0
Question to all of you moviemakers out there:
Consider your best script, written by you or not, from which you would like to make a movie. If you had a patron who was willing to foot the bill, how much would your bare minimum budget be to make the movie the way that you want?
I have a great script (of course, ‘cause I wrote it) which is a period piece, Civil War-era horror film. It runs ninety pages, and I’d like to have a few names in the cast.
1. Not Brad Pitt or DeNiro, but a few known character actors that will get some face, if not name recognition by the audience.
2. Of course I’ll need period clothing, specifically soldier’s uniforms from both sides, and weapons, accoutrements, etc., but all that gear is sitting in a storage closet somewhere. All I’d need to do is locate it – I shouldn’t need to fabricate it.
3. I’ll need sets built: specifically a fort for exteriors, but all of the rooms inside can be on a soundstage. I’m guessing that there’s a set around somewhere of a period fort, but I might need to construct it from scratch.
4. Finally, the special effects of the creature will run the budget up a bit. I’m expecting that I can find a small effects house that will do it all on a budget – but that doesn’t mean on the cheap.
One last consideration: I am practiced at bringing in a low-budget feature on a micro budget. I think this will help in areas of production where I can take shortcuts that won’t affect quality, and will help (if ever so slightly) to keep the budget manageable.
Now, all of the above is by no means comprehensive, but representative in broad strokes of what I'll need budget-wise. I’m making an educated guess here, since I haven’t even done a proper breakdown, that I can make the movie for under a million. As in, $999,999.00. Heh. This includes all of the above, with probably at least a full quarter going to the paychecks of the cast.
Tell us about your script, any particular budgeting problems (crazy effects, big star, specific locations that might run your budget over) and why you’d need the budget you quoted.