Producing : Scripts & Budgets by Ethan Frome

I would say $800,00 to $1.5 million with a focus on good talent, a superb makeup artist and special effects. You can also look into using some realistic 3D animation combined with motion capture to reduce your costs. Motion capture can reduce your production time and cost significantly. Some production costs can be significantly reduced with OS.

Graham P Halky Thank you. What would you say is a good location number to have in general at that budget? I know one thing can effect how much you have of something else. I have about 12 locations that could turn into 14 depending on the scouting

The original Paranormal Activity (2007) budget was $15,000. Found (2012) was only 8K!

Good location number? 1

Cast size? 2

Who here has produced a $800,000- $2M movie? How did you make your money back?

Locations are not my area of expertise. I had a friend shooting a horror film who found an old historic mansion built in 1830 that need money for restoration. He shot his entire horror film at the house. In one location we used a local tourist attraction that the mayor was happy to have in our family friendly film. Can someone please fill in the dollar amounts for Ethan?

Ethan, there are several webinars now available with Stage32.com that answer your questions. One is only $39. Check it out.

Graham P Halky Thanks a lot. I'll take a look and see what I can find.

There is a producer who works with Stage 32 Natalie Qasabian who produced the thriller SEARCHING for $850k with John Cho and Debra Messing. She sold it to Sony for $5m and it went onto make $75m world wide. She definitely caught the brass ring on that one, but it was a very unique concept, shot in an inventive way for a very modest budget.

To answer your question Ethan Frome crafting a budget largely comes down to page count, number of locations, size of the cast, and the size of the set pieces, which all impact the number of shooting days - the higher the number on any of those, the higher the budget.

Check out films like BURIED which were shot in one location with one principal actor in less than 2 weeks. And it is an incredible film. It's a master class on low budget and micro-budget filmmaking.

Jason Mirch Will do! Thank you for your input. I’ll check out both films.

Jason Mirch Dude, I just learned about Buried from the On the Page podcast! The writer was a guest on the show - GREAT advice! Now I HAVE to see it! LOL!

Ethan Frome Love these questions, sir! Keep them coming! Also, everything Jason said LOL!

If you ever take a class on production management where you learn how to breakdown the script, then it becomes clear how those things add up. Oh, and Art Department is your wild card, so keep your SFX, VFX, and required props/wardrobe/locations to a minimum. And if you've budgeted for $850k, give yourself $1mil so you have a built-in contingency. The worst thing you can hear your AD/UPM say is "there is no room for error". LOL!

Karen "Kay" Ross And I love your responses. I'll keep what you said in mind for sure when I check out those films and also as I finish up rewriting my script. Thank you!

Aww, why thank you, Ethan Frome ! I learned that last lesson from a documentary called Lost in La Mancha. HIGHLY recommended behind-the-scenes look at all the ways a film can crash and burn in the production stage. Yes, I own a digital copy... for my students... and posterity LOL! https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Mancha-Johnny-Depp/dp/B0019RO4NW/ref=sr_1_1?...