Screenwriting : Reading User Review of Budget Movies by Habou Adi Said

What Damian said. The Asylum not only makes films that are supposed to look like $250m studio blockbusters for $250k, they do it poorly.

There are lots of great movies made on small budgets. But the smaller the budget, the more creativity and imagination required.

I am obsessed with one of several companies that make $10k features. Ten a year. Most of them are unwatchable, but one of the directors manages to make fun films that are entertaining (and look like they cost a lot more than $10k). So the less money you have, the more important your talent becomes. You have nothing to "hide behind".

Money is no substitute for story.

We have all seen glossy mega budget pieces of crap. Because I glitter covered, diamond encrusted turd is still a turd.

Then the inverse is true. We see a great story that has bad casting and suffers with low budget comprises.

The foundation stone is a great story. Then hopefully we attract the right budget.

Damien you're right when you say mockbusters or parodie of great franchise. They have recently made parodie of Star Wars. That movie title is Battle Star Wars.

Sometimes, we can make great movie with 15 Millions. You remember the first wave of indie movies that force Hollywood to buy indie movies companies to stop the movmement?

Remember the first Ninja turtles 1990. Its budget was 13.5 Millons and the Box office was 220 Millions. And at that time, people did not have access to special effects tools as they do now.

Reason why the indie movies movement die in the past was the lack of online streaming platform. Now we've got all ingrediants to make great indie movies, but we have less creativity and less graet artist. That's the paradox of the indie movies industry.

It would be great to look at the fan made movie of Star Wars that i was talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djo_91jN3Pk

T7 Production

Budget: 25K

Craig, indeed high budget movies are sometimes not great.

Nope, I think it’s the opposite, you need to be an exceptional skilled storyteller just to be “average” today, competing with established veterans in a saturated marketplace for consumer money & movie theater bookings. Filmmakers like Barry Jenkins, Lulu Wang, Ari Aster, Greta Gerwig, Stella Meghie, Safdie bros, Ryan Coogler separated themselves from the average field, became rockstars and brands.

In business people (commonly) fall into what is known as the “sunk cost fallacy”. Huge companies do it as well as governments across the world.

This happens when they spend a large sum and believe that if they keep spending they have a chance or recovering. A point of no return if you like. They think that money fixes the problem.

This I think is what produces big flops at the box office.

People that fall for the sunk cost fallacy.

If as soon as they realised the story wasn’t working they stopped. They would have a loss in the books, but not a huge loss.

This show business is different. You have two completely different types of business. The people who run the big studios aren’t as dumb as most screenwriters here believe.

The big studios have huge fixed expenses they have to pay just to keep their doors open. For every ten films they produce only one has to make a huge profit. Even if a movie shows a loss it helps pay their fixed overhead until they cash in on that one big blockbuster. They know people pay to watch big action scenes, expensive special effects and to see their favorite stars. They know the more money they spend on those things the more money they will probably make. That is what they’ve been doing and unless they can eliminate the huge fixed expenses somehow, I don’t know if they can change.

The other marked are the smaller independent producers who can’t afford to spend a lot of money on things like special effects, big action scenes and big-name actors. So, they have to rely on a real good story to make money. That is good for aspiring screenwriters because they are more willing to read a screenplay written by an unknown screenwriter.

Anyway, this is the way it has been for a long time but since I don’t have a crystal ball I don’t know what the future will bring.

Hi Habou,

It's mostly because of salary differences. A 3-D animator in Romania makes way less than a 3-D animator in Burbank, California. And they don't have a union with benefits, work rules and other perks. Look up the stats and I bet the currency comparison is at least five times more for the U.S. worker, and maybe even ten times more.

Eastern Europe, by the way, has really grown its production industry over the last decade. Good for those countries, and I hope the creatives there continue to make great content - local content and foreign content - and money for themselves and their families..

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Habou, and stay safe!

Dan Guardino movie people aren’t stupid. That is a fairytale people tell themselves to excuse their bad writing.

But people in bigger companies than any film company do it.

The HP tablet (with their own OS and store) it lasted a day.

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We can all make lists of well mistakes. I am saying people don’t pull out of obvious nose dives.

Hi Bill Costantini,

You're right about that, but I wanted to illustrate how people can make great movies with small budget. Imagine, a less than 5 Millions animation which braught around 95 Millions dollars. That's really great.

When it comes to salaries, people working in the film industry of USA are somehow exploited. If a movie generate 500 Millions, how much goes into the pocket of the workers?

I think that's a philosophical thinking.

Eastern european indie industry has a great future.

You are right Craig D Griffiths. The market is saturated, and Hollywood will soon need great stories to make income.

We'll see but since they make a ton of money I am not going to pretend I am smarter than they are just because I can write a good screenplay.

I have included some samples of eastern european animations movies.

Any indie writer with a good screenplays should try to contact them.

Fantastic Journey to OZ : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19XY6SdvHnE

Damian. I never said I thought my primary criterion of accomplishment is money. I just pointed out the different markets.

Damian - I didn't catch that about Dan G' comment.

Damian Lloyd if what you write makes money, you’ll (probably) be asked to do it again.

I think people that were touched by your film (purchased a ticket is a good indication) is another good indication of success.

I don’t know if we have a success number. But money is not a bad proxy.

I had a director reach out for a script. I was unfamiliar with his work. But he talked a good game. I checked his box office figures on IMBD $3k and $7k. He may be brilliant. But his box office has prompted a lot more due diligence.