Here's the link to a piece I wrote for today's Guardian newspaper on how microbudget movies might be one possible future for the British film industry.
Really great article (and an issue in which I have quite a vested interest. Albeit one of the gutless, can't-bring-myself-to-quit-the-deskjockey-dayjob -to-slum-it-but-follow-the-dream persuasion... *sigh*).
As for quitting your day job... There's always the Chris Nolan/Peter Jackson route. Shooting weekends for a year. As long as the story will bend to such a schedule and your actors agree to it, anything is possible...
Maybe I should just write a movie about a guy who grows a really big beard - that way, it would need to be shot in installments over an extended period.
I think may biggest setback is that anything I tend to come up with requires some form of budget (as in more than a couple of grand total - nothing extravagant, but more than I've got lying around; I'm talking about shorts here, mind), and I am seriously clueless as to how the hell anyone actually gets funding over here.
Speaking of all this, done any good reading lately by any chance...? :P
Then they could show it on a double bill with Scorsese's The Big Shave.
Ideas are key whether you're making a short or a feature. My advice, think what you can get for no money. What locations? What cast? You've got a major benefit down under in terms of the beautiful, available light. As for funding, check out http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/ to see what they offer. Over here there are a number of short film schemes. Maybe you'll find the same.
Reading... arrghh.... my bad. Sorry. I saw it on my hard drive the other day and felt guilty. I promise I'll take a look over the festive period. Apologies...
Yeah, Screen Australia is one of the big ones - still manages to confuse the hell out of me. In all honesty, probably my biggest setback (and it's ridiculous) is getting over the ideas and scripts I've been sitting on for years and actually finishing writing something new that I'd be happy to work on first. But you're absolutely right - given I am feeling stagnant as hell of late, I really should start thinking about what I have and can get as opposed to only what I'd love to do.
And seriously, no problems whatsoever! I really would have been better off sending you through like a 20 page short, to be honest (though that would have had zero eyeballs in breakfasts and punctured throats...)
Did you like Eden Lake in the end? I've noticed the bluray's out on your end in January, with no word as to when or how we're going to see it over here...
I did. I think it's a gripping little film, nicely directed, with some stand out shock moments, ample gore, and an ending that annoyed the hell out of me... although not because it's crap, but because... well, see it and then we can discuss. Don't necessarily think it's worth BRing. I'd save money and go for the DVD.
Excellent. I recently read the one-star review in an old Total Film and was turned off it, as I (generally) tend to trust their opinions, but had been quite looking forward to it. And excellent. I might wait a month or so until the two are released and order myself a nice nasty little double-bill.
Release schedules over here are sending me spare of late - things disappearing without warning only to show up on DVD six months later, major titles being pushed back and back despite overwhelmingly positive reviews... Annoying. Like, I only just saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona tonight - and that was an advance screening, it doesn't actually release until Boxing Day.
Good! I enjoyed the hell out of it, actually - pretty much exactly what I was hoping for from it. And, of that exceptional cast, Cruz was especially excellent.
Definitely! Her character's dialogue was most in-step with your typical Allen character's to begin with, too, but she did quite a good job of making those potentially stilted-when-spoken lines of dialogue play pretty naturally. Speaking of Hall, I only realised it was her in The Prestige the other day... Awesome.
That's when I first noticed her. I came out of a press screening thinking, Who was that? Then I met her not long after that, when I hosted a press conference for the movie. Lovely and talented.
This is a really interesting article. My screenwriting teacher insists that we write pieces for independent short or feature, and though it's really hard to think you can't use some too expensive props or location, it forces you to concentrate on your characters and plot, which is quite a good thing when you are a beginner in screenwriting!
17 comments:
Really great article (and an issue in which I have quite a vested interest. Albeit one of the gutless, can't-bring-myself-to-quit-the-deskjockey-dayjob -to-slum-it-but-follow-the-dream persuasion... *sigh*).
Thank you.
As for quitting your day job... There's always the Chris Nolan/Peter Jackson route. Shooting weekends for a year. As long as the story will bend to such a schedule and your actors agree to it, anything is possible...
Maybe I should just write a movie about a guy who grows a really big beard - that way, it would need to be shot in installments over an extended period.
I think may biggest setback is that anything I tend to come up with requires some form of budget (as in more than a couple of grand total - nothing extravagant, but more than I've got lying around; I'm talking about shorts here, mind), and I am seriously clueless as to how the hell anyone actually gets funding over here.
Speaking of all this, done any good reading lately by any chance...? :P
Then they could show it on a double bill with Scorsese's The Big Shave.
Ideas are key whether you're making a short or a feature. My advice, think what you can get for no money. What locations? What cast? You've got a major benefit down under in terms of the beautiful, available light. As for funding, check out http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/ to see what they offer. Over here there are a number of short film schemes. Maybe you'll find the same.
Reading... arrghh.... my bad. Sorry. I saw it on my hard drive the other day and felt guilty. I promise I'll take a look over the festive period. Apologies...
Yeah, Screen Australia is one of the big ones - still manages to confuse the hell out of me. In all honesty, probably my biggest setback (and it's ridiculous) is getting over the ideas and scripts I've been sitting on for years and actually finishing writing something new that I'd be happy to work on first. But you're absolutely right - given I am feeling stagnant as hell of late, I really should start thinking about what I have and can get as opposed to only what I'd love to do.
And seriously, no problems whatsoever! I really would have been better off sending you through like a 20 page short, to be honest (though that would have had zero eyeballs in breakfasts and punctured throats...)
"eyeballs in breakfasts and punctured throats..."
You're gonna love Mum & Dad.
Don't tell me that - we probably won't get it until this time next year!
But you can buy the DVD from December 26 via amazon.co.uk...
Then you know what? Maybe I will...
Did you like Eden Lake in the end? I've noticed the bluray's out on your end in January, with no word as to when or how we're going to see it over here...
I did. I think it's a gripping little film, nicely directed, with some stand out shock moments, ample gore, and an ending that annoyed the hell out of me... although not because it's crap, but because... well, see it and then we can discuss. Don't necessarily think it's worth BRing. I'd save money and go for the DVD.
Excellent. I recently read the one-star review in an old Total Film and was turned off it, as I (generally) tend to trust their opinions, but had been quite looking forward to it. And excellent. I might wait a month or so until the two are released and order myself a nice nasty little double-bill.
Release schedules over here are sending me spare of late - things disappearing without warning only to show up on DVD six months later, major titles being pushed back and back despite overwhelmingly positive reviews... Annoying. Like, I only just saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona tonight - and that was an advance screening, it doesn't actually release until Boxing Day.
Weirdly, I saw that last night too. Liked it a lot.
Good! I enjoyed the hell out of it, actually - pretty much exactly what I was hoping for from it. And, of that exceptional cast, Cruz was especially excellent.
Didn't you think Rebecca Hall was channelling Woody in her performance, particularly during the early exchanges?
Definitely! Her character's dialogue was most in-step with your typical Allen character's to begin with, too, but she did quite a good job of making those potentially stilted-when-spoken lines of dialogue play pretty naturally. Speaking of Hall, I only realised it was her in The Prestige the other day... Awesome.
That's when I first noticed her. I came out of a press screening thinking, Who was that? Then I met her not long after that, when I hosted a press conference for the movie. Lovely and talented.
This is a really interesting article. My screenwriting teacher insists that we write pieces for independent short or feature, and though it's really hard to think you can't use some too expensive props or location, it forces you to concentrate on your characters and plot, which is quite a good thing when you are a beginner in screenwriting!
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