The short script that I’m working on now is for a limited budget and a limited number of actors.
There is nothing strange in this. If you have a huge budget you would probably do a feature film instead.
But I have never had these restrains before. Sure, I knew that I ought to be writing with small money in mind, but it hasn’t become real until now, when I’m actually requested to write something for production (no papers signed yet, so keep your fingers crossed).
It is so easy to place the characters in several locations, include small children and crowds.
There are moments when I feel that I ought to be writing novels instead where I could place my characters on Antarctica or on the Moon if I feel like it.
But the thing is that restrains are not for evil.
They are good.
They force me to find other solutions, to search for other ways than the most obvious and frankly to be more creative. To work, to put it simply.
Of course I wish for things to be easy, but honestly it is not that hard to see that the fun is to have a challenge, no matter how frustrating it may be.
And if I succeed to write what I want the exhilaration will be greater and more satisfying than if I wrote it in five minutes with no problems at all.
4 comments:
I do believe limitation make you more creative but at some point you must spend money to have a quality production.
My last movie cost $600.00 and my next will cost a $1000.00. Putting a price tag on a production forces you to look at a script in a different way.
I partially agree with you. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Ring-production would not have been that great with a limited budget.
And if your story need to be set on Antarctica you at least need to be outdoors on ice when filming.
But some of the most famous scenes in movie history are a result of restrictions and/or limited budget.
Like the killing scene in the shower in Psycho.
And the first Star Wars had the amazing budget of $8,000,000. While the last one had I don't know how many zeros behind, but the result was hardly better. It just became too much of "look what I can do"-effects.
I'm talking about micro-budget movies.
I know a director that made a feature for $300.00 but he didn't pay his crew or actors. I didn't go to his movie because I thought his ethics of movie making was wrong.
I hope to direct my next feature in the next two years and I want a budget of no less than two million dollars. Of that I want $60,000.00 for writing and directing the movie.
I want everyone that works on any of my productions to feel I've been more than fair to them. I need to pay everyone something or give them something of value that is equal to their time.
I've eaten enough eye candy for one lifetime and I'd rather make a movie like the Time Traveler's Wife than Star Wars.
Star Wars or Time Traveler's Wife is a matter of taste, I guess, but the later has a more interesting title.
I like your ideas of movie making. I wish you all the luck possible in your projects.
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