Screenwriting : What's been your experience writing a low budget script? by WL Wright

I wrote one for a 48 Hour Horror Film Festival (I think our budget was something like $50 and there was a lot of DIY involved). It's great fun and a good challenge as a writer to have to limit yourself in that way.

Wow that is amazing. $50 bucks. Okay I have a new challenge. This horror won't be that cheap. lol Here I thought it was really cheap, open desert location, a few trailers, one market/sheriff office combo and a cave. lol But the blood will be more than $50 I think. lol

Deciding if everyone dies at the end or not isn't just a 'cool' beat. It's a verdict of the case you have presented in your story. If the bad guy, the antag for the sake of example, gets away with the crime, as in NIGHTCRAWLER, you, the writer, are saying bad guys get away with bad things. if the good guy, the protag 'wins' you are making an entirely different statement with your story. The premise of the story determines the end, my friend. Hope this helps. If not, funk me and the horse I rode in on:) my man

I made and starred in quite a few flicks in the past three years in Denver. Make your cast and crew as minimal as possible and condense the shooting time. Anything drawn out over time will die. The more creatives involved in your project, the greater the chance of failure. Good luck, my friend

Lol Shawn and thanks. Everybody dies is always broader then the literal. lol Jason died ??? lol But in my case it's about the human characters. I killed all but a few that are going in for the last ditch effort. That part of the journey is starting at page 29 so I'm pretty sure I nailed the cheap as to time. :)p Characters? I'm at 7 humans but my evil tribe makes it 13 and 8 have lines. So I think I'm good with that part too.

The Head Hunter (2018)

Cost: Budget:$30,000 (estimated) Gross: Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $44,652

Filming Locations: Bragança, Portugal; Norway Mammoth Lakes, California, USA

If they would have shot at one location it could have cost $15.000

With a clever marketing campaign (minimum costs, maximum result) and better distributers, they could easily have made $ 300.000, even in these times.

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2092219673?playlistId=tt6469548&ref_=tt_ov_vi

Budget is in the eye of the Producer. I've been involved with film shoots that burned through $100K a day and others for the price of a beer a day. My last short - Gramma Ott - had a run time of 8 + min, was shot over a weekend with a cast/crew of 6. It cost me $500 to feed 'em - that's pretty low budget! (Not a very good film either.)

I look at it like this: When making not-for-prime time indie & amature hour films, your budget must be limited by the amount you can afford to throw away. I watched a young gung ho filmmaker rack up over $300K debt to make a worthless film. He now lives in his sister's basement.

I enjoyed it fully it brings a new dimension to it. You can write what you want but that challenge was one I want to do again for sure. I loved writing novels before this but I love writing scripts at a much bigger level since I wrote my first for a free script contest I did last year. They were sending me ads in my side bars. lol I'm glad I clicked it. So my ending didn't kill them off. The young people and the crazy but not so crazy grandma survived. My monsters? It's creepy and I'm happy with the ending being a major horror fan myself. I am trying to name it now. Might take a while for this one.

Hey Doug Halloween, The Blair Witch Project, Friday the 13th, Carrie and there are so many others that literally made tons more than they cost. It's the goal as a writer to be that good. I wish for it. I strive for it. I work for it. I edit for it. lol

How about Paranormal that also did what? 3 more and they all rocked. Great horror abounds in low budget.

Blood is cheap. Get some Johnson's Baby Shampoo and red food coloring and you're on the right track. For congealed blood add peanut butter. Have you done any smaller horror projects just to get some experience and get the feel of things?

Hey Nick yes, the crux of it all! lol Got that, it's always there whether I write it intentionally or not. I just write, it's how I role. There is always a deeper layer. I think that's college and the green stairs that took up a week of lectures. lol I rebelled I submit. But mostly I just write. I thought about the one room thing and that is the ultimate goal for sure. Rear window on steroids, Bug (almost) The Life Boat (old but still major) 12 Angry Men lol it's my next project to write, I think. Every time I finish a script it's at least a week before I can start another. It's a horrible weak especially in this situation but it's always back on fire in a week. I am grateful for that! But I just finished a script and editing and it's one week before I start another...I suffer in the meantime lol

Hey Bill for now I am staying in my lane as a writer. I like it here and will fight to stay here. lol

I appreciated Paranormal Activity for what it was, but I'm not really a fan, However, it was made for $17,000 and (correct me if I'm wrong) grossed $120,000,000 or somewhere around there.

Barry Duffield I think the found footage would be hard to freshen up these days.

I always aim low. I love the challenge. I heard Ryan Reynolds say Buried had 17 Coffins, for all the camera angles etc. So something that seems cheap can soon get away from you when it is a budget issue.

The reason I aim for a low budget, is if it is great. I’ll make it myself.

I am writing one at the moment, second draft, Two guys, broken down car, deserted road.

Spent my all life writing low budget stuff, constantly being aware of the "tricks", constantly reverse engineering... Always keeping in mind: Is this something I could do? Recently I started writing just "for the sake of writing" , just exactly what I would like to see, how the best version of the story should be etc... no budget thinking... and what a great and freeing experience that is.