The Toughest Genre To Produce]
Just my opinion. To "produce," I would say, Sci-Fi, because it usually requires sets, visuals and props. I think it takes a lot to tackle
big SPACESHIP sets, shooting in exotic
LOCATIONS, and dealing with
COMPOSITING and
EFFECTS.
Comedy, Drama, Suspense can feasibly all be done in your house and rely mostly on the writing and acting. (Let's say each genre has the same writer, so that the script part is equal.)
Next easiest would be Horror, which is like suspense, but just by adding blood or black eye zombie makeup, you can achieve that. Definitely notch up the difficulty, if it actually has a monster and elaborate makeup. Honestly, I have used flour and food color, as
seen HERE to show someone's face melting, so it's not that hard. I've made about a dozen horror flicks.
Documentary may have a tough schedule, but less demands with planned/elaborate lighting setup. Now, if it is cutting coverage of a movie production, you can pretty much "make" the movie in editing. Heck, you could do an Iraq war doc and buy footage, without having to do more than interviews. However, tackling a subject, say cropdusting, and you have to follow the pilot around and get your own aerials, etc., would be challenging.
Action would be second hardest, as that would require physical stunts, car chases, and probably more camera movement and quick editing to suggest more going on than there actually is. We had several scenes of flipped vehicles, including this
TIPPED VAN, which was not an effect.
Based on my personal experience with these genres, this has been my hardest to easiest, based on production demands:
Sci-Fi (writing, acting, futuristic sets, wardrobe, props, terrain, FX)
Action (writing, acting, guns, stunts, fights, chases, vehicles)
Documentary (depending on location difficulty and subject matter)
Horror (writing, acting, makeup)
Comedy (writing, acting)
Suspense (writing, acting)
Drama (writing, acting)
Obviously, the order can change, if you go for challenging settings and set pieces in a drama or suspense and you do "stranger in a strange land" sci-fi, where you don't need props, sets. If you want to know what is easiest - ask what you see the most from first time filmmakers. I've noticed a lot of zombie flicks, myself.
The order would be reversed, in some cases, if you ask "what is the hardest genre to sell."