Story Q&A: When should budget limit my film’s genre?

One of the questions that has come up in Free Lance Friday was posed by a screenwriter and filmmaker:

when should my budget limit my story?

The answer is either always or never, but not both. First, “never.”

Your budget, as a screenwriter, should never limit your story when you write to sell your screenplay. Write as big as you want, as bold as you can, because you want someone with money to buy your work. You want an actor with an established record to imagine himself saying your lines on screen. So don’t worry about budget – let go of the neverness of budget limitations and give your imagination room to romp. Buy a screenwriter’s market (on Amazon) or host your screenplay on Black List and get that baby sold.

Now, “always.”

If you’re making your own films, and your budget is literally zero… wait, time out.

Some producers say “we shot this film on nothing,” when they mean $300,000.

Now I know that budget doesn’t go far when you’re hiring out to people, when you’re patching together your film from all over the country. “Nothing” describes $300k in that context.

But many of you guys see six or seven figures as a jackpot scenario, assuming you sell your film post-Sundance. When some of you guys say “I shot it on nothing,” you mean “that coat belonged to grandma, that explosive charge was a Molotov rigged up by my redneck neighbor, and my cousin lent us his shop lamps and generator.”

So if your budget is literally nothing and you plan to actually film everything you write, then stop writing sweeping historical drama. Stop writing big-budget sci-fi. Stop writing war epics. This isn’t actually a limiting process, but a liberating one – cocoon and moth. Those genres of screenplay are for later in your career or for selling to other producers. You can’t film something that requires a 3,330-man crew, but that’s a good thing. Creative restrictions say, “Here is everything we can’t do. So what can we do?”

A good example was sent to me by a friend. This filmmaker wanted to shoot a short film on the book of Job on a thin budget. Obviously, you can’t do historically accurate shoots on a budget like that. Instead, they came up with this:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/71880032]

That’s Job, alright, but it’s in a do-able context. It’s affordable for that kind of budget.

There are ways to shoot a sci-fi on $0 and still make it more realistic than Pacific Rim. There are ways to shoot war films on $0 and make it more emotionally moving than Pearl Harbor.

Admit your budget’s limits and write your story within it. You might be surprised at what you find.

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Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

For three magical reasons — your brave curiosity, your community, & my ignorance:

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