Low-Budget Filmmaking Keys To Low-Budget Filmmaking...



By Scott Myers

If you write a script that costs $100M or more to produce, there are basically six buyers who can afford to make that movie.

If you a write a script that costs $5-20M to produce, there are over a hundred buyers who can afford to make that movie.

It doesn’t even take putting on a producer’s hat to see the obvious: If you write a script on the low-end of budgets, you have a better chance of selling it simply because there are many more buyers.
Indeed you probably have a better opportunity to get representation because managers and agents know they have more of a shot getting something set up with more potential buyers.
And if you write a script in the $5-20M range, since your reps can send that script out to dozens and dozens of companies, that means you will get read by more people and potentially do the bottle water tour with more people.

All well and good. But how does a writer know what they can and can’t do to craft a script that is a lower-budget film?

Screenwriter Hudson Phillips posted an excellent distillation on The Black Board titled “Keys to Low-Budget Filmmaking.” I am reprinting his post here in its entirety and with permission:

Shaula [Evans] asked me to share my thoughts on writing for low-budget features.  My experience comes from writing and producing a short film called Rooney’s World where we squeezed every penny out of it, while learning from our mistakes.  We shot over five days on a budget of $14,000.  $7000 went into filming, and an additional $7000 to post (including animation and marketing/festival costs).  I’m currently writing a feature to be shot with the same crew on a very minimal budget.

1. Premise – The biggest savings happens before you ever put pen to paper.  And that is to make sure you have a premise that can be done on a small budget.  I grew up reading comic books and have an unabashed love of giant Summer blockbuster films.  So whenever an idea pops into my head, I immediately go big.

The good news is that we’re seeing a rise in high concept, low budget filmmaking.  Brit Marling and her collaborators, Zal Batmanglij and Mike Cahill, are the masters of this genre, in my opinion.  I highly recommend Sound of My Voice and Another Earth for those of you who are interested in this style of filmmaking.  Both shot for around $200K.  Shane Carruth’s Primer ($7K budget) and the Duplass Brothers’ Baghead ($60K budget) are also great references. (I’m sure there are hundreds more, please share below!)

All of these movies take big ideas (time travel, cults, multiple dimensions, serial killers) and make them personal stories.  But because of the financial restraints, they are forced to get creative with their storytelling, making each of the four movies above more interesting and effective than the typical hollywood blockbuster.  You could easily take any one of these ideas and fill them with big fight scenes, special effects, multiple protagonists, but instead, they make them all about character.

Let’s say you want to write a movie about the apocalypse, the end of the world.  You could make 2012 and show how this phenomenon effects the entire world, or you could limit yourself to show how it effects one person.  You know you can’t afford big FX shots, so what if this one person is stuck in a bunker underground?  What is their emotional journey?  What if they are separated from their husband or wife or children?  Your limited budget is forcing you to get away from the first thing that pops into your head and to concentrate on what really matters: the character.

Once you have an idea that fits a smaller budget, there are some practical tips that can help keep the budget low in your writing…

2. Use what you have – What do you have access to?  Locations, props, wardrobe etc.  The goal should be to never pay for a location.  So take a look around you, and look to friends you can ask for favors.  What can you borrow?  Maybe you have a big spoon collection or a swimming pool.  Write it into your script.

Shooting tip – You can buy wardrobe and props, keep the receipt, and return them after you’re done filming.  Be prepared that some things make break or otherwise get ruined though!

3. Don’t write a period or futuristic film.

4. Characters – The more speaking roles you add, the larger your expense is.  Extras and small roles can always be filled with friends, but you want to pay for quality leads.  Try to think in terms of a small cast: One main protagonist, a couple of key supporting roles.

5. Location – You want to limit your location changes.  Valuable time is lost breaking down, moving, and setting up. We originally had a montage in the middle of Rooney’s World where the two leads were on a date – they were at the park, at dinner, at a movie, etc.  Quick flashes.  But each one of these would take half a day to shoot for 5-10 seconds of screen time, so we moved it all to one restaurant (which a friend owned).

Shooting tip – You can use one house for multiple locations.  The main character’s bedroom and living room and a supporting character’s kitchen and bathroom can be shot at the same place.  You can fib on interior / exterior as well by shooting the outside of one house and filming inside another.  You can start controlling this in the writing stage.

6. DAY / NIGHT / INT. / EXT. – Some various things to keep in mind: Shooting during the day means you can use natural light.  If you want to film in a public location, you may be forced to shoot after hours.  Shooting outdoors during the day requires little lighting but you have to worry about unpredictable weather and noise pollution.
I’d suggest giving yourself some variables.  Multiple scenes / times in one location.  If you’re scheduled to shoot outside, but it’s raining, you can move inside as long as you’re shooting interior at the same location.  If you have ten scenes that take place in the main character’s dining room, you only have to light it once and change the character’s wardrobe to show passage of time.

7. Write a GREAT script.  A great script will attract great talent, even if they aren’t getting paid.  Most filmmakers love the medium deeply and just want to be a part of a quality product.  You’d be surprised how many favors you can ask when you’ve got a killer script and treat everyone with respect.

I hope folks will chime in to provide their own thoughts on the matter, but let me hammer home one point Hudson makes: Perhaps the single most important contributing factor to the budget of a movie is the first item on the list — story concept.

I have an original spec script I am currently rewriting. I conceived the idea specifically with the goal of making a $1M movie. The concept plays to a low budget for the following reasons:

* There is one primary location, so no travel or relocation costs.
* There are only 9 actors in the story.
* Most of the scenes are outdoors and make use of available light.
* It is a 4-week shoot.
* There are no special effects.
* The script is around 90 pages long.
* The location is set in a state with excellent financial incentives for production.

All of that derives directly from the central conceit of the story.

So as you sort through your various story concepts, keep one eye on the look-out for a lower budget project. That could be the line of least resistance you need to break into Hollywood… as long as you write a great script.


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