Guest Post: “A Free Imagination Has No Limits and No Budget Range”

A guest post from screenwriter Tom Benedek (Cocoon) and Screenwriting Master Class co-founder:

A free imagination has no limits and no budget range.

In moviemaking, there are those who may tell you otherwise. I just read a wonderful script by a workshop student. The writer fine tuned his characters well and honed great emotional payoffs. There are also amazing set pieces. And creatures I have never seen before on film. I also know full well that this type of script doesn’t get adequate attention in the business these days because it is not based on source material with a track record.

So what? It’s a great writing sample.

It might be possible that this script would work on a smaller scale — costumed characters instead of CGI. Existing locations replacing fantastical sets.

Worth a try? A creative beheading? Maybe. Or maybe not.

Perhaps this would be a better movie if it were more like the first Mad Max and less like Harry Potter.

Hmmm. I know the emotional impacts of the character stories, the suspense, the humor would all still be there. I have my own big budget sci fi movie right now and I am trying to put it through similar paces.

I am going to bring it into my one-week Writing the Low Budget Script class that starts next Monday. It’s a great course for getting grounded in this mind set, experimenting with the joys of limitations that may boost your imagination.

For more information, go here.