Costing a script...

Gurus....
First of all I want to appreciate, the and efforts and insights you guys inject in this forum. My knowlegde about film making has grown so much by just reading to the various posts.

Well, I have written a script. It is 130 pages long and has 75 scenes ( 50 indoor - 25 outdoor). I am working on refining my script and would like to know how to calculate the approx budget of this film? Is ther are thum rule that we can use to come up with some ball park figure assuming actors and crews are for free.

Thanks for any input.

Quiver...

Toss your script around. I know people who know people who might take a gander, but they do small horror flix. First thing outa their mouths would be "can we do it for under $20,000, and can we do it over the weekend?" [img]tongue.gif[/img]

It's hard to calculate a budget without knowing what the film's about, or have I missed something?

If it's a talking heads movie (people chatting and stuff) it could be fairly cheap. But then it's the matter of getting some good actors to deliver your dialogue well (and that's just saying that the dialogue is perfect)

If the script is that long however, you could be looking at a fairly long movie.

Can you post up a synopsis or a copy of the script?

break it down to scenes and then scene by scene think what you need... places (rents/permits), costumes, objects (like cars, bearbottles, computers, books or what ever is necessary to make the scene).

Think how many people you need for different jobs and what do you have to pay to them. How long are they working and do they need their own budget.

How long is the scene? how much film do you need (or videotape).

Do you need to do special FXs? Who will do them and what is the cost?

...just brake it down to scenes and figure out approcimately how much would every scene cost and after that there is also editing, copies, marketing etc. I guess the trick is to brake the script to pieces and think them through separately.

Thanks Guys....
Excellent..!!

The stroy deals with a couple from foriegn country who are in the USA. Thier life changes after a short period and the rest of the film is about how they of if they get ther life back...

I intend to shoot on a miniDV format. How can I find out how much footage a scene will use? If we assume good actors with couple of takes in each shot.

Diving the film in scnes is a pretty good idea. How much do these studios charge an hour to edit?

Thanks

Q...

Here's a tip. Scrap the idea of making a feature and write a short film instead. With your assumed level of knowledge I guarentee you will never be able to make a feature until you have had more experience. Either that or it will be terrible. You can't just throw money at a film and hire actors and edit 'studios' to make a film. Believe it not you have to know a little bit about what works, why it works, what jobs people do on set etc.

If you've written a feature, you can obviously write or at least have the drive to write. Go out and make some short films. You will answer all your own questions doing this, and you might end up with some half decent films out of it.

Good luck.

Andy

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 21, 2004 07:13 PM: Message edited by: andyblaa ]</font>

Andybala-----Thanks for some real encouragement!!

I appreciate it. You are right about my knowledge of film making. I even dabbled with the idea of having some one else dorect it. But......it took me a whole year to write this script, and to hand it over to some one ho may or may not be as sensitive to the issues at hand scares me, and makes me wonder if I should do it on my own....
Q...

Quote:

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it took me a whole year to write this script, and to hand it over to some one ho may or may not be as sensitive to the issues at hand scares me, and makes me wonder if I should do it on my own....

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's the life of a writer. In an ideal world you could talk to different directors about how they interpret the script and find someone with similar ideas to yourself. The key word is 'interpret', because every person that reads it will see it a different way to you. What you imagined is not how it will look.

This doesn't mean it's the end of the world, because yes, it may be not how you imagined and be terrible, but it could also be better than you ever imagined. That's the gamble when a script is handed over!

That's the worst thing for me-Not being able to let go of a script.

I started writing The Land Of Pies in the hope that the BBc would buy it-After creating the characters, the story and then finishing it, I knew that 1) It had to be a movie 2) I had to be in charge of casting and the Direction.

It's sad it has to be that way, but it seems that I'll have to keep trying.

However, what the BBc said was positive, and I'm currently thirty pages into my Audrey Tautou/Frustrated Writer script.

Showed it to a friend. He said it's kinda' like Charlie Kaufman raping Richard Curtis. Well, in fact he said "It feels like that Eternal Sunshine guy is bumming the Four Weddings Guy." What a subtle and tactful bloke my friend is.

I agree-

I have decided to write a real short and shoot it myself. Hopefully this should enlighten me.

I belive that there are only a dozen stories in the World. Have always been. It is THE TREATMENT that makes one different from the other. I dont know, but I think I have lived/slept with this script and I should direct it...

Citizen Kane was made by a guy like us....let us make him proud...

Q..