thriller project

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RaymondLeggs

is 250,000.00 a realistic goal for crowd-funding? I have been working on the same script/premise for a long time, since 2003. I did a script in 2005 but it was Horrendous, Too many speaking parts, not enough time to cover plot elements and unfinished plot points.

I have been struggling to find a single idea for this same film, One is a 60's style heist film,(like oceans 11 and the italian job) the second one is a Trippy, /wanted/chronicle esque film, featuring super assassins who can levitate guns and catch bullets with their bare hands and

The third one a stripped down Spy thriller which basicly involves but does not center around, a GUILTY businessman (He gets his mistress killed)who is manipulating a group of KGB Agents into getting the GOVT to carry out his Historical Project. All the while a Naive journalist is hot on his trail. (Who the film fixates on) Who is in turn being manipulated by two men. A Russian Sleeper spy, posing as a rookie journalist and a Mysterious, Jack Reacher/jack Ryan type who is executing several suspected Russian sleeper spies in his spare time. Sort of a David Cronenberg esque Psychological thriller.

It focuses more on the Female journalist and the two dudes than it does on the big stuff, but it makes the main characters whole world fall apart. Good people die, bad people kind of get off Scott free.


The the last story idea for this same one, A modern heist film, with elements of the 60's version, some spy/corporate stuff and a dark revenge subplot.

They all have the same Mcguauffin, There is something In a certain location. (nearly inaccessible) that they all want and, may or may not actually exist.

I am kind of guarded about the full revealing of the premise and the location, of the mcguffin and how
it will be recovered since some people will scream about needing a HUGE budget. But Since I have done some okay miniature underwater effects tests on a very good VHS-C camera a long time ago. (I lost the tape). I decided to go ahead and try.

There is a long story behind the film too.


Another idea I have for a completely different project is pretty trippy. To say the least. It involves, A Company car, Hallucination drugs, A group of rich friends, a hit-man/cleaner a CEO and a hotel room, coctail dinner, and abstract mindbending dreams.
 
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Unless you are a rock star who has sold platinum albums time and time again to gain a large fan base, come back to Earth, Major Tom. Protein pills won't make money appear. We are living in hard times and people don't have money to throw at an unknown.

Even $2,500 can be a lot to ask for.
 
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Maybe this story will inspire you and others here. A friend at a previous job site got his whole family together with some frienda and used his apartment for the shooting location. They used a home consumer video camera and made up a story their family was kidnapped and their friends played the kidnappers. One of his sons and his friends came up with a fight scene when his son did an escape and they fought and rolled down a flight of stairs. He did an escape climbing out a window in the aparrment.

Another friend played a plain clothes cop and arrested the kidnappers.

It obviously looked like a home video. But, he got his first film made.

Everyone has to start somewhere.
 
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Start with a short, and work with other filmmakers in your area.
Help them in exchange for their help on your short, and do it for little or no money.
That's the reality, but at least you WILL get a project done.
It's a start, not the final goal.
 
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RaymondLeggs said:
Looks like none of my movies will ever get made...
Click to expand...
Welcome to the difference between writing pie-in-the sky films and those you can actually produce.

Screenwriting & filmmaking can be looked at from a few different angles.
First, it's a business. Spend $XX,XXX and you EXPECT to get more than that back in distribution or DVD/VOD sales.
Second, you "just wanna make a film" and like a hobby don't expect to make any reasonable return on it.

When you go on vacation or get into a pricey activity like ATV-ing you don't really expect to make any money back from that. But usually you're talking about only a few thousand dollars out the door into never-never land.

Now, would you spend... $250,000 knowing you'd have nothing to show for it other than a few gigabytes on a hard drive somewhere?
Pfft! That's retarded. You could have a really decent house for that much.

Where's that magic number between "vacation" money and "serious" money that you really don't wanna p!ss away on foolishness? Figure it out and then write below that for yourself to write/direct/produce and above that to sell on spec.

Respect the no-man's-land between those two points. Write accordingly, mostly that means for the resources you have.
 
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I was thinking of bring it down to $10,000.00 Scaling the script down may actually help the story, but I can keep the Mcguffin! I,d take $8.5 thousand too.

I just wanted to make sure I had enough Money for, Two Entry Level DSLR cameras (that can also shoot 60FPS and up. Update my 7 year old laptop, A MIDI controller setup, Editing software, music/recording software/ mics. Jib Crane, monopod/stedicam.

A small green screen, Aquarium, Plastic Model ships, and building materials for a homemade under the surface Rig to pull them along.

I am working to strip the Story down and put a slightly new twist on the heist/crime genre.

Also A smaller script means better character and story.

I previously had 50 major speaking parts, brought it down to about 10 threw out 6 action scenes and 90% of the Underwater/ model ship scenes. Changed the tone. Its gone from "Lions for lambs" to "In bruges" All new charachters except the lead,

Working on treatement, will post on here when done. Write the script And work with local filmakers..
 
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Right now the script I'm writing is probably going to be too costly for me to film unless I win the lottery or have a rich relative I don't know about put me in their will. So what I am planning is I have already written a bunch of extensive back stories for all the main characters that can be turned into short 10-15 minute films for a fraction of the price so I am just going to film those to build my brand and get money for my feature.
 
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