Writing The Low Budget Screenplay

By Lucy V Hay

Seems to me there’s two ways of doing this scriptwriting thing:

1) The Sample Route

and

2) The Making Route.

Writers following Route 1? WRITE A SCRIPT. That’s it. Of course it has to be ace
and they have to have a strategy (“TV/ Radio/Film + stacks of networking” in the
very least) but the story CAN be anything: high budget, low budget, whatever. The
name of the game is IMPRESSING someone with your writing enough to take you on
to SOMETHING. People following Route 1 will typically wait a good while before
their own ideas are made.

In comparison, writers following Route 2 have some decisions to make before they
even get off the blocks and put a word on the page, like HOW BEST to a) tell a story
in a way that will get them noticed and b) tell it in such a way it will be viewed as a
VIABLE SCRIPT TO MAKE on a low budget.

So, here are my thoughts on micro-budgetmovies and making them work:

Locations/Studio work. One of the

first thing script calls for “low budget screenplays” mention. Finding and getting all
the necessary permissions etc for locations is hard and expensive. Location work can
be cheaper than studio work, depending how you use it. Certain cities are very
expensive for example, but then so is building an actual set. That said, obvious
compromises and short-cuts can be made to bring expense down: ie. shooting ALL
your city scenes in one day or building a set that can be re-dressed so it looks like
different places very easily. Remember: interiors are nearly always cheaper to shoot
than exteriors: light hire might be expensive, but unless you’re very unlucky and
there’s a massive hole in the roof, rain or snow is not going to screw up a day’s
shooting if you’re INSIDE.
Typically, a microbudget movie will be ONE LOCATION ONLY. The favourite is the
“one room”, usually an interior, which became a staple in particular of the so-called
“torture porn” genre in the early noughties. Sometimes writers will be asked to write
“for” a particular exterior location however – for example a spooky derelict house.

– Horror. Horror is a firm favourite for microbudget movies – trapping people in one
place is a really obvious thing to do, but not necessarily the best thing to do…
Especially when the market is flooded with Horror movies still in the can. That said,
when they work, they can really sing. Favourites of mine in this genre include CUBE
and the first SAW.

– Thriller. Thriller doesn’t jump to mind when it comes to one-room movies, but
there’s no reason it shouldn’t. Stuart Hazeldine did a great job with EXAM, showing
us that battles of wits can be every bit as nerve-wracking as being locked in a room
with a serial killer. What if… Your characters were held hostage in a bank? Or outside
was toxic, so inside was “safe”? There are LOADS of non-serial-killer, non-monster
ways of doing this and making the action about the group tearing itself apart.

– Comedy. Believe it or not, Comedy too can lend itself to the one room/one location
scenario. Imagine this: your whole family, brought together by a single event, even
though you actually all hate one another … Sounds like: ooooh, CHRISTMAS! Or a
WEDDING!!! None of you want to leave and be the bad guy. So again, the group
implodes. BAM!

– Action. Action/Adventure is difficult to pull off in the one-room scenario, though in

this age of remote communication, I bet a writer with real class could pull it off if the
characters had access to all kinds of technology: after all, a good proportion of
American cop show NCIS plays out in MTAC, which is satellite communication
between Gibbs’ superiors and him… What if that were replaced with threats from an
unknown terror group, on the other side of the world? If one location like a supposed
house, spaceship or prison, or there could be room for the obligatory running and
jumping and fighting the action genre requires.

– Drama. Drama may not be favourable to sales agents at the moment, but a well-
written, insightful one can still play well at film festivals and if your film has enough
*to* it to get “star appeal”, then you may get that distribution deal. Just because it’s
drama does NOT mean you are home free in terms of your characters being “unable”
to leave – your audience is not watching a play, even if they don’t mind drama being
that little bit more theatrical than genre. I read a Dean Koontz book, MIDNIGHT,
yeeeeears ago: in it, there is a character who is disabled. When Armageddon hits, his
friends are forced to leave him behind – at his behest – in order to save themselves.
They hide him in the attic and give him a gun so he can decide whether he wants to
kill himself or not when his house is inevitably overrun by the threat outside. Now,
this was just ONE MOMENT of the entire book, yet it’s stayed with me since I was
literally about 15. The very human emotions that go with it – the terrible decision,
knowing you must sacrifice one to save many, the guilt for the friends, the fear for
him, alone at the end of the world – something like that would make a BRILLIANT
one-room drama, focusing not on the threat outside, but the people inside the room…
You would effectively be turning the problem on its head: it’s not that your characters
CAN’T leave, but the fact they CAN and ARE, but must leave one of their number
behind.

And of course, looking at the above, with the exception of drama, any number of
genre mash-ups could work here: Romantic Comedy, Horror Comedy, Action Thriller,
etc or genres that splinter off from the main, such as Kids’ or Family, too.

SO: The key here is in giving us a VALID REASON as to why characters can or
cannot leave the location; trapping by force is just ONE way of doing this. Think
carefully about the world your characters live in and their motivations to find the best
way of representing this.

Characters. The second most-

asked for in script calls: NUMBER OF ROLES. Usually a director or filmmaker will
be interested in approximately 5-7 characters with no peripherals, though occasionally
a couple of peripherals will slip through unnoticed which can either be cut or played
by the teaboy.

With small casts, understanding of character role function is ABSOLUTELY

ESSENTIAL. Every character must play its part to perfection in terms of keeping the
plot moving forward, whilst still revealing its own character motivation. I like to think
of characters “helping” or “hindering” the main goal of the protagonist or antagonist,
though I think the best films remember each character is an INDIVIDUAL. No mean
feat.

SO: Ten roles MAXIMUM is usually the most any “truly” low budget screenplay can
handle, though the rule is – the fewer, the better.

Writing The Low Budget Screenplay:

Part 2
Carrying on from yesterday’s post about genre, locations and characters in the low
budget screenplay, here are some other factors you may want to consider when
planning out and writing your low budget masterpiece. Enjoy!

Star Appeal. Great writing attracts great actors – and of course NAMES attract sales
agents. Think of the Names you would like to target with your hot script… Can you
write a role with them in mind (why not – if that Talent attaches, it may gain you a
Director or Producer, plenty of films have done it that way round)? So… What is your
dream actor known for? Will this appeal on that basis? Turning this notion on its head,
would YOUR script be a change of direction for them? If for example you’re filming
in the UK, can you attract an American or European actor – and thus American or
European interest/money? Of course, you may WANT to use a cast of Unknowns –
and if you’re not making a genre film, this can work particularly well; if you ARE
however, what is the “hook” for the audience if it’s *not* “Oh it’s him/her out of that
thing in this movie!” (And we ALL do it). Be aware: whilst some do cross over very
successfully to features – I’m thinking Adele Silva here in particular – soap actors are
not necessarily *enough* to get a distribution deal on their own, especially if their
series is not “big” outside the UK.

SO: Make your script shine and the Names will come knocking – actors actively
WANT challenging, interesting parts to play over crossing their fingers and thinking
of the rent money. But DON’T cast Names “for the sake of it” – you MUST believe,
100%, that actor is the RIGHT WO/MAN FOR THE JOB. If you can’t attract Names,
then don’t panic, but DO make sure you have access to the best talent available…
NEVER, EVER “make do”.

Health & Safety. It’s obvious that things like stunt work, choreographed fights,
explosions, fire, flood etc will all ratchet up your budget. However, did you know
supposedly “small” actions like quickly running up and down stairs will, too?
Basically any producer is obliged to perform a risk assessment, ie. the LIKELIHOOD
of whether an actor – or crew!!! – will hurt themselves. The higher the risk, the higher
the budget. Simples.

SO: If there is action in your low budget screenplay, think about how it plays out and
where it is. Choreographed fights obviously carry some risk, but if the fight is on level
ground, away from hazardous areas, overseen by a proper Stunt Choreographer, then
the risk is minimal. Place the same fight in a moving car or on a flight of stairs and
it’s a different story. Similar with weaponry: do you NEED close ups of a weapon? If
not, instead of using a knife, perhaps you could use a piece of wood or just the handle
of the knife with no blade.

Actors’ Ages/Animals. Children MUST be paid, chaperoned and can only work
certain hours of the day, dependant on the council’s policy where you’re shooting.
Animals must be accompanied by their wranglers and are subject to similar rules.

SO: Both can represent a massive headache to the low budget screenplay and are
best avoided if you want a clear shot at being labelled “low budget”. However there
are various compromises: teenagers over 18 often look younger, yet are subject to the
same rules as adults – use them instead. Animals are more difficult to compromise
over, but perhaps you could use your own dog or iguana? Basically: think what you
have access to!

Props/Set Dressing. Specially made or hard-to-find props can be expensive,

especially when you consider The Art Dept will probably need multiples in case one
gets broken. Set Dressing can be expensive if you’re using one room to look like
different places, but is A LOT cheaper than building multiple sets, plus there are many
ways of sourcing items to make rooms look different. New curtains, different pictures
on the wall, throws on the chairs, etc make a world of difference – as does shooting
from different angles. Friends of mine swear by pound shops, charity shops and eBay,
but the key is compromise: don’t write something the story would fall apart over if it
can’t be found.

SO: Remember filmmakers may not find everything needed and may need to make
substitutes – so try to deal with this in advance by ensuring the story does not depend
on any single item in the script.

Costuming/Make Up. People immediately think “period drama = high budget” but it
doesn’t have to if you think outside the box. There are many musuems and historical
societies that are very open to the idea of collaborating with filmmakers if they get
credited in the final film, sometimes for free. Similarly, many costumes can be pieced
together raiding charity shops. You will more than likely need a professional Make Up
artist who will need supplies for his/her kit, but again eBay can come to the rescue
there and I’ve even known filmmakers to barter: on one student film I worked on, a
producer even said she’d look after one theatre supplier’s kid for the afternoon if she
gave her a vat of fake blood! in terms of cutting down a Make Up artist’s time, actors
can also put their OWN “normal” make up on, allowing the Make Up Artist to
concentrate on more pressing matters like fake flesh wounds, broken teeth, scabs or
Zombie and Vampire faces. The key when WRITING then is where you place them
a) in the story and b) where it would “need” to be filmed. A selection of Zombies
in a corridor? Probably going to work on a low budget. A selection of Zombies in the
middle of the town square? Uh-oh.

SO: In writing the script, remember that pesky context again.

Genre convention/classification.Aka knowing your audience. A well-received film is

one that KNOWS its audience and has given them enough of what they expected,
without forgetting to SURPRISE them as well.

So … what are you waiting for?