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How to write a low budget screenplay

Writer's picture: SL EastwoodSL Eastwood

Updated: Feb 4


Yes, that awesome car chase will break the bank…

coins in a jar
Image by Josh Appel on Unsplash

When we’re first starting out as a screenwriters we all have high hopes that we’ll walk into the office of a Hollywood Exec and they’ll be so mystified by our genius that they just throw money at us.


This, unfortunately, is nothing more than a fantasy for the vast majority of us. Most of us have to build our careers from the ground up, working with peers who are on our same level, and grow slowly together.


It’s a wonderful process that gives you the opportunity to forge amazing connections with some of the most cool and creative people you’ll ever meet. However, it also requires us to operate within our means… at least for a little while.


Now, I’m no stranger to putting high octane action into my writing, but I’m also not under any illusions that I can bring those scripts to fruition with only an ambitious crew, some unpaid actors, and a camcorder.


Big productions require BIGGER money, which means if you want to get your movies made (particularly in your early career), you need to be able to adapt your writing to the resources and capabilities of the people you’re working with.


Many newbie filmmakers are desperate for material from great writers, but unfortunately due to a lack of production experience, many writers are pretty clueless about how much time and money even the most seemingly simple scripts can cost.


You’d be surprised the kinds of films you can pull off for a low budget, for example there’s a rumour the Gareth Edwards directed movie Monsters (2010) was made for around £15,000, which is pretty astounding considering the genre.


However, the majority of early career credits for screenwriters are going to be found on less ambitious productions. That’s why it’s essential to know how a set works, so you can better identify what parts of the script are going to eat up your budget!



5 writing mistakes that increase your budget

Now, I’m not for one moment suggesting that you can’t dream big and write impressive, big budget scripts, but to cut your teeth on smaller projects you’ll have to learn to be more conservative with how you tell a story.


Not only do you have to consider actual tangible production costs (costuming, salaries, location hire), but also the complexity of the scripts you write. So here are some of the worst offenders that increase your budget (even without meaning too)…


Too many characters

This one doesn’t just apply to low budget scripts, as you should be keeping “named” characters to a minimum in all your scripts. Too many characters can confuse viewers, so you should really only be including characters who drive the narrative.


Often we don’t realise that multiple characters are serving the same function, meaning those extra bodies are doing nothing to enhance the story. This is especially true for low/no budget productions, where you’ll often be pulling favours and filming in people’s spare time.


If you’ve ever tried to coordinate an event you’ll know it’s similar to herding cats, so the more characters you have the bigger of a headache production planning will be.


The harder it is to plan, and the more people you have to coordinate, the less likely it is that the production will get the go ahead. So, the fewer characters the better. If your production has any kind of budget you’ll either be paying expenses or possibly a day rate.


The average rate for a background artist is £120 per day, so those costs quickly stack up.


Too many locations / elaborate sets

This one goes hand-in-hand with too many characters, but for a slightly different reason. Yes, in theory you just need to move your production to another location, but often people don’t realise how long a day of filming can take.


You hear actors decry long days on set, but that’s because a day of shooting can literally be 20 hours long, due to the piecemeal nature of how production works. To get one single scene you usually have a “master” angle then multiple “cut ins” showing different aspects of the scene, which all require the camera to be repositioned.


In the West Wing, Aaron Sorkin always had his characters walking, as he believed this was the best way to maintain audience focus in scenes with a lot of dialogue. However, you have to consider the logistics of filming a scene that requires actors to move between locations.


There are pieces of kit that make this process easier, but they can be expensive and complicated to use. If you’re constantly moving your performers from place to place, without good reason, you’re going to be increasing your budget. The same goes for elaborate sets that need to be built, dressed and lit.


It all takes time and money that your crew likely doesn’t have. You’re hiring kit and locations, paying expenses, so it’s imperative that you don’t waste people’s time.



Too many long scenes

“Okay, so we can’t have our actors moving around too much. Let’s just have long, dialogue heavy scenes instead”.


Nope.


Often as writers we think, “we don’t have any money so people can sit and talk to each other”. While in theory this does reduce the cost of production, scenes that are too long will slowly rack up your budget.


We all know that cliched Hollywood Director screaming “time is money, people!” at the smallest delay.


Every second counts while filming, and anyone who’s ever stepped on a set knows that filming takes FOREVER, even before you meet any bumps on the road. Long scenes require a lot of shot variation because otherwise they can become slow and boring for the viewer.


Even a scene of actors simply sitting around a table and talking could require the camera to be repositioned multiple times. Each time this happens the scene has to be carefully calibrated, there’s the lighting, giving actors marks so they don’t walk out of focus, adjusting costumes, hair and makeup.


That same shot, depending on the complexity or length, could take days to shoot.  Filmmaking is an incredible process, but also tedious and painful – don’t make it harder than it needs to be.


An elaborate time period or genre

You might have an idea for the simplest script – one room, barely any characters, minimal dialogue – the only problem is… it’s set during World War 2. It’s great to be ambitious but costuming and props, particularly on period films, are expensive and can be difficult to source.


The same goes for any genres that are very stylistic, such as sci-fi. Again, this isn’t always the case. You can pull off incredible pieces of work with a limited budget, but you need to be working with very skilled people who are also willing to dedicate their time and resources to the project. This is hard to come by for most of us, particularly in our early careers.


Unless your grandma is a hoarder seamstress willing to work for free, a steampunk noir on a shoestring isn’t going to be feasible.



Stunts

You will not believe how many scripts I read that are supposedly low budget and want to include… a car chase. That or some other elaborate stunt with untrained actors. Stunts take money in order to be done safely. 


Even “proper” productions have had stunts go horribly wrong, usually because of people cutting corners or thinking they can Macgyver their way through it. My worst nightmare is when I hear, “We’ll just fix a camera to the front of the car and shoot it guerrilla style!”.


That’s usually when I direct them to incidents like the on-set accident suffered by Dylan O’Brien when shooting the Maze Runner (Budget: $62 million) and the fatal shooting on the set of Rust (Budget: $8 million).


You and the production team might think you can pull off a stunt, but it’s irresponsible to make that expectation of your actors, many of whom are desperate for work. It’s exploitative to make such requests of actors, as many will feel obliged to perform in a scene even when they don’t feel safe, because of fears they will be labeled as “difficult”.


If you do not have the budget or the competence to provide adequate safety measures for a stunt, don’t even consider it. The production team for Incident in a Ghost Land failed to do so and left actress Taylor Hickson with life changing injuries, which cost the production company $40,000 in fines.


If you already have no money, the last thing you need is a lawsuit.



How to actually write for a low budget


Keep your Cast Small

Fewer characters = fewer storylines (and most importantly camera angles) to deal with, but also less administration in pre-production. A one-page callsheet is much less cumbersome than multiple pages. Plus, cutting your story down to just one character is an interesting challenge (think Buried (2010) and Locke (2013)).


Limit Expensive Locations

Almost everyone has access to a house, a backyard, or an office somewhere in their 6-degrees of seperation. If you can pull favours, writing your script in one of these locations is going to save you a lot of money in hiring fees. 


Not only that, but smaller, more confined locations will have limited available angles you can shoot, which means less time having to think about how to compose your shots. It sounds stifling but filmmaking is all about problem solving and you'd be surprised what kinds of cool shots you can make when you're pressed up against a wall (literally!)


Focus on Dialogue & Story

I am a person who absolutely LOVES bottle episodes. I think there is something so special about the kinds of stories you can tell when you don't have the flexibility to hide behind a face-paced script that jumps from place to place. 


Being able to write a great story with characters who are so compelling they can spend an entire film sitting on the floor in a dark room is the true test of an amazing writer. So, flex your dialogue muscles and get creative.


Get Creative with Props & Effects

Yes, you might not have the money or resources to pull off that incredible car chase, but you can still get creative with the use of props and high tension drama. There’s something to be said about the things you let the audience imagine for themselves. Don’t have enough money for special effects to do that torture scene justice? 


Pull a Reservoir Dogs (1992) and cut away right at the point where your budget allows and then spray some fake blood everywhere. Again, it’s a case of being creative to push the boundaries of your resources by using the kind of magic that movies are known for. 


Write for the Resources You Have

Think about what’s available to you, whether that’s a unique location or access to a talented group of actors. Build your script around those assets. Work closely with the production team you’re writing the script for and then reverse engineer your story so it’s compatible with the sets, casts and equipment you have.


If you’re just starting out, you want to try to fill your portfolio with both ambitious show stoppers and low budget scripts, so you’re ready for any opportunity that comes your way. However, you often won’t know what the production team are capable of until you spend time discussing the project with them, so be ready for anything.


 
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