Writing to budget
And the budget-cutting continues. On the heels of The Lone Ranger, which Disney almost dumped, and The Dark Tower and At the Mountains of Madness,’ which Universal did dump, all due to budgetary considerations, here’s the latest:
At a time when blockbuster budgets are facing extra scrutiny, Warner Bros. has halted pre-production on its live-action “Akira” remake.
Studio confirmed Thursday that it shut down the project’s Vancouver offices as the creative team reworks the story. Though it was reported that WB wanted to whittle down the $90 million budget — cut once already from the $130 million to $150 million range — insiders tell Variety execs want fixes on the sci-fi script that’s already gone through rewrites from Steve Kloves and David James Kelly
If you’re writing a big, blow-out blockbuster spec script, you don’t have to think that much about budget so much as you do about the quality of your story. The object is to sell the script, then worry about production issues related to money.
But what if you’re writing a mid-budget script? Or even more pointedly a low-budget project? Should you take into consideration budgetary issues as you write your story?
Increasingly so, the answer is yes. It’s a tough economy out there, movie ticket sales are down, and film finance people are super concerned about every single dollar in terms of costs. The typical movie has to generate between $3–4 in revenues for every pre-production, production, post-production, and marketing dollar spent.
So do you ever think about production dollars when you write a script? Do you even know what to look for in terms of costs?
As a jumping off point for this discussion, here is a set of guidelines a producer I worked with came up with to make $2M and under films:
* One primary location [to cut down on transportation costs].
* 90 page script.
* No more than 10 characters.
* 5 week shooting schedule.
* Most scenes between 1–3 actors [big ‘set pieces’ are scenes with 5 or more actors].
* Minimal special effects.
* Pick a location with reliable sunshine.
* A majority of scenes outside to take advantage of available light.
* Guerilla production crew.
* Set the story in a state with great tax rebate incentives like New Mexico or Louisiana.
* Avoid story elements that involve snow, water, rain, animals or children.
If you’ve never worked on production or had to rewrite a script tied to budget concerns, it can be a real eye-opener to realize how much difference your choices as a writer make in terms of dollars spent.
What other narrative elements jack up the price of production?
For the rest of the article on Akira, go here.
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