I know there is a fair amount of interesting in filmmaking in these parts. My husband has directed professionally for decades now, and we've made a handful of feature films together. He edits motion pictures professionally, and so we see a lot of indie films come our way. I thought it would be fun to do a small series on how to make an indie film.
If you're interested, make the jump.
I thought I'd start off with the script because that's where smart filmmakers start. Indie filmmakers usually go wrong right here - a staggering number of them don't read good scripts before choosing a project, or worse, they decide to write their own script or t to improvise their way through a feature - all of which is likely to be devastating to the end product.
What you're going to look for is a perfect screenplay. Not one you need to polish or one you need to develop. One that you could film tomorrow with your resources. You want it all - a great story, good three dimensional characters with a real arc and fantastic dialogue. In my last project, we only changed one word of dialogue - the word "adamant" was changed to "adamantine". Having the ability to take a mediocre script, or a brilliant but problematic script and turn it into an absolute gem is is a skill that is in very rare supply. Mostly producers ruin good scripts when they attempt to develop them.
Start off by reading a couple books on screenplays so that you have a good understanding of the format. Good ole' Syd Field is a perfect place to start. No other book has ever broken down the basics of screenwriting quite like Syd did in Screenplay - The Foundations of Screenwriting. I know there are lots of other acclaimed books out there as well, but I do not have the intimate familiarity with them that I do with Field's book. When I began working with filmmakers, I read Field's book several times over, and the time I spent doing so served me well time and time again.
Even if you've just gotten out of film school, you should be reading scripts - highly acclaimed scripts - by the dozen: Chinatown, Apocolypse Now, Shakespeare In Love, Room With A View, Tootsie, Network, The Graduate, As Good As It Gets, Three Days Of The Condor, Being John Malkovich, In The Heat Of The Night, Dr. Strangelove, The Last Detail, Good Fellas, The Wanderers, Traffic. The list goes on and on. Get into your bones what a good script feels like. It should be a page turner, just like a novel is. After having read a few books on how to write scripts, the accomplishments embodied in these screenplays will really leap out at you. And that's what you want - the ability to recognize a great script upon reading it. Even at a leisurely pace, a screenplay barely takes an hour to read. Spending six months reading several good scripts a week is a reasonable preparation for making your first feature.
At the point where you're ready to start looking for your script, you need to take a look at what resources you have for filmmaking. If you're going to have less than $250k to make your film, an excellent place to start is by considering what locations would be available to you for free. Seriously - locations are one of the big problems most indie films have to resolve. Check with your friends and relatives - would they allow a small film crew in their homes for a few days to film? Seriously - ask 'em. Think about the other locations you have available to you - offices, restaurants, churches. Draw up a list of what locations you can get for free, and who would likely let you film without production insurance - because it may come to that. There are a couple locations you want to avoid - schools, for instance. I can't speak for all districts but i do know that many school districts charge an arm and a leg for a day's shooting - in LA, for instance, it's $2400 per day. Hospitals can be difficult and pricey as well. If you have a friend or relative who works in the costume department of a university with a good theatre program and they are interested in costuming a film - innumerable options are now available to you. You might well be able to do a period piece as long as you keep it to the 20th century - an option most indie filmmakers don't have. Just make sure you can follow through on the rest of the production design before you commit to the project. Check with your town about municipal facilities. If you're shooting on city, county or state property, you'll need to have insurance and permits. Find out what the requirements are there. If they make it pricey,, avoid scripts with courtrooms and such.
Next, think about the actors you personally know that you might want to work with. I'm going to have a lot to say about working with actors in a future diary, but for now, consider who you know who is really good, and who is beautifully mannered. Don't tell them you're doing this. If there is anyone you know who is a working actor - whether it's theatre in Nebraska or commercials and soaps in NY - and you're confident they're really good and that you'd like to work with them, put 'em on the list. If not, count your blessings, you're probably better off. Suffice to say, no precasting until money is in the bank. Tell all your friends and lovers they cannot have a role - especially the lead, unless they are putting a significant chunk of money in. Stick to that.
What to do now that you have a good grasp of your resources? I always start at Craig's List Los Angeles. I've found scripts for several filmmakers over the years, and I've got the Craig's List routine nailed down. The first thing you should know is that everyone in Hollywood slums on Craig's List. I've had Academy Award winning screenwriters respond to my postings. You'll find very high quality scripts quickly with the right request. You're going to do a posting which reads basically like the following:
Filmmaker Looking For Screenplay
Filmmaker looking for script for ultra low-budget project. Should have a minimum of characters and locations. No schools. No car crashes, No gun fire. My first choice would be a comedy with a lead role for a petite, baby faced red head with a voice like Marlene Dietrich but I'm open to others.
Please send a very brief query with no more than a two or three sentence description of your screenplay. If I'm interested, I'll get back to you and tell you more about myself. Your script must be WGA registered, and I'm happy to sign a non-disclosure form.
Obviously, substitute whatever your preferences are in terms of genre. If you have a small New England town that will turn the keys over for you to shoot there, state that as what you're looking for. If you want to do a zombie film, say that. Got clowns in your system? Put it down. You'll be amazed at what you get back.
Now, this is what you're going to find - the better the screenplay, the briefer the response. Inexperienced screenwriters will want to send you a three page synopsis on their script and tell you all about their training. Ignore them. A good writer will frequently send nothing more than the two or three sentences that you've asked for. One of my all time favorite scripts came with a one sentence pitch that had nothing to do with the storyline, but made me laugh out loud at my desk at 7am. On my last project, the response from the very prolific author was this:
THE WATERMEL0N
by MichaeI Hemmingson
A man inherits an old, oblong trailer that is painted to look like a
watermelon, which attracts a bunch a weirdos, oddballs, strangers and the
curious, including a woman he finds sleeping in it. The woman is on the
run, having escaped from a man who was keeping her in a cage and is now on
her trail. He decides to help her, and a quirky romance develops.
It's a finalist over here:
http://www.bifilmfestival.com/...
Michael sticks to the two or three sentence request, but does let me know that it's a finalist in a contest that has a $500k prize for production of the winning script. What he doesn't tell me is that he has had over 40 books published in his life, and that the script has won other screenplay contests as well.
If a pitch doesn't interest you, you aren't obligated to respond to the writer. If you're ultra-polite you can, but you are going to be inundated with screenplays queries, and it will get overwhelming quickly. If a writer demands to know your budget upfront, or wants to know who you are before giving you a three sentence pitch - move on. You aren't asking for enough information to rip anyone off and in this day and age of digital filmmaking, budget isn't indicative of quality. One other thing - if you specify a genre, or indicate that you are looking for a feature with a lead role for a certain gender or age, you'll have lots of writers suggesting that they adapt their screenplay to your requirements. Skip those.
Then start reading. I prefer to read online because you'll very quickly have stacks and stacks of screenplays that the writers have spent $7 or so to print up and mail to you, piling up around your house and they aren't attractive. Of the authors whose work you read, get back to them quickly. Don't give them notes - that's rude. Also, it sounds like, "if you fix this, I'll shoot your feature." Right now, you aren't looking for a script you need to fix.
Now, a lot of filmmakers want to write their own script because they are in love with an idea. Don't do it. Unless you have the kind of writing skills that would quicky land you an agent, you're likely going to sabotage your own project. Screenplay writing is a lonely endeavor and the odds that you can master both filmmaking and screenwriting your first time out is pretty unlikely. Hear this and hear this well - a cool idea does not a cool script make. It's all in the execution (one of the reasons experienced writers don't sweat the three sentence pitch I request).
Other filmmakers shy away from screenplays altogether - thought they won't admit it, I think they're not confident of their ability to find good scripts. But cinematic story telling is a highly structured form, and it's very unlikely that you can create the kind of incisive, sophisticated storytelling that contemporary film-goers are accustomed to in an improvised piece. If you must get the improvisation idea out of your system, try it in a 10 minute short first and see if you can really make it work. I suspect you'lll find that it won't hold up after a few minutes.
You'll hear a lot of people say that it's hard to find a good script. That simply isn't true. There are so many talented people in this town doing great work, and a good many of them aren't famous and don't have an agent. That's what you're looking for - a skillful, inventive writer who needs to have their first full feature produced. Then start matching the scripts you like up with the resources that you have available.
Rule out projects with big crowd scenes, or night shoots. Preferably no children either - set teachers are $300 per day. Gun fire or car chases will mean that you have to have permits and insurance - stay away from it. You want your options now. Sex scenes you should probably avoid as well, unlesss you've directed a lot - you really got to be good to pull them off.
If you find one you love, make a deal with the writer. You can option a script from a non-established writer for very little money but if you do, limit your option to 18 months. Come to an agreement on the final purchase price - and defer part of that until the finished film sells. Or maybe make them part owner of your film. Enter the relationship in good faith, because it's good karma to do so (and indie filmmakers need all the good karma they can get) and because a talented writer's situation can change overnight. You don't want to be on the wrong side of that.
So, that's the quick version of searching for a script. I hope you found it interesting. I'll talk about other aspects of filmmaking in the future.