How To Make A Movie For Under $500,000 Dollars That Has The Greatest Chance For Financial
Success
by Kean Salzer
copyright 2005
Is it possible to make a movie for under a half million dollars that has theatrical legs and ancillary
market potential? In a time when the Hollywood studios have decided to follow a model that costs
over a hundred million dollars to make and distribute each of their major film projects, is it even
conceivable that for less than 1% of that amount we could hope to build a business, which is what
each film really is, that competes for the movie ticket consumer’s dollar?
I would argue that it is already being done. Frankly, it is not too different from many businesses in
other sectors where the common knowledge is you either have to grow large or stay small, and it is
when you are mid-sized that you get wiped out. And it is possible to stay small in the filmmaking
business and prosper. Granted, like in other business models, the chances of the same scope of
prosperity as those who are structured for large projects is greatly diminished, but you can build a
very successful life as a filmmaker and film distribution company by knowing your low budget
filmmaking model and tweaking it to maximize the potential in that model.
If you aren’t into indy films you may not know of Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Buena Vista Social
Club), Jim Jarmusch,(Ghost Dog, The Way of the Samurai, Mystery Train, Coffee and Cigarettes) or
Paul Cox (Man of Flowers, Lonely Hearts), each of whom has built a career on low budget films.
Artists like Robert Rodriquez (El Mariachi,) and Quentin Tarentino (Reservoir Dogs) used low
budget films to break into Hollywood and establish themselves as major storytellers in less than a
decade. One could argue that Woody Allen (Bananas, Sleeper, Annie Hall) has built a model
where his investors know in advance that they will make money because Allen always produces
his films for a set amount, which by Hollywood standards is less than 20% of the average
production budget, and has a thin part of the moviegoer market who is dedicated to supporting his
work as a filmmaker. There are dozens more filmmakers, both in America, and even to a larger
extent working abroad, who work within the low budget model who are profitable on every project
because of their understanding of how to structure a story cinematically while keeping the costs to
a set amount that can be recaptured in limited theatrical distribution and ancillary markets.
While there may be many ways to examine this hypothesis, I will attempt to do so by looking at
several films that have been made in the last decade for under a half million dollars that have
succeeded financially, and attempt to compare them to films made during the same decade for the
same budget that did not make money to see if we can chart a course that will increase the chance
of success. All of the films, regardless of their financial success, have, as a result of their
production budget limitations, things in common that need to be identified. Our first task is to figure
out how these filmmakers were able to make their film with the quality required to compete at the
theatrical level. Our second challenge, and this is certainly the more difficult one, is to determine
why the films that succeeded financially did so, without being subjective, instead relying on the
concepts of story structure to support our hypothesis.
This paper is designed to give Screenwriters understanding in how to structure their stories so that
their customer, the low budget Producer, will feel he has a good shot at making a profit with his
efforts and be able to build a career using the same investor pool project after project. This paper is
also written to help potential Investors better understand the elements of the film business model
of low budget filmmaking so they can increase their chances of tapping into the high payouts of this
speculative investment. Finally, it is written to better communicate to the potential Filmmakers of
Crosswood Film School what kind of films we plan to finance, produce and distribute as part of
their student immersion experience. Besides developing each student in the craft of filmmaking,
we will also help them grasp that film is a business and must be run to produce a profit.
Crosswood also has a business plan that it believes can work very successfully given certain
components. Two of those components, both covered in this paper, are that the cost of the film be
under a half million dollars, and that the story be told structurally correct based on the genre,
premise, and basic storytelling development.
With that in mind, let’s take a look first at the production elements of eight feature films made for
under a half million dollars. While it is common knowledge that certain filmmakers will attempt to
generate buzz for their film by lying about the cost of production, both on the high and low ends, we
know these films were verifiably low budget, because they were all judged by that criteria and were
nominated for the John Cassevettes Award, part of the annual Independent Spirit Awards
celebrating indy films, for the best film of the year under a half million dollars.
In the second section of this paper we will examine the same films discussing pertinent story
structure comparisons.
The Station Agent written and directed by Thomas McCarthy. Produced by Kathryn Tucker and
Robert May of SenArt Films. Studio, Miramax. Released Oct. 2003. 1 hr. 28 min. Rated R for
profanity and some drug use. Genre, mixed: drama and comedy. Plot outline: A man born with
dwarfism and with a passion for trains inherits a train station in rural New Jersey, where he moves
in the hopes of isolating himself from lifelong ridicule, only to find relationships that challenge him
to come out of his shell and love in order to heal and be healed. Starring Peter Dinklage, Bobby
Carnavale, and Patricia Clarkson. 10 locations. 21 actor roles. 63 total crew.
Business: Estimated production cost: $500K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost: $1 mil.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution: $1 mil. Opened Oct. 2003 in 3 theaters to an average of $19K
per screen. Max screens was 198 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office $5.7 mil. Total
Overseas Theatrical Box Office $2.9 mil. Estimated Total DVD sales and rentals to date $8 mil.
Estimated DVD marketing $550K. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing and
distribution deducted: Profit $9.6 mil.
Pieces of April written and directed by Peter Hedges. Produced by John S. Lyons, Gary Winick,
Tami Reiker of InDigEnt. Distributed by MGM/UA. Released Oct. 17, 2003. 1 hr. 20 min. Rated R.
Genre: Drama. Plot Outline: Rebellious daughter April has moved from the suburbs to a lower
east side New York apartment, but decides to attempt to make a positive memory before her
cancer stricken mother passes away by fixing her first meal, Thanksgiving dinner. When her oven
breaks she is forced to rely on the kindness of her new neighbors to avoid another April created
family disaster. Starring Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Derek Luke, and Sean
Hayes. 10 locations. 29 actor roles. 51 total crew.
Business: Estimated Production Cost:$300K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost $750K.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution Cost $500K. Opened October 17, 2003 in 6 theaters to an
average of $8K per screen. Max screens was 101 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office 2.5 mil.
Total Overseas Box Office $750K. Estimated Total DVD Sales and Rentals to date $4.3 mil.
Estimated DVD marketing $500K. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing and
distribution deducted: Profit $6 mil.
Better Luck Tomorrow written by Ernesto M. Foronda. Written, Produced and Directed by Justin
Lin. Produced Patrice Lucien Cochet. Distributed by MTV Films/Paramount. Released April 11,
2003. 99 min. Rated R. Genre: Drama. Plot Outline: A group of over achieving Asian Americans
experience a downward spiral when they decide to add extra curricular criminal activities to their
lives. Starring John Cho, Parry Shen. 20 locations. 95 actor roles. 39 total crew.
Business: Estimated Production Cost $250K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost $200K.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution Cost: $750K. Opened April 11, 2003 in 13 theaters to an average
of $28K per screen. Max screens was 387 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office $3.8 mil.
Overseas Box Office: $0. Estimated Total DVD Sales and Rentals to date $14 mil. Estimated DVD
marketing $1 mil. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing, and distribution
deducted: Profit $15.8 mil.
Mean Creek written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes. Produced by Rick Rosenthal, Susan
Johnson and Hagai Shaham. Distributed by Paramount Classics. Released August 20, 2004. 89
min. Rated R. Genre: Drama/Revenge. Plot Outline: A group of friends plan revenge on a school
yard bully who has beaten up Sam. When their plan goes too far they have to decide whether to
hide their act or confess and face the consequences. Starring rory Culkin. 10 locations. 16 total
actor roles. 43 total crew.
Business: Estimated Production Cost $500K. Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost $200K.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution Cost: $200K. Opened April 11, 2003 in 13 theaters to an average
of $7K per screen. Max screens was 49 in the US. Total US Theatrical Box Office $604K.
Overseas Box Office: $ Still running. Estimated DVD Sales and Rentals to date $1.8 mil.
Estimated Total DVD Sales and Rentals when fully penetrated $4 mil. Estimated DVD marketing
$500K. Estimated profit after production, exhibition, marketing, and distribution deducted: Profit
$2.6 mil.
Anne B. Real written Antonio Macia and Lisa France. Directed by Lisa France. Produced by
Josselyn Herman, Luis Moro, and Jeanine Ruhn. Not distributed except for qualifying short runs in
New York and LA to qualify for Cassevettes Award. Opened in New York October 8, 2003.
Premiered on video November 4, 2003. Rated PG-13. 91 minutes. Genre: Drama/Coming of Age.
Plot Outline: A young female rapper find her imagination stirred by reading the diary of Anne Frank.
Starring JYNCE. 24 Total cast. 27 total crew.
Business: Estimated Production Cost $100K. Estimated Theatrical: Breakeven (four walled LA
and NY for award qualification only). Estimated DVD marketing and production cost $20K.
Estimated DVD sales and rental to date $20K. Estimated profit or loss: Loss of $100K.
Virgil Bliss written and directed by Joe Maggio. Produced by John Maggio. Distributed by First Run
Features. Opened June 14, 2002 in 1 theater to qualify for Cassevettes Award. Max screens 1.
Rated R. 94 minutes. Genre: Drama. Plot Outline: A man released after 10 years in prison
attempts to rebuild his life while struggling with a violent temper and a lack of social skills. Starring
Unknowns. Total cast 19. Total crew 6.
Business: Production Cost: $5K. Estimated theatrical Distribution costs (convert DV to film for
exhibition) $50K. Estimated Theatrical marketing costs $5K. Total US Box Office $2K. Sold to
Sundance Cable channel for estimated $2K profit. DVD sales and rentals $5K. Estimated profit or
loss: Loss of $60K.
Jackpot written and produced by Mark and Michael Polish, directed by Michael Polish. R rated. 100
minutes. Genre: drama. Plot Outline: An aging singer abandons his wife and baby to partner with
a manager to try to break into showbiz by traveling a remote Karaoke circuit. Starring Jon Gries,
Garrett Morris, Adam Baldwin, Crystal Bernard, Mac Davis, Anthony Edwards, Daryl Hannah, Peggy
Lipton and Rick Overton. 28 total cast. 62 total crew.
Business: Estimated Production Cost $400K. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. Opened July
27, 2001 in 6 theaters at an average of $1300 per screen for a total first weekend of $8,000.
Closed 10 weeks later on October 5 with a gross theatrical of $44,000. DVD sales and rentals
unknown. Estimated profit or loss: Estimated loss of $400K.
Napoleon Dynamite written by Jared and Jerusha Hess. Directed by Jared Hess. Produced
Jeremy Coon and Jory Weitz. Distributed by Fox Searchlight/MTV Films. Released June 11, 2004.
95 min. Rated PG. Genre: Comedy. Plot Outline: A loner decides to help his friend become
Student Body President against the mean girl who rejected him. Starring Jon Gries, Jon Heder,
and Haylie Duff. 40 locations. 40 actor roles. 40 total crew.
Business: Estimated Production Cost $400K. . Estimated Theatrical Marketing Cost $500K.
Estimated Theatrical Distribution Cost: $750K. Opened June 11, 2004 in 6 theaters to an average
of $19K per screen for a first weekend take of $117 thousand. Max screens was 1236 in the US.
Total US Theatrical Box Office $45 mil. Overseas Box Office: $2 mil. Estimated Total DVD Sales
and Rentals to date $44 mil. Estimated DVD marketing $5 mil. Estimated profit after production,
exhibition, marketing, and distribution deducted: Profit $60 mil.
These eight films were all nominated as best feature film made for under a half million dollars, and
run the gamut from first time efforts to celebrity director vehicles and from never being distributed to
career building financial successes that actually changed the Hollywood industry.
Overview
It’s important to realize that even the most experienced Hollywood executive cannot make a science
out of predicting which screenplay will become a financial success. But there are ways of
comparing these eight low budget films to increase our chances of success as we build the film
school that will train students by immersing them in a series of low budget marketplace feature
films designed to be distributed theatrically and in all ancillary markets in order to instruct them in
the profitability of filmmaking as well as the craft of their track.
We will look at Cast, Locations, Crew, Genre, Market, Story Structure and Production Value to see if
we can identify common elements that are shared by those who made money and those who failed
commercially. The films that made money are in descending order: Napoleon Dynamite ($60 mil),
Better Luck Tomorrow ($16 mil), The Station Agent ($10 mil), Pieces of April ($6 mil), and Mean
Creek (est. $2 mil). Those films that lost money in descending order are Jackpot ($400K), Anne B.
Real ($100K) and Virgil Bliss ($60K).
Cast: One of the first things to notice is that name stars will participate in low budget feature films.
Of the 5 films in our study that made money the number one, three and four most profitable films, or
sixty percent, had name stars. Of the three films in our list that lost money only one, or 33 percent,
Jackpot had name stars. Some, like Jon Gries and Patricia Clarkson, appear in more than one on
this list of eight films. Both of these stars move between big budget and low budget films in a
calendar year without affecting their careers and seem to relish roles that challenge them as lead
actors. Others, like Katie Holmes and Sean Hayes, seem to use these indy film roles to change
their image that was formed on television series. Others, like Oliver Plat, Daryl Hannah, Crystal
Bernard, Garret Morris and Peggy Lipton, appear to value keeping their work in front of the public
and building their filmography.
Another aspect to casting low budget films is the chance for celebrity. Jon Heder has become one
of the top young celebrities even though his role as Napoleon Dynamite was so unlikeable and
quirky. Haylie Duff found a nice recurring role, and genuine celebrity for her generation, on the CBS
television drama, Joan of Arcadia, because of the visibility of her antagonist role in the Napoleon
Dynamite film.
Two of the films that lost money, Virgil Bliss and Anne B. Real, had zero celebrity cast. On the other
hand, Jackpot also lost money and had the largest number of celebrities. So while celebrity
casting isn’t a guarantee for success, it is possible to anticipate a greater chance for marketability
based on this factor. We want to cast name actors in every one of our films, and assume that our
Story Development in regards to Story Structure and our association with John Truby and other
professional development executives will create screenplays that will appeal to name actors.
For the most part these films have a very limited cast roster. There are almost always 3 or 4 main
characters with a supporting cast of speaking roles between 4 and 15 additional. Limiting the
number of actors is critical for a number of reasons besides obvious salary costs. More actors in a
scene means greater set up time for lighting and sound not to mention trailer and make up
requirements. Again, the two most profitable films in the list had the most speaking cast
members, but they had only one name actor between the two of them.
Locations: None of these eight films we are using for our study appears to use a single sound
stage location. The easiest way to reduce production costs is to have a single location for the
majority of the film. Mean Creek and Pieces of April do this by putting most of the cast in a boat or a
car and making them take a trip. Pieces of April and Virgil Bliss do this by using a single residence
for many of the scenes, although Pieces of April uses a building while Virgil Bliss uses a run down
apartment. One can clearly argue that the two most profitable films had the most locations with
both using high school campuses, both interiors and exteriors.
Crew: It is possible to fully crew a feature film with a 28-person crew. Most of these need to have
professional experience. For a small indy film the normal time given to field production ranges
from 18 to 35 shooting days. These are full production days of 12 hours, with many of the crew
doing additional preparation work before and after the shoot. This crew will attempt to average a 25
shots per day schedule. While many books do a good job of identifying job descriptions on a
feature film set, the book From Reel To Deal by Dov Siemens does the best job of breaking down
the crew roster, duties, and salary requirements.
Genre: All of the films we are studying are Drama or mix genre with a Drama emphasis except for
the lone droll Coming Of Age Comedy, Napoleon Dynamite. Each genre has its own set of beats
and organizing elements that distinguishes it from other genres, but drama is one of the easiest
genres to appease an audience. For a comedy it is either funny or it’s not. A drama has a latitude
of impact that can allow for people to enjoy a film that attempts to tell a story, usually about the
filmmaker’s life or a version of a real story the filmmaker was captivated by. Comedy is the most
difficult kind of script to write and is always in great demand in Hollywood. Since the most
successful film of our list was comedy, it is likely that this would be a strong area in which to
develop material. Each of the successful films used comedy as a strong part of their story. The
things that the three unsuccessful films had in common is that very little of the material was
comedic. We feel that each film we attempt must include comedic material of some kind, showing
quirky or clever dialogue and situations that are outright funny.
Market: Three of the five films that are R rated made money, Better Luck Tomorrow, Mean Creek,
and The Station Agent . Jackpot, and Virgil Bliss are R rated, and lost money. Since Better Luck
Tomorrow and Mean Creek are cast with either teens or youth and attempt to deal with youthful
subjects, and with today’s exhibition pressure to not allow under age viewers into screenings of R
material, it is safe to guess that some business was lost to each theatrical release, but
nevertheless, they both returned significant profits to the studios who distributed them. Pieces of
April, the third most profitable and Anne B. Real, a film that could not find a theatrical distributor are
rated PG-13, and are both films dealing with a teen protagonist. Napoleon Dynamite, the most
profitable, is rated PG and is also built around a teen protagonist at odds with both teen opponents
and oppressive adult family opponents.
Each film is like its own corporation. It is actually structured like that legally. As a single entity
designed to do business in the marketplace it needs to identify its market, mission statement and
strategy. This is a business. The Producer had to borrow money and promise to pay it back to
launch this business/film. He will need to minimally return the investor’s original investment in
order to go to him in the future and get more money for other productions. As Christians it is
foundational that we structure our ROI to protect the investors’ original investment, and hopefully to
help them realize a profit. Everyone’s hope is that one of the films will hit and millions of dollars will
be returned in order to finance other productions.
Story Structure Let me briefly identify and attempt to reveal the concept of the role of Story
Structure in the foundation of filmmaking. We feel that Story Structure is the critical element for a
low budget film. The filmmaker needs to understand his structure and how to maximize his story’s
impact by staying on a professional story track. Some of the elements of Story Structure a
filmmaker needs to have a grasp of are Theme, Premise, Hero, Main Opponent, Plan, Desire Line,
Need Line, and Self Revelation plus some understanding of an already covered topic, Genre. Much
of this Story Structure information comes from the tape series by John Truby. His work over the
decades to organize and clarify the elements of successful films is not only prolific, but
assimilatable and worth your investment. His hundreds of hours of lectures obviously cover much
more than can be boiled down to this low budget model, and this extrapolation is our interpretation
and not his, which we are sure would be more valuable and clear; however, for this discussion we
will attempt to make certain assumptions that would guide us in our desire to build a model for low
budget filmmaking. For the parts where we go off on our own and don’t line up with Truby we
apologize to John in advance.
Story Structure: Theme:
While any given year’s film roster will prove that you can spend a lot of money on films with little
effort or understanding given to developing a Theme, we believe a successful film will attempt to
deal with a Theme that has application to the individual audience viewer and ideally to the larger
community as well. For instance, it might be said that the Individual Theme of Tootsie might be “if
you put yourself into someone else’s shoes you will change the way you treat them and become a
better person for it”. The Universal Theme might be “How should men treat women in modern
society’?” These themes are developed by revealing a weakness in the Hero who reveals a moral
dilemma by using women sexually without really connecting relationally until he has to dress up
like a woman to get work and becomes the object of male lust and deceit and learns that his
previous ways were wrong and need to be replaced. The genre that the two screenplay writers,
Larry Gelbart (and Elaine May with no screen credit) used was a comedy/farce. They felt this genre
had the best structural elements and unique genre beats to reveal the theme and resolve the moral
dilemma of the Hero. The Comedy/Farce genre requiring many opponents gave the movie lots of
places to go to reveal the theme, including the Main Opponent/Love Interest, the Misogynist
Director, the Male Love Interest who falls in love with the Hero’s female character, the female love
interest, the Leading man actor, and miscellaneous men like the cab driver who won’t stop for a
woman but stops for a man, the cab stealer who wrongly assumes he can just overpower a female
who has stopped a taxi and is trying to board,all of whom reveal a different part of the theme’s
message.
A low budget film needs to have both a strong Individual Theme that deals with issues that
individual viewers can relate to, but also needs to attempt to show us collectively how to live as a
society. Regardless of the genre, having a clear idea of your theme is critical to a film’s acceptance
by the audience thereby creating more word of mouth advertising and financial success. When you
are considering a story you might ask yourself “What do I care about?” and if you haven’t spent the
time to think through that from a screenplay perspective, take a look at your ideas list or stories and
see if you can find common elements. Once you see a pattern then follow it up with another
development question, “What do I need to learn or understand or solve in my own life about this
problem” so the material can be full of depth and angst instead of reflecting only the surface of
solutions you have already resolved. None of the films we evaluated had a strong theme, either
individual or universal. Each had subjects they attempted to reveal like bullying in Mean Creek,
ageism and overcoming adversity in The Station Agent, following your dream in Jackpot,
forgiveness in Pieces of April, and the spirit of poverty in Virgil Bliss. Napoleon Dynamite and Better
Luck Tomorrow, even though the most successful films, had subjects that were more difficult to
identify.
Story Structure: Hero/Protagonist
It’s essential that every story be mainly about one person. While it is possible to have multiple
protagonists (i.e., Lord of the Rings), in a low budget film the story needs to be about one person’s
evolution and journey. In the movie Tootsie the story is about the Dustin Hoffman character. It is
his journey from male chauvinist to enlightened male that captivates us. In these 8 films the hero
is clear in every film.
Story Structure: Main Opponent
For a Hero to be seen as strong then the Opponent must be strong. The Opponent can be Darth
Vader to Luke’s Hero, but the Opponent can also be the Jessica Lange character in Tootsie...the
love interest. The best definition of the Opponent is the one person best able to exploit the Hero’s
need. In Tootsie, Dustin Hoffman wanted Jessica Lange...her time...her life...as a life partner, but
needed to become sensitive and a real friend and stop being out just for sexual exploits. Jessica
Lange was the one who also wanted her life. Most films will have more than one Opponent, but
every film has to have a Main Opponent who wants the same thing as the Hero.
In our eight films there is a Main Opponent in only Pieces of April (the mother), and Mean Creek (the
oldest boy in the group). The rest fail to create a strong Opponent who has strong conflicting
values and a strong desire for the same thing the Hero wants.
Story Structure: Ghost
The Ghost is the event in the past that created the Need of the Hero. While not essential it is
preferable to have a strong Ghost and to show it early in the film. In Finding Nemo, the death of his
wife and all but one of his children creates a fear of his world in the hero, Marlin, Nemo’s dad. In
these eight films Mean Creek’s Ghost is the bullying episode in the first scene. The Station Agent’s
Ghost is a lifetime of taunts peppered on our Hero, Fin, who was born a dwarf. In Pieces of April
the Ghost is the lifetime of shame verbalized on April by her disappointed mother. The rest of the
films are unclear about their Ghost.
Story Structure: Hero’s Need
It is essential that every Hero have a strong Need. The Need is the thing missing or broken in the
Hero’s life that causes him to hurt others. In most cases the Hero is unaware of his Need, or if he
is aware of it he is unaware of when it manifests or how to get rid of it. In our example of Finding
Nemo the Hero is full of fear that hurts his son by keeping him overprotected. He doesn’t think he
is full of fear...in his mind he is just being reasonably cautious. In Tootsie the Hero is an exploiter
of women who hurts all the women in his life by deceiving them for his own desires. In our eight
films the Hero’s Need is strong and clear in Pieces of April, and The Station Agent. In the other
films the Need is vague or shifting.
Story Structure: Desire Line
The Desire of the Hero drives the story. The Desire Line must be able to be spotted clearly by the
audience at a moment in time. It can’t be vague like to be happier or more successful. In Finding
Nemo Marlin wants to get Nemo back. The whole film moves forward with that Desire in mind.
There can be no mistaking when the Desire has been accomplished. In Tootsie the Hero wants to
work as an actor. Sometimes there are delayed Desire Lines and Secondary Desire Lines, but
there needs to be a strong main Desire Line. In Tootsie we see a competing Secondary Desire
Line when the Hero also wants to be the lover of the Jessica Lange character. In the first Star Wars
film Luke Skywalker wants to rescue the Princess he sees projected out of R2D2’s holographic
lens.
In these eight films all the films have a reasonably strong Desire Line. The Hero of Pieces of April
wants to prepare Thanksgiving Dinner for her mother and demonstrate her maturity. The Station
Agent wants to live a life of complete isolation. Better Luck Tomorrow wants to add a dash of
excitement to his overachieving student life by becoming a criminal. Anne B. Real wants to escape
her poverty by becoming a rap star. Jackpot wants to become a superstar singer. Napoleon
Dynamite wants to help his friend defeat the high school superstar for Student Body President.
Virgil Bliss has the most unmeasureable Desire Line as he wants to build a normal life and not go
back to prison. When does he achieve this and never risk his reincarceration? The Hero of Mean
Creek starts our wanting revenge of his bully only to vacillate and want his bully’s survival. This shift
is natural and doesn’t present too much of a problem.
Story Structure: Hero’s Plan
The Hero’s Plan fills in most of the action in the middle of the film. It is the Plan that attempts to
solve the Desire Line. In Finding Nemo Marlin’s plan is to follow the boat back to Sydney and find
his son. The Plan must always fail and the hero must regroup and find a way to overcome the
failure of his initial attempt. Obstacles and opponents are encountered during the plan. Allies are
accumulated. Sometimes allies are really opponents. The difficulties encountered in the plan
must escalate and by overcoming the obstacles the Hero also overcomes His Need. You can see
these elements clearly in Finding Nemo. Only his great love for his son forces Marlin to overcome
his fear and begin the foray into the ocean world. He encounters a Main Opponent, Dori, who has
no fear of the ocean and loves to interact with all species; an ally, The Shark, who becomes an
opponent; several opponents who are dangerous like the deep-sea creature with the light as a bait;
and several allies like the Turtles and allies who first appear as Opponents like the Whale and the
Pelican. But the whole story is driven by the Plan which gets progressively harder, and eventually
Marlin not only achieves the Desire, Nemo’s rescue, he also experiences healing of The Need, his
fear of the ocean.
Only one of our eight low budget films do a decent job of developing an ever increasingly more
difficult Plan that not only solves the Desire but also the Need, and that is Pieces of April. Napoleon
Dynamite comes close as Napoleon learns to break dance and helps his friend get elected while
also finding acceptance in front of his peers and escape from eternal dorkdom. The rest of the
films string together scenes and sequences that are interesting but do not teach or reveal any
growth in our Heroes.
Story Structure: The Battle
The Battle is the climatic event in the story where the Hero and the Opponent clash and the values
each holds dear are defended and the Hero comes out on the other side with new information or
victory for his values. While it can be a dramatic as Luke Skywalker refusing his heavy breathing
Opponent’s plea to use the Force for the dark side it can also be more subtle. In our ongoing
example Finding Nemo the battle is between Dori and Marlin inside of a whale. Dori insists that
you can trust other creatures and Marlin is convinced he must only trust himself and his strength.
When Marlin gives in and discovers he is not only safe but brought right into Sydney harbor he
learns to trust other ocean strangers who can help you and not to be so afraid of ocean life.
The Station Agent is the only one of the eight that does a good job with The Battle. When Fin is
shamed and ordered off her porch he overcomes his natural inclination to withdraw from his
shame and fights his way back into Olivia’s life just in time to save her from a suicide attempt. In
this Battle Fin learns that he really needs people and they need him and relationships, even though
difficult, are essential for life.
Story Structure: Hero’s Self Revelation
The Hero’s Self Revelation is the moment in time when the Hero realizes how he has been hurting
people and has a new understanding of how to live. In order for there to be a Self Revelation there
has to have been a well developed Hero’s Need early in the film. There also has to have been a
strong Desire Line and Opponent. So that when the moment of Self Revelation occurs it dawns on
the Hero how he has been hurting others and how to now live so as to stop that hurtful way. In
Romantic Comedies it is normal for the Hero and Opponent love interests to each have a Self
Revelation and each move away from their polarized positions to a middle ground that is much
healthier.
In our eight films none of the films have a great Self Revelation. Some try to force one, like Mean
Creek’s final scene where the Hero confesses to their deed and appears to have a Self Revelation
that truth is more important than getting away with it. But there is no Hero Need that shows his
deceit as hurting any one early in the film. The rest range from the pathetic perseverance of
Jackpot’s Hero to a vague fade out of The Station Agent’s Hero sitting on the porch joking around
with his two friends which is really more about the final step in the Story Structure...The New
Equilibrium.
Story Structure: The New Equilibrium
At the end of the story we should see the Hero, having learned a new way of behaving, experiencing
life differently because of his journey and enlightenment. The audience should feel as if the Hero
will never go back to his old ways because of his new knowledge. No way is Dustin Hoffman going
to be a male chauvinist at the end of Tootsie. This is called The New Equilibrium. As stated, The
Station Agent shows this well. April has her first positive family memory and also has found a new
way to relate to her mom and we feel they will move forward with this New Equilibrium if her mom
survives the cancer. The rest of our films struggle with this New Equilibrium. One feels Napoleon
Dynamite might return to his nerdy life easily. Jackpot is hopeless, and it is this lack of Self
Revelation and New Equilibrium that produced the biggest financial failure in our film group.
Overview: Production Value Is Critical As Well
We believe that a film’s best chance for commercial success is to look like a feature film, have
some name actors involved, have great story structure, and be made for a budget that can be easily
made back even with theatrical self distribution and DVD sales and rentals. So Production Value is
critical, and our budget model allows for 3,000 feet of 35 mm film shot per day on a schedule of five
pages a day for a total of 80,000 feet exposed or a dollar amount of $55,000 - $80,000 for film stock
and lab film development/processing fees.
As everyone knows the digital video camera manufacturers are competing for the professional
consumer dollar based on their ability to deliver a “film look”. Several feature films have been shot
using mini-DV cameras including excellent productions like Bamboozled and Buena Vista Social
Club. While we will preference 35 mm film we will also allow our crews to adjust their shooting
styles to reflect their artistic vision. But always we will insist that the filmmaker/artist consider the
business venture he or she is committing investors to, and create the best chance to recoup their
investment while telling the story.