and someone will want them.
If you write a Spec Script it may never get made but it will act as a calling card to show how good a writer you are and could get you paid work to write something based on a brief..
If you write a screenplay based on budget, and you obssess about it, then you'll write small and it'll end up a low-budget affair.. This is good if you don't mind starting small..
Personally I'd suggest going for it and write with a big a canvas as you can because this would show you are capable of thiking big with bigtime ideas and bigtime budgets..
You gotta show you can do it and what better way than actually writing big with bold strokes..
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