Making a movie about people talking of the interstellar war.

[Aspiring Mogul]

Happy new year, everyone.

As stated in my recent threads, I am thinking (as always) of doing that film. One low-cost way of doing it is to have actors talking about the interstellar war, as opposed to showing the combat scenes. I have started a background fictional history of the war, with the introduction and the epilogue. The history is by the defeated Enemy General (EG), who writes it while in prison.

As I understand it, the rule of thumb is that, to adapt prose to film, one page of prose would equal one minute of film, but a history can be lengthened or shortened.

I am thinking that the film, to keep it as low as possible, should have one set of scenes where the EG talks to his counterpart, then another set of scenes where a reporter talks to survivors of the war, and so on. And, to splurge a bit, we can always have a dance scene.

The regulars here know film better than me, but many good movies have been done with inexpensive sets - examples are "Same Time, Next Year", and Hitchcock's "Rear Window".

 

[AcousticAl]

Yes, a movie costing several hundred thousand dollars can be of good quality.

Indeed.

@Aspiring Mogul, if you have Amazon Prime or AppleTV+, go watch “A Hard Problem”. It’s a little sci-fi, nondescript futuristic, and was just shy of $1M.

Okay, so maybe a little more than several hundred thousand, but still low budget. There’s a little bit of CGI in there, but it’s all very subtle and only where practicals weren’t possible. Keep in mind, too, that even on low-budget indies, a good chunk of the budget can be paying name talent.

 

[mlesemann]

even on low-budget indies, a good chunk of the budget can be paying name talent.

This 100%

 

[indietalk]

I'm bumping this thread, because I need some cost estimates. To cut a long story short, my mentor, also a lawyer, is pressuring me to move on with my life, because I have been going to the AFM and so on but not doing anything - if only he knew how I've been posting here. Anyway, I'm writing him a plan, of which I will discuss later with this forum, and I need to have some firmer idea about costs.

To elaborate, the staff, students, and lawyers in my firm need my guidance, and everyone knows that I'm holding it together. We are occupying a sweet spot that others cannot occupy, and we're occupying more of those sweet spots in our jurisdiction and, possibly in the future, the US. So I can't quite leave now.

So you are moving on or not?
Talk about loops.

 

[indietalk]

This is essentially the plan you and I spoke about - what is it now? 10 years ago? 15?

 

[sfoster]

So you are moving on or not?
Talk about loops.

I know I've been talking about learning guitar for 15 years, and I haven't picked one up yet, but I'm not interested in being just another guitarist.
I'm gonna be the next jimmy hendrex for the 21st century!!

I know I'm gonna be the best once I start learning the basics!!
It will come naturally to me without the decades of practice everyone else needs.

My question is, though, is it possible to play a good song on a cheap guitar?

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

@indietalk, my mentor knows what I've built, so the end point will be several years from now. I will be meeting him again to see when that end point will be - it will not be soon for the reasons I've mentioned.

@AcousticAl, yes, I understand that star salaries can be a large part of the budget. But I'm following George Lucas' model, which is to cast unknowns. I'm interested in low budget.

Everyone, I know it may be hard to believe, but I am very far along my journey in law. This is either the late middle or final stage, and I have to decide. In terms of my film pretensions, I'm leaning towards Youtube and/or low budget, because, as I just said, if no one knows anything, the probabilities are the same for a youtube video or a tent pole.

 

[AcousticAl]

@AcousticAl, yes, I understand that star salaries can be a large part of the budget. But I'm following George Lucas' model, which is to cast unknowns. I'm interested in low budget.

You missed my point. It wasn’t about you hiring known or unknown talent, it was putting the $1M in perspective for low-budget films considering the production budget outside of talent was relatively low.

But… you do you, which apparently means just talking about making films instead of actually making films. Two people having a conversation? Even “My Dinner With Andre” (1981) cost $475,000. Adjust for inflation, that’s $1.7M today.

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

You missed my point. It wasn’t about you hiring known or unknown talent, it was putting the $1M in perspective for low-budget films considering the production budget outside of talent was relatively low.

OK I missed the point - can you please elaborate, thanks.

 

[AcousticAl]

OK I missed the point - can you please elaborate, thanks.

Again…

… it was putting the $1M in perspective for low-budget films considering the production budget outside of talent was relatively low.

 

[AcousticAl]

But have you made any films yet? Any shorts? Anything?

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

You missed my point. It wasn’t about you hiring known or unknown talent, it was putting the $1M in perspective for low-budget films considering the production budget outside of talent was relatively low.

But… you do you, which apparently means just talking about making films instead of actually making films. Two people having a conversation? Even “My Dinner With Andre” (1981) cost $475,000. Adjust for inflation, that’s $1.7M today.

"(Y)out do you" what?

OK, two people talking will cost almost $2 million. That may be outside my range. May I get a basic idea of why it would cost so much? I'm asking because, as you said, I don't know and I have no experience.

 

[AcousticAl]

"(Y)out do you" what?

“You do you” basically means, “but feel free to ignore all the informed advice you’ve received and continue on your path however you want”.

OK, two people talking will cost almost $2 million.

Maybe, maybe not. Too many variables here to say for sure.

 

[Screenrighter]

@indietalk, my mentor knows what I've built, so the end point will be several years from now. I will be meeting him again to see when that end point will be - it will not be soon for the reasons I've mentioned.

@AcousticAl, yes, I understand that star salaries can be a large part of the budget. But I'm following George Lucas' model, which is to cast unknowns. I'm interested in low budget.

Everyone, I know it may be hard to believe, but I am very far along my journey in law. This is either the late middle or final stage, and I have to decide. In terms of my film pretensions, I'm leaning towards Youtube and/or low budget, because, as I just said, if no one knows anything, the probabilities are the same for a youtube video or a tent pole.

I have been reading this thread with great interest. I have to chime in and say that I don’t think what George Lucas did is really a model you can copy.

For one thing it was 50 years ago, it was a completely different world. Lucas had graduated from USC, had directed multiple shorts and two features. American Graffiti was a major critical and financial success. It was nominated for the best picture, best director and best screenplay at the Oscars.

And I wouldn’t necessarily say Lucas only hired unknowns for Star Wars. Harrison Ford was still on his way up, but Alec Guinness was a highly acclaimed Oscar winning actor and certainly not an unknown.

It’s good to draw inspiration from these examples, but they aren’t really applicable to modern times to copy completely. It’s like saying I’m going to max out all my credit cards and make a black and white comedy movie that will win all these awards and jumpstart my filmmaking career, because hey it worked for Kevin Smith, why not for me.

 

[CelticRambler]

To elaborate, the staff, students, and lawyers in my firm need my guidance, and everyone knows that I'm holding it together. We are occupying a sweet spot that others cannot occupy, and we're occupying more of those sweet spots in our jurisdiction and, possibly in the future, the US. So I can't quite leave now.

Of everything you've written over the years, this is what stands out for me as the real obstacle to a change in direction: you have no exit strategy from your current situation. Unless and until you write yourself out of (that part of) the law firm equation, you'll never make any significant progress with the interstellar wars or much else.

One of the golden rules of entrepreneurship is to plan from the beginning to make yourself obsolete - to surround yourself with people who can do whatever you do as well as (or better than) you do it. This doesn't necessarily mean excluding yourself from everything about the business, but it provides you with (a) the time and mental space to prepare a transition to something else; and (b) the opportunity to step away when the time is right, knowing that everything will be fine.

I've experienced this from both sides, and can confirm that it is damn good advice! In my professional sphere, I step into the shoes of colleagues at very short notice and so many of them have constructed highly inefficient processes that absolutely depend on them being there to explain the warped logic behind some utterly illogical protocol; or they're surrounded by people who really want to learn and do, but have never been given the training and are frustrated by a lack of recognition. It's rare enough that I'm in the place long enough to change anything - but that makes it all the more satisfying if I go back several months later and find that something I did reorganise is still being done the "new" way.

On the "holding it all together" side of things, the only role I currently occupy that meets that description is my once-a-year week managing my festival team. In that regard, this tenth anniversary year was my second in handing over most of my responsabilities to members of the team who I've been grooming for a while. This year's experience built on last year's trial, and again it was extremely satisfying to see that I wasn't needed for anything other than a few WTF? interactions with the wider festival organisation.

So here's a challenge : can you put down in writing whatever it is about which the "staff, students, and lawyers" need your guidance? If so, do it; then ask yourself, do you need to be there to say the same stuff out loud? If not, then maybe you need to first take some (non)creative writing courses before embarking on a new, screenplay-based career.

 

[sfoster]

Acoustic Al and Aspiring Mogul having the same (A) avatar
Makes for a confusing back-and-forth read

Everyone, I know it may be hard to believe, but I am very far along my journey in law.

I don't think anyone doubts that or finds it hard to believe.

I get that you're busy -- surely you have a free weekend once a year?
At a bare minimum you should be doing a 48 hour film once a year.

Do something, ANYTHING, start getting experience!!

 

[indietalk]

OK, two people talking will cost almost $2 million. That may be outside my range.

I have to bow out of this conversation. I love ya man but come on! One person answers about a budget and you act like it's set in stone even though you have already acknowledged it isn't and it depends on many, many factors. It's becoming one of "those" threads now. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[directorik]

OK, two people talking will cost almost $2 million. That may be outside my range. May I get a basic idea of why it would cost so much? I'm asking because, as you said, I don't know and I have no experience.

No. Two people talking will NOT cost almost $2 million.

You have been given the EXACT idea, not a basic idea, an EXACT idea why
in might cost $2 million and why it might cost $200,000 and why it might cost
$50,000.

Back in that loop again. It's damn frustrating.

You could, but you won't, take one week here in Los Angeles and produce
a great looking, very professional showcase piece for $5,000 of two people
talking. I suspect that is close to what you spend attending AFM.

But I'm back in the loop again. You won't do it. But it sure is fun to talk
about it isn't it?

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

Yeah, I think actually the interstellar was is over, might wanna check.

The war is over? Who won?

OK, I understand a movie may not cost $2 million. But look at it this way - consider all the attention I've garnered, my video may actually go viral.

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

Acoustic Al and Aspiring Mogul having the same (A) avatar
Makes for a confusing back-and-forth read



I don't think anyone doubts that or finds it hard to believe.

Thanks, sfoster - you don't know how good that made me feel.

@Screenrighter, you're right - George Lucas' hero's journey will not be my journey. But his success was the inspiration for me to get into film.

Of everything you've written over the years, this is what stands out for me as the real obstacle to a change in direction: you have no exit strategy from your current situation. Unless and until you write yourself out of (that part of) the law firm equation, you'll never make any significant progress with the interstellar wars or much else.

One of the golden rules of entrepreneurship is to plan from the beginning to make yourself obsolete - to surround yourself with people who can do whatever you do as well as (or better than) you do it. This doesn't necessarily mean excluding yourself from everything about the business, but it provides you with (a) the time and mental space to prepare a transition to something else; and (b) the opportunity to step away when the time is right, knowing that everything will be fine.

I've experienced this from both sides, and can confirm that it is damn good advice! In my professional sphere, I step into the shoes of colleagues at very short notice and so many of them have constructed highly inefficient processes that absolutely depend on them being there to explain the warped logic behind some utterly illogical protocol; or they're surrounded by people who really want to learn and do, but have never been given the training and are frustrated by a lack of recognition. It's rare enough that I'm in the place long enough to change anything - but that makes it all the more satisfying if I go back several months later and find that something I did reorganise is still being done the "new" way.

On the "holding it all together" side of things, the only role I currently occupy that meets that description is my once-a-year week managing my festival team. In that regard, this tenth anniversary year was my second in handing over most of my responsabilities to members of the team who I've been grooming for a while. This year's experience built on last year's trial, and again it was extremely satisfying to see that I wasn't needed for anything other than a few WTF? interactions with the wider festival organisation.

So here's a challenge : can you put down in writing whatever it is about which the "staff, students, and lawyers" need your guidance? If so, do it; then ask yourself, do you need to be there to say the same stuff out loud? If not, then maybe you need to first take some (non)creative writing courses before embarking on a new, screenplay-based career.

Celtic, you're more right than you realize. My firm is increasingly running on automatic, though everyone still needs my guidance. I am, slowly, getting the time to get into my creative project.

No. Two people talking will NOT cost almost $2 million.

You have been given the EXACT idea, not a basic idea, an EXACT idea why
in might cost $2 million and why it might cost $200,000 and why it might cost
$50,000.

Back in that loop again. It's damn frustrating.

You could, but you won't, take one week here in Los Angeles and produce
a great looking, very professional showcase piece for $5,000 of two people
talking. I suspect that is close to what you spend attending AFM.

But I'm back in the loop again. You won't do it. But it sure is fun to talk
about it isn't it?

Now THAT'S what I like to hear. @directorik, will you be going to the AFM in Las Vegas this November?

 

[Aspiring Mogul]

He wouldn't film it anyway. Even if we said to. Stop wasting your time @sfoster.

I have to bow out of this conversation.

You said that in January 2023, and you just said it. You're like me in that regard - always talking about doing something (ie bowing out) but not doing it.