I’m going to cover a few that I have seen, (or even experienced myself).

A Creative Career Is (Not) A Job

A creative career is like a job. You have got to go to work. You have to earn money. You will have to please the person who is willing to pay you that money.

A creative career is often also unlike any ‘normal’ job. In many cases you work from home. It seems you don’t have to go to work. This brings challenges to people who struggle with discipline and face procrastination at home.

Once you accept that this new creative career is in many ways very much like an ordinary job, it is time to understand exactly what type of business we are talking.

A Creative Career Is Not An NFP Business

Not everyone considers it normal that you get paid when you have fun doing what you do.

The reason? Before you choose to make your hobby your job, you have a not-for-profit relationship with it. You are absolutely fine with the fact that you don’t get paid. It may actually cost you money.

In order to be successful, this relationship must change, and this is easier said than done.

In fact, acquiring the right mindset may well be the hardest objective to achieve in your quest to establish a career that is both creatively and financially rewarding.

People who succeed, don’t see a problem in sending an invoice for their services. They also don’t see a problem with paying for services in the creative sector. Every successful writer I know, has at some stage paid for writing-related services. This can be writing classes, software packages, editing services etc.

You Have Been Misinformed

The stories you hear about the creative career you want, are filtered.

In the real world of ‘normal jobs’, you get accurate information. In our precious entertainment industry, you rarely do.

So many people aspire to become a pro screenwriter after hearing stories about 7-figure deals. What they don’t realise is that for each deal of this kind, there are a thousand that bring in peanuts – or that simply don’t happen at all.

When a screenwriter sells a script, you hear about it. When a pool company wins a new client, no-one cares (even though the pool money may be a lot more). This sort of misinformation leads to the expectation that you will start earning a lot more quickly than is realistic. This, in turn, will lead to frustration and the belief that you are failing.

You are not failing at all. You were just not realistic in your expectations.

You Focus Too Much On The Outcome

Many self-improvement programs teach you goal-setting. They encourage you to have clear goals with milestones. And work towards those, relentlessly. This is certainly a valid approach and many have made it work for themselves.

I have not.

In my own experience, this can cause more frustration than anything else.

Why?

Because in the context of our creative career, often we set the wrong goals. We aim to finish a script by Christmas. To win a contest and sell a script next year. We’ll be financially independent in two years’ time.

Out of those four goals, only one is realistic. Do you know which one?

It’s the one about finishing a script. Do you know why? Because the others are out of your hands.

No easier way to frustration than to set goals you need others to achieve them.

Instead, set your goal to write X number of pages per day. To email Y number of producers/agents every week. Now, you are accountable. And you can be proud to achieve those goals.

Once those achievable goals are set, do the work, and don’t fret about the results. In fact, I believe the more you focus on the outcome, the smaller the chance you will achieve it.

You need to focus on doing the work, on a daily basis. Continue with it.

End don’t beat yourself up over the lack of results.

They will come.

You Doubt Your Creative Talent

We are all born with a thousand times more creativity than we realise. Sadly, our modern upbringing efficiently erases this. We are told that we don’t need it. In our everyday life, all we need is a rational mind, right? (Wrong.)

As a result, most people simply forget about their immense power of creation and imagination.

So we need to reconnect with this. Without it, the only outcome can be derivative drab.

Get in touch with your creativity and imagination. Meanwhile, keep confident.

Above all: keep working.

(There are heaps of techniques to unlock your hidden creativity. I boost my energy, ideas and creativity by practising Vipassana Meditation.)

You’re In It Because You Love (Watching) Movies

We can all wax lyrical about our favourite movies, and how they inspired us to pursue a creative career.

Make no mistake; watching movies is not a job. Unless you want to be a movie critic. And they don’t get paid any longer, because just too many are willing to do this for free.

The more people aspire to a particular job, the harder it will get to make a living in it, and the lower the entry level payment. Just look at the exploitation of musicians these days.

In order to build a successful creative career, you need to shift your passion from the finished movies to the making of them.

Can you be just as passionate about writing, planning, producing, problem solving, people management, and all other aspects of a creative career in the movies?

You Don’t Get What The Job Is About

Writers rarely write what they want, once they get paid.

You are free to write and be creative on your own terms – as long as you’re doing it for free. The moment someone starts handing over money, you will write what THEY want, using the style THEY want to read.

This is the paradox of the Writer’s Dream: the moment you have achieved what you think you want, the dream is really over.

Not only will you have to write to a brief; you will also have to deliver to a deadline.

The stress you experienced while fretting over the state of your bank account, now suddenly doubles.

Perhaps there are other aspects of this creative career you’re chasing that you don’t know about.

You know what? It’s never too late to learn.

You Don’t Spend The Time To Learn

So many want to become directors, producers and screenwriters. But they don’t want to go through the long learning process it takes to achieve excellence. They find it tedious.

Or they tell themselves that it cannot be learned. “Either you have it, or you don’t”. Now there’s a really easy way to fail even before you have started.

Learning is critical, in whatever you do. Rest assured that while you’re reinventing the wheel, thousands are getting ahead of you by learning the essential skills.

Successful, happy writers find it exhilarating to explore how movies work, how stories are built.

If you don’t, perhaps this is not for you.

It’s never too late to quit.

Or …

You Quit Too Early

I once heard that it takes seven years to make any business profitable. You are a business, too.

When things are not as much fun as expected, people get out. The fighters sit it out.

A creative business is not necessarily more fun than any other, as you may find out…

If you are in it mainly for the results (a movie in the theaters, a house in the hills), it’s going to be a very long wait for your kinda fun.

So this is where we can tell apart the quitters and the fighters.

Read Seth Godin’s book ‘The Dip‘.

Ask yourself, are you a quitter … or a fighter?

-Karel Segers

P.S.: Failing is cool.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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Joel Schumacher

An adolescent in the 1980’s, I felt as if St Elmo’s Fire, The Lost Boys and Flatliners were made just for my generation (and a bit for Kiefer Sutherland, too). Because of their relatively high concept, some of these medium budget movies had a massive impact, and director Joel Schumacher could just keep going on. He was given the Batman franchise with the Akiva Goldsman scripted Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, which weren’t necessarily great movies, but they still made their blockbuster budgets back. Well, just.

St Elmo’s Fire, The Lost Boys and Flatliners
were made just for my generation.

With Tigerland he entered more serious territory, and put Colin Farrell on the map as a lead actor. Its budget and shooting schedule would be a challenge for any indie director.

Schumacher has always been flexible in the material he picked. Teen angst, fantasy, war or thriller, he usually delivers a satisfying and cinematic result.

Joel Of All Trades

For more anti-hero examples, check out Joel Schumacher’s Phone Booth, a project that rested on Hitchcock’s shelf for a long time. With Schumacher at the helm, and favourites Farrell and Sutherland (only briefly) in front of the camera, the script was updated and delivered to the screen with dazzling style and dialogue, belying its humble budget. With Colin Farrell as yet another anti-hero example in the role of Stu Shepard, I have always found Phone Booth an inspiration, and a true celebration of audience-driven independent filmmaking.

I have always found Phone Booth an inspiration,
and a true celebration of audience-driven independent filmmaking.

Schumacher – now in his seventies – has remained agile, moving with the taste of the times. Some of his more recent credits saw him join the dignitaries on the directing stable of Netflix’ House Of Cards.

City Of Demons

In Falling Down (1993), recently retrenched defence worker William “D-Fens” (Michael Douglas) goes out of control on a sweltering day in L.A. It shows Schumacher just as comfortable shooting on the streets of New York in Phone Booth, as in the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles, where our anti-hero’s tragedy plays out. In fact this is one of my favourite nineties movies when it comes to portraying the city of angels, often using gorgeous long lens shots, against an ominous soundtrack. Only Michael Mann would top this two years later with Heat.

This is one of my favourite nineties movies
when it comes to portraying the city of angels.

Los Angeles may be cinematically sexy in this movie, it is surely not a happy city. Protagonists and antagonists all fight their own demons. Robert Duvall plays the proverbial fin de carrière cop, who will catch the baddy at the end. However, before the hero vs. anti-hero finale in the climax, he will pay a heavy price.

Falling Down starts from an interesting premise, in that the hero is not the protagonist. Central to this movie is the anti-hero of D-Fens, played by Michael Douglas, who turns in a landmark performance.

The Devil’s Advocate

D-Fens is the devil’s advocate. Why do we empathise with this anti-hero? Because he represents the disgruntled Angelino who is mad as hell, and he is not going to take it anymore. Only, D-Fens’ anger is of the not-so-pc kind.

In our movie moment, a Korean store owner refuses to break a dollar for his customer’s phone call, and D-Fens explodes like a nail bomb in slow motion. As his rage builds, D-Fens reveals his revenge strategy against this city… The poor dude won’t die at his hands. But he will suffer. While taking the shop down, D-Fens hurls insult after insult at the poor shopkeeper, who is hiding behind the counter.

The poor dude won’t die at his hands.
But he will suffer.

The shopkeeper, who now believes D-Fens is after his money, tells him to take it. D-Fens replies:

“You think I’m a thief? Oh, you see, I’m not the thief. I’m not the one charging 85 cents for a *stinking* soda! You’re the thief. I’m just standing up for my rights as a consumer.”

Plummeting Down

This is an important scene in the movie, as it feels like the first watershed in the anti-hero’s steep downward descent, referenced in the movie title.  The scene opens with the Korean topping up the till, proving he definitely doesn’t lack small change. However, he may be sick of customers entering his shop without buying. So don’t push his buttons… Which leaves us with the dramatic question for this scene: “Who of these two men is more p***ed off?”

– Karel Segers

[vimeo 120000828 w=900 h=389]

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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My name is Tim Lea and I am the writer/director and one of 3 producers on the new independent film 54 Days

54 Days , a psychological thriller about 5 people trapped in a 1960’s nuclear shelter after a nuclear and biological attack. As food and water begins to run out, they are forced to reach an impossible decision – either one dies or they all die.

The movie has just been launched on Video On Demand for digital rental and download, and was financed primarily through crowdfunding . In early 2014 we successfully raised $54,000 via crowdfunding for the production budget and I want to share with you the three phases our crowdfunding campaign went though – that most campaigns go through – so that you may know what to expect and how to deal with it.

First off, crowdfunding is tough and if you think it is easy you are in for a big shock. In a previous professional capacity I was involved in Corporate finance and banking and was used to raising millions of dollars for companies. Raising $54,000 through crowdfunding was one of the hardest finance raising exercises I have ever been through – period! It was tough – and was subject to perhaps one of the most unpredictable effects – the vagaries of human nature.

Essentially there are three distinct phases for a crowdfunding campaign, which lead to the “U-curve effect”, which has 3 defined phases:

1. The wave of enthusiasm
2. The doldrums.
3. The mass frenetic panic of the looming deadline At the beginning of any campaign there will be enthusiasm all round – from you, your cast and crew and your supporters. It’s new, it’s different, it’s exciting! Jane Eyre once said “it is the expectation of happiness that is happiness itself” and this is so true of the first phase of Crowdfunding. Everyone wants you to succeed – there are people, enthusiastic people who want you to take on Hollywood, create something new; something different. Latch on to that initial enthusiasm and milk it for everything that you can get – preferably try to bottle it and sell it! Joking aside, It is essential that you capitalise upon this enthusiasm – because enthusiasm is infectious and it develops momentum  – a crucial component of any Crowdfunding Campaign.

Phase 1 – The Wave Of Enthusiasm

Unless you are Zack Braff off Scrubs, who controversially raised Crowdfunding for his movie, the early enthusiasm will be from those that know you – your core influencers; your core supporters – your friends, family and contacts. We knew we had to build an initial buzz and interest. So we arranged a crowdfunding launch party.

If you are clever about it, your launch party need not cost you anything – in fact you can turn it directly into a fund raiser – not only in terms of telling people about your crowdfunding campaign but also by having some fun and games on the side.

For us, we launched our party at the Golden Age Bar in Sydney, a boutique art-deco bar that has a 62 cinema attached to it. In order to make the crowdfunding launch less of a cold, hard sell we actually turned it into an event that people wanted to go to and that the crowdfunding pitch was just a part of an interesting event.

We charged $20 a head to come to the launch, which included :

1. Free popcorn, which we negotiated with the bar.
2. A free glass of wine from our product placement partner, Rosnay Organic Wines, who donated wine for the party and products for our auction  – in exchange for a placement of their wine in the movie (We challenge you to actually “see” the product placement in 54 Days – because the placement it is actually a core plot point – a key twist so it blends like a chameleon into the story – without it being – “ah look there is that Coca-cola machine conveniently placed in shot !”).
3. The chance to see our award nominated short movie – to show our potential supporters what we had achieved with little or no money. This was followed by a short question and answer session with the key cast and crew involved in the short film.

4. A 20 minute Q&A session with a leading industry script doctor, Karel Segers who runs the Story Series (a year long programme for script development of which a number of the 54 Days crew were graduates) to give us a talk on writing for Hollywood – he is working with Sam Worthington’s production company on a Vietnam war project, Danger Close.

5. Our crowdfunding pitch detailing exactly what we were after and how it worked.

6. An auction of goods and services donated by a variety of supporters – that many of the cast and crew found through friends, workplaces etc = auctioned off by a professional auctioneer at Liquid Asset Management with all proceeds going towards the film.

7. The festival director of the Sci-Fi Film Festival giving us a letter of intent that he would show our movie at the inaugural Sci-Fi Film Festival in Sydney later that year.

We sent out invites via facebook to the party to those that would be most likely to support our group endeavours. The end result, the event sold out within 48 hours – friends, family and supporters all there to cheer us on!!

The initial enthusiasm at the event was palpable; the commitment of support, immense. We were all pumped and ready to go !! This is going to be easy we thought … and as the cash started rolling in; we rubbed our hands in glee – here we go – the movie is getting the green light – we’re on our way !!

Then the cash stopped coming in as we hit it….

Phase 2 – The Doldrums

The “doldrums” is the most frustrating and debilitating phase of any Crowdfunding campaign. In this phase you need to dig deep as the initial tsunami of cash drops to a trickle – a continuous, painfully slow, trickle. There are even days when NO cash comes in. You begin to question why?; you begin to question your whole project; even yourself. You say to yourself  – is 54 Days just going it on the shelf having been watched by the 85 people that showed up for the launch party. It doesn’t matter how much research you may have done – when you hit this phase – it hurts -badly.

Imagine the frustrations when you post all those memes on the facebook page about the movie and those quotes of inspiration and great leadership; and the jokes and cool posts that may be thematically linked to your movie. You see loads of likes, you see the numbers of facebook fans rising; as for the cash for your campaign – a trickle. You know that your campaign is all or nothing – if you don’t hit the target – you get nothing; and you look at your campaign target looming in the far distance – disappearing like your dreams and those of all the cast and crew who have supported you so far. That initial enthusiasm for your project has long gone – and you are the one who has to face it – but this phase is perfectly natural – however hard it feels; expect it and get on with it – that is what true leadership is about.

Sure, your supporters are no longer immersed in the wave of euphoria; no longer caught up in the frenetic atmosphere and tension of an auction in which they are taking part. For them, it’s back to baby sitters and backpacks, the 9-5 routine, the school runs , clubbing , whatever floats your supporters’  boats. There is apathy; there are excuses , there are promises  of future payments. In a word – it’s tough, but when the going gets tough – the tough get going – and that means you have to dig deep – real deep!

In the doldrums phase you have to keep your nerve when everyone else is questioning what is happening. You have to keep everyone around you buoyed up. It doesn’t even matter what you as the producer or director are thinking or feeling – no-one gives a damn – all you have to do is keep everyone else’s dreams alive. Because without the production budget your cast and crew have nothing to take their dreams forward, and as a leader of the project you are selling dreams, their dreams as well as yours. You have to maintain your enthusiasm– you can’t let the vaguest hint of a crack appear in your veneer – however tempting that might be.

Your team are looking to you for guidance for leadership – remember – you drive the mindset of the team you lead – if your head goes down everyone else’s will go down –and if that happens you may see crew walk off the project as they lose confidence. As Oscar Wilde once said – confidence is like virginity – you lose it only once! Success breeds success – fact!

So in this phase you must keep your cool, control the stress and keep on chasing the cash. No matter how hard it feels keep going – it WILL pay off in the long-run. Even on those days when NO cash comes in you must keep those facebook posts coming, those emails going out  – because it all builds awareness and keep everyone on your side – even though they may not show it financially – as you come to the last few days of your campaign when you enter …

Phase 3 The mass frenetic panic of the looming deadline

All those posts you have put up during Phase 2 will act as a platform for growth in phase three. Now it is crunch time; because on most crowdfunding platforms, if you don’t hit your total target you get nothing. In phase 3 it is non-negotiable – your supporters and potential supporters need to know it is all or nothing! In no uncertain terms. Your supporters historic apathy towards supporting your campaign is more often than not unrelated  to your campaign – its related to human nature.

We all work toward deadlines –and many of your potential supporters will have just forgotten when the deadline is. Just think of your own behaviour with those Uni exams; that report you had to write for your boss; Christmas presents; We all worked towards those deadlines because we knew they existed – and we knew the stakes if we didn’t hit the deadline. So now you have to remind your supporters as often as you can!

In the last week of your campaign you must increase your activity everywhere, anywhere  – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Tunblr email – any way that you can communicate to your supporters, reminding them of the fact that it is all or nothing. It take a lot of time and you might need to get members of your cast and crew to help – but it brings results – and helps turns your supporters’ promises into cash.

The one thing definitely not to forget is the international nature of the internet – don’t forget the potential of your international contributors. You can schedule posts automatically on facebook and other platforms. Use those tools.

In phase 3 for our campaign for 54 Days, we had posts going out automatically every hour within the last 12 hours with a countdown image very similar to the one above – counting down from 12 to 1 . Overnight we had pledges coming in from Overseas – whilst we slept.

So overall, Crowdfunding is tough and does require a lot of proactive effort and resilience and is not for the faint-hearted; but is it worth it? When you see your end product on the big screen in from of a packed audience at your premiere – there is nothing better – and never ever lose sight of this goal and you will completely understand why you went through all that pain and heartache.

Editor’s note: 54 Days has been released on Video On Demand and is available worldwide as a rental or to digitally own from November 20 2014.

Tim has been screenwriting for 12 years. Whilst his professional background was in Corporate Finance, he used to write every morning , first thing – come rain, shine (or hangovers) writing in cafes close to his historic places of employment.

This discipline has meant that he has now written 7 full feature screenplays, written and produced 3 shorts, NURSERY CRY’MES, EASY MONEY, 54 DAYS and written 10 short 10 minute plays, most of which have been performed to audiences.

His creative writing voice is that of healthily controversial thrillers – thrillers that seek to challenge the status quo, to make an audience think – and so it is with 54 Days – making you think about the very primal issue that affect us all – survival – and what we will actually do to survive – just ask the gunman who held him up with a gun on his first visit Sydney to Sydney in 1991….

In order to expand his directorial skills, Tim has spent the last two years working closely with theatre actors within the Sydney theatre scene, writing and directing 10 short plays that have been performed, and received well . 54 Days is Tim’s first feature film

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

Miyazaki created the animation masterpieces MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO, SPIRITED AWAY, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES and HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. When he announced his retirement for the sixth time at the end of 2013, it seems the 72-year old was serious. Within the year, his Studio Ghibli announced a major downsizing, effectively closing down Japan’s most successful animation studio.

The Ghibli films won major prizes at festivals worldwide, and after the phenomenally successful SPIRITED AWAY ($275m worldwide), all of his work received international theatrical releases. This has always been exceptional for Japanese cinema.

I went through a Studio Ghibli marathon with my son, when he was 9. During HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, he exclaimed “This is the best movie I’ve ever seen!”

Pixar Praise For Miyazaki

Miyazaki’s feature animations impress with freshness and depth. They sparkle with originality, yet they feel strangely familiar. They feel like a fairytale you vaguely remember from childhood.

In SPIRITED AWAY, a girl sees her parents transformed into pigs when the family is trapped in a mysterious world with ghosts, witches and monsters. The young woman in HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE falls under a curse that gives her an old body. A handsome wizard in a flying castle must help her. PONYO tells the story of a young boy who falls for a fish with a human face, an omen that predicts a tsunami…

No wonder the Pixar brain trust are huge fans of Miyazaki’s animation. When SPIRITED AWAY was released in North America (2003), John Lasseter personally escorted Miyazaki around the country to support it. As a thank you, Studio Ghibli sent him a 155mins video letter titled Lasseter San, Arigato (Thank you, Mr Lasseter).

Porcine Pilot

On IMDb.com, PORCO ROSSO ranks only 7.8, lower than some of Miyazaki’s best known films. Still, I believe it is not only one of his best; it’s one of cinema’s unsung master pieces.

The porcine pilot from the title is a WW1 veteran who spends his days as a reclusive bounty hunter on a secluded beach. Can you see the ‘isolated’ theme here? If he is not fighting pirates, he is fending off his American arch nemesis Curtis. The wannabe actor’s inflated ego sits at the opposite end of the scale from Porco’s.

In the middle between the two stands Gina. She runs a restaurant, and keeps her heart for Porco. For a long time, she has been awaiting the moment when he will be ready for her. Finally, there’s Fio, a young girl who is in awe of Porco. She is the granddaughter of Piccolo, the plane repair man, and a damn fine engineer herself! She will facilitate Porco’s transformation,

Porco Rosso’s Backstory

At the story’s Ordeal stage, at the end of Act Two, Porco tells a story to Fio. We learn about his emotional wound; how he lost his best friend… and how he became a pig.

Thematically, the scene reminds of another classic war monologue in the movies, when Quint (Robert Shaw) tells the US Indianapolis story in JAWS. Both are stories about survivor guilt.

An important difference, however, is that during Porco’s monologue we flash back to join in a WW1 dogfight. The following sequence is one of my absolute favourite moments in cinema history.

It never fails to send chills down my spine. We’re looking at what initially looks like a vapour trail in a clear blue sky. Then, we’re blown away… A pure cinematic moment, mysterious and beautiful. Intensely moving.

This scene alone earns PORCO ROSSO its status of cinema classic.

[vimeo 103790469 w=1000 h=538]

Have you watched this movie? Let us know in the comments below what you think of this sequence. And what is your favourite Miyazaki?

-Karel Segers

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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If you liked this, check out more videos about screenwriting or filmmaking. And if you know of a great video on Screenwriting, let us know in the comments. Thanks!

Over eleven years of screenwriting I have lost count of the number of times I have heard, and indeed said, that phrase. It’s the mantra of many an arrogant writer, myself included, thinking I am god’s gift to screenwriting. After all, I have read countless books, have attended numerous courses to develop my craft, and have had two of my 6 full feature screenplays optioned by producers.

But boy, I was wrong.

Of course we all want our scripts to be picked up by the greats of Hollywood and want to have our vision  turned into $250m movies where our work is launched into the stratosphere, lauded by our peers and appreciated by millions of acne ridden popcorn junkies – and that’s just the critics!

Meanwhile back in the real world… we actually want to get one of our movies made. To do so, we need to understand the concept of risk. And the movie business is one of the toughest and most competitive in the world.

Enter the micro budget movie.

The film business thrives on Darwinian economics. Money talks, and the landscape is littered with burnout victims dying in the graveyard of ambition.

The business, however, is not rocket science. The more expensive a movie is to make, the more bums on seats are required to make it viable. Of course the reverse is also true. If it is easier it is to recoup costs, the risks are lowered.

The lower the risk, the more chances that a producer or an investor will step up to the plate. The lower the investment, the less the producer or investor has to lose and the more chances you will have to get your movie made.

So how do we specifically write a micro budget movie that’s worthwhile?

Here are my Ten Top Tips for writing a micro budget movie

Writing Your Micro Budget Movie

1)    High Concept. The micro budget movie absolutely depends on great story. A concept that has a great hook that will draw people in. But keep it simple.

For example, our micro budget movie 54 Days is about 5 people trapped in a nuclear shelter. They are surrounded by nuclear and biological contamination, without enough food and water to go round. Either one dies or all five die. It’s simple – but primal.

2)    Think like a producer. Before you start writing the first FADE IN of your micro budget movie, try to carry out a financial audit in your mind of your concept. Focus on the big print – how can you squeeze out every cost in your story without compromising the heart. If you have already written your script, give it a “financial edit”.

Take the time to read the big print by itself with a cold, hard eye on cash; on how much things cost and how can you reduce those costs. If it means re-writing scenes – so be it.

So often you will be surprised to discover new aspects of your story, and new dimensions to your character. Remember there is never a problem… Only an opportunity for improvement!

3)    Locations – Eradicate  them. Each time you have a new location, you have to move an entire crew. That takes time. Reducing the locations to an absolute minimum reduces the time taken to shoot your movie. As with any business – time is money.

Squeeze out the time.

4)    Small Cast – Actors cost money. Keep them to a minimum. Of course there is a balancing act as you are shooting a movie; not putting on a stage play. If your micro budget movie is 90 minutes long and you have developed great characters on paper, you can explore them in even more depth if you restrict the number of characters on screen.

What quality actor in their right mind is going to turn down the opportunity to have extensive screen time for really well drawn characters?

5)    Characters – One of the Golden nuggets of successful screenwriting is to write great characters. It’s the writer’s nirvana. In micro budget movie making, great characters have to be at the very crux of your script.

You have to engage the audience with great characters that are memorable. Go “deep and wide” into your characters. Dig deep into their physionomy, sociology and psychology.

6)    Story Structure – Stories have been around for thousands of years as a means of communicating and understanding the human condition. There is a very clear structure that works for successful stories. Call it formula if you like, but think like Hollywood but without the budgets!

7)    Special Effects – Don’t have them. Again time is money, and whilst low cost options do exist for outsourcing special effects, keep it clean and simple.

Are there any alternative ways to show your plot points other than referring to CGI? (Perhaps CGI in the world of micro budgets should stand for Costs Guaranteed to Increase!)

8)    Keep the script short. The shorter the script the less time it takes to shoot, and the lower the costs. Given that 1 page of script typically represents 1 minute on screen, keep the script down to 80 to 100 pages – preferably closer to 80.

9)    Edit Ruthlessly. Make the script super tight. Reduce it down to the bare bones of the story. If you can say something in one line instead of 5 – do it! Be economical, because you will get the story moving quickly, make it much more intensive and give the audience much more value.

10) Research what is possible – Network and talk to as many filmmakers as you can. Talk to them about tips and tricks to get great production values, but at nil or very low cost.

Keep a bank of them in your mind and build them into your script. Knowledge is power. In this case the power to reduce costs and therefore risk.

Writing well for a low and micro budget movies is incredibly difficult.

Not only do you have to take the core craft skills from Hollywood screenwriting, but you also have to take a page out of their accountants’ books, squeezing out every cent you can.

It takes toughness, ingenuity but perhaps most importantly: an open mind. Because in micro budget filmmaking, there is no such thing as an open chequebook.

Tim Lea is a writer, producer and a graduate of The Story Series. His current micro budget film, 54 Days (www.pozible.com.au/54days) is in pre-production with shooting commencing in mid April 2014.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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In a short interview, he discusses his directorial debut Don Jon, traditional versus progressive methods of feature filmmaking, finding his voice as an auteur, and getting used to the sight of his own face.

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If you liked this, check out more videos about screenwriting or filmmaking. And if you know of a great video on Screenwriting, let us know in the comments. Thanks!

If you liked this, check out more videos about screenwriting or filmmaking. And if you know of a great video on Screenwriting, let us know in the comments. Thanks!