Project Update Journal: Friday, August 24, 2018

Current Project: Metamorphosis, Interrupted
(Current Funds: $277.26 [+$0.00 Since Last Update])

Introduction

To kick off this channel, I am going to introduce you to my current (and first) low-to-no-budget independent film project, Metamorphosis, Interrupted.

(Scroll down to Project Status to learn where I am currently on the project.)

The story focuses on Sam, a young woman who is trying to control her life after developing schizophrenia during college. Subjected to hallucinations and other complications of her condition, she is forced to drop out and move with her parents to a part of Seattle that is closer to the resources she needs. There, a therapist and her family works with her to develop tools to adapt to her situation. Unfortunately, Sam already believes she has regained control of the situation; Sam believes her schizophrenia has opened her mind to an unseen world of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena.

Once the screenplay is finished it will become my third screenplay and the first screenplay I’ve written that may actually fit within a low-to-no-budget film budget. My first two screenplays, The Fox and the Hare and Oneirogeist, were initially planned to be my first films, but after ball-parking their costs I realized I’d need at least half a million each; nowhere close to low-or-no-budget. (This seems to be a common mistake among those trying to make their own films.)

So how do I know this screenplay will fit my budget as opposed to my other projects? Well, I don’t, actually, but after some research focusing on this specific problem I’ve found some basic pointers. I will cover this in a future Lessons Corner so I won’t deviate from the purpose of this journal, but I’ll include here some of the formula points that have influenced this screenplay.

Some Important Constraints for a Low-to-No-Budget Film

1. Limit the Story to One Location

Or as few locations as possible. It is not only a question of keeping costs low, such as the costs of securing a location or the possible insurance one might need for it, but also the time and costs of moving your actors and crew to and from locations. With one location, you can focus all your creative energy on exploiting that location.

And by location, I do not mean only one room, but a location and all its sub-locations. So far, there is only one location in Metamorphosis, Interrupted: the house the family moves into. But we will be using quite a few of the rooms, such as a bedroom, the study, the kitchen, the living room, and even the yards. There might be a scene where they go to a park to release a butterfly but I can just the same do that in the yard of the house.

2. No More than Six Characters

With little to no budget you are likely asking your actors to volunteer their time. The fewer the actors the less people you must manage. It is also a rule of thumb to feed your actors during the appropriate meal-times, which adds up costs as well. Also, less characters creates a tighter story, providing opportunities for your actors to engage in their roles and your audience to invest more into their development.

Metamorphosis, Interrupted has no more than 6 characters, and only 3 of the 6 will be used throughout the film regularly: the protagonist, Sam; her father, James; and her mother, June. Her brother, J.J.; her therapist, Malcolm; and a possible “Ghost” will only comprise a few scenes each.

3. Keep the Screenplay Short

The longer the screenplay the more days you must commit to Principal Photography and the more tiny costs, like catering, that will eat up your already low, low budget. I hear most shoots film 3 to 5 pages a day. This means a 90-minute screenplay will take anywhere between 18 and 30 days to shoot. I also hear people tend to film on the weekends, so an 18-day shoot over 3-day (generously-speaking) weekends means six weeks of shooting. At this stage, I’m not sure if this is a lot to ask of actors and crew if they’re not getting paid. But I imagine if you didn’t do a good job of the story then with each passing day the higher the likelihood of people dropping out of the project.

I kept this story tight and focused it on the protagonist and her relationship with her father instead of threading multiple stories together; unlike my first screenplay (which clocked in at 129 pages). I imagine Metamorphosis, Interrupted will take no more than 82 pages, which is still considered feature-length. According to the Screen Actors Guild, the minimum length a film needs to be considered a feature is 80 minutes. A page is generally considered to average a minute in length when adapted to the screen so 80 to 82 pages is a good goal, in my opinion.

Project Status

It took a little over 9 months to write my first screenplay and a little over 11 months to write my second screenplay. Though I try to reassure myself that length of time was spent learning how to write and write well, I’m still not closer to my film. So, before starting my third screenplay, I decided to dedicate the coming year, starting in July of 2018, to a list of milestones culminating to an actual film. I must note I tried this with my second screenplay as well, but this is the first time it looks like it might work.

The first month was spent Selecting a Story that interested me and developing a Working Outline. Though the Working Outline has been completely redone, it helped immensely to get an idea where to go and what the essence of my story should be. By the time of this writing I am coming to the end of the second month which will require me to complete three items: a Final Outline, Character Arc(s) (where applicable), and a Scene-by-Scene Analysis.

With 7 days left I am pretty close to the Final Outline and Character Arc(s) being done. I only have two characters with arcs: the protagonist, Sam; and her father, James. Doing the analysis took a while with both my previous screenplays so hopefully I can get that part done before the end of the month. I’ll let you guys know if I do or don’t!

In addition to milestones, I recently decided to start dedicating 10 percent of my earnings this summer toward this project so by the time I actually got to it I could actually get it going. At the time of this writing I have saved up $277.26. It’s not much, and it won’t increase at a dramatic rate since at this stage of my life I’m not earning much, but it’s better than nothing! It’s my dream to get up to $5000 as a minimum but it will likely reach about $1000 before filming starts. Which is perfectly fine, honestly.

My milestone schedule, a bit ambitious, maybe, looks like this:

• Month 1: Story Selection (Complete by July 31)

o Select a Story to dedicate my time to.

 I find it helpful to dally across multiple ideas since you want to not only get excited about the current project but also have a project to look forward to after completing it. This approach also has the beneficial side-effect of keeping a project in the project pipeline at all times.

 For the case of Metamorphosis, Interrupted, I had to keep in mind the project constraints of creating a low-to-no-budget film; some constraints referred to above.

o Produce a Working Outline.

 While messing around with different ideas I kept working on different outlines for different project ideas. A Working Outline helped pick which project to commit to.

 This is just a Working Outline, not the Final Outline. It’s just there to get an idea what to work on for the next month.

• Month 2: Story Development (Complete by August 31)

o Final Outline.

 This will likely look entirely different than the Working Outline. However, it should comprise the basic overview of the story.

 I like to write a paragraph per scene. They are not written by beats, but rather what the scene tries to accomplish. Very helpful in weeding out scenes that don’t keep with the theme.

o Character Arc(s).

 I find it helps to plot out the individual character arc of each character that experiences personal development in some form. I usually write this before I complete the Final Outline.

• One section talks about what the character needs.

• One section deals with the beats in their personal development.

o Scene-by-Scene Analysis.

 I don’t start this until I have both the Final Outline and Character Arc(s) complete.

 The major section shows a beat-by-beat breakdown of each scene. I usually do this in a bulleted list. Though the Scene Draft of the specific may differentiate from the analysis, it helps me write the Scene Draft.

 A section discusses scene goals, tone, values, theme, and so forth. It also discusses individual character motivations.

 It might seem like a lot to do but this helped me finally complete my first screenplay. I’ve instituted the analysis since then.

 Remember: you are writing out the beats but this doesn’t guarantee you will write the soul of the scene.

• Month 3: First Draft (Complete by September 30)

o Scene Drafts.

 It is now time to take the Scene-by-Scene Analysis and each scene into an actual screenplay. I like to do this for each individual scene so I can go back to that specific scene and edit it without compromising the rest of the screenplay.

 Remember, in this step you are writing the soul into the scene whereas the analysis just outline how the events went. This draft may be different than what you originally intended buy it will be easier to write since you know what the scene requires.

 After I have finished this step I will print them out and read them in sequence to see how it feels. But I am old-school like that.

o Rough Draft.

 After I have completed the Scene Drafts I copy-paste them carefully into a contiguous Rough Draft. I will read it a few times and edit it, but at some point I will let it just sit around for a couple of weeks before looking back.

o First Draft.

 When the Rough Draft has reached a point I can’t figure where I need to fix it or improve upon it then I label it my First Draft.

 I distribute the First Draft to trusted sources. Unfortunately, my network of trusted sources is pretty small. I will cover Getting and Processing Feedback in a future Lessons Corner.

• Months 4-6: Pre-production (Complete by December 31)

o During this time you can rewrite the screenplay as many times as you like.

o However, you shouldn’t move into this phase unless you’re confident you will be using the resources inferred in the screenplay.

• Months 7-9: Principal Photography (Complete by March 31)

• Months 10-12: Post-production and Upload of (Complete by June 30)

After nearly two years of focusing on screenwriting, maybe you can tell where my core competency lies. Having divided my schedule into four phases, devoting an entire quarter of the year to the story, I’ve yet to adequately research pre-production, principal photography, or post-production. However, I have researched a bit about directing and interacting with actors, which currently stands as my main concern of those three phases.

In Closing

I must say I’m more excited than ever to work on this project after introducing it to the world. In fact, I have the draft of the Final Outline and the Character Arc(s) open in another window while typing this! Please keep checking in, everyone, and thank you all if you’ve read this far!

Sincerely yours. Easton.

#filmmaking #storytelling #minds #blog #update