People say my script is too good for a low budget horror???

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ironpony

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I wrote a script and showed it to some people in the business that I hope to get some funding for to direct or maybe sell, or make on my own money, or do something with...

It's a horror thriller, but I was told that on a shoe string budget, people will not want to see this movie. It's too good, like aiming for Silence of the Lambs good one said. Moviegoers of shoe string horror movies want to see things like naked women being chased down and cut up and not have so much complicated twists and turns, and character depth. My script is too plot filled, and deals with psychological/social themes and contexts that are way too sophisticated for that type of audience. My script is for people who want to see big budget movies with big stars I was told.

Is this true, that audiences only want to see a much more simple and exploitative type of movie? You can't make a well written horror movie on a shoe string budget and still expect people to get their money's worth? Did I have too much faith in the audience when I wrote it?
 
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It's not too good. It's just does not fit within your budget. There are a lot of suspenseful plot filled horror shorts without nudity (I know crazy, right?) so there has to be something else in your script, possibly how you want to shoot it is too expensive for your shoe string budget. But you will need to go into more detail and the script, then saying its too good. If it was too good people would of gave you money to make it or expand it into a feature. Boobs or not.
 
ironpony said:
I wrote a script and showed it to some people in the business that I hope to get some funding for to direct or maybe sell, or make on my own money, or do something with...

It's a horror thriller, but I was told that on a shoe string budget, people will not want to see this movie. It's too good, like aiming for Silence of the Lambs good one said. Moviegoers of shoe string horror movies want to see things like naked women being chased down and cut up and not have so much complicated twists and turns, and character depth. My script is too plot filled, and deals with psychological/social themes and contexts that are way too sophisticated for that type of audience. My script is for people who want to see big budget movies with big stars I was told.

Is this true, that audiences only want to see a much more simple and exploitative type of movie? You can't make a well written horror movie on a shoe string budget and still expect people to get their money's worth? Did I have too much faith in the audience when I wrote it?
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For what it's worth, you're just asking for it with that title. <grin>

But I get what you're saying, and it really would require more knowledge of the script to accurately comment, because if it's good, then the reader will know what genre and audience it's targeting. If it's a slasher in the vein of Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw, etc., but it has some kind of Hannibal-level character or Silence of the Lambs intelligence behind the plot, it should still work if you know your audience (meaning, if you knew what genre/market you were writing for, then a "good" script will appeal to that audience and satisfy them on the planes they want to be satisfied).

On the other hand, you could have written a slasher that is simply too complicated. Or maybe you wrote a serial killer thriller a la Silence, but you used tropes better suited for a slasher, and therefore your readers were confused and thought they were supposed to be reading it as a slasher. In any case, this confusion isn't really a GOOD thing, because it doesn't mean you have an Oscar-worthy script and please don't throw your pearls to the swine, it probably just means that your script lacks confidence in what genre and tone it's trying to play in.

If it really is that these guys think your script is just "too smart" for horror audiences, there's a bevy of intelligent films to prove otherwise: Saw, Paranormal Activity, Black Swan, Alien, Primer, The Others, The Shining, etc.

-EMB
 
That's total s*%t. Odds are the script is bad and they just don't want to tell you. Most likely you've mixed genre or something that just won't work. Like you can't make a high budget coming of age it will never sell for what it cost to make, same with a high budget exploitation horror. So maybe the budget requirement doesn't match the script. Honestly though any quality low budget script will sell. So if do have a good script congrats, now go and sell it. Oh and get better advisors.
 
ironpony said:
I wrote a script and showed it to some people in the business that I hope to get some funding for to direct or maybe sell, or make on my own money, or do something with...
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If 'some people' are from the same set of people who have been giving you 'filmmaking advice', I'd probably think long and hard about the claim 'too good'...

With almost every piece of 'advice' you have gotten in the technical areas, 'some people' have been either wrong, or your understanding of what they said was grossly misinterpreted.

Why should it be otherwise with your script.


Here's the advice I'll give... joining 'some people'...

Make your damn movie... if it is successful... you can remake it in a few years with more budget... if it is really 'worth it'.

Here are the steps...

1) Make a poster...
2) Post poster in the "User Films".
3) Every so often update the film thread in "User Films" with details from start to finish.
4) Even if it is a crappy effort, you will get much better feed back on an 'existent' film than a vacuous 'I got a too good script, or so some people tell'...
 
Or maybe you showed it to the wrong people - the ones that like gratuitous T&A to pass for good material. Do a little digging around for folks that prefer a dressed approach. If it's good, a match will come along eventually. That doesn't mean it will be produced, but worth a shot anyways.
 
To actually answer your question in an adult manner, it sounds like you may have more of a thriller on your hands than a horror film by your description.

Beyond that, I find it really embarrassing how liberally people brandish the word "troll". How was the OP sowing discord, being overtly inflammatory, or otherwise? You want to call yourself a writer? Learn the meanings of the words you use.

And I'll reserve judgement on the quality of your script until I actually read it. Which I won't. But good luck with it.
 
RatLabProductions said:
Take a look at thread history. Troll might be strong but its pretty close to accurate.
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Without wasting too much time, I see some questions about his DSLR and how to get a shot to look like an example. But really, I don't care. I'm not a mod. If anyone here's really a troll, it's not my job to warn them.

What I see relevant to the actual topic at hand is someone asking a legit question and providing a back story to frame said question.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
Trolling is trying to get a rise out of someone. Forcing them to respond to you, either through wise-crackery, posting incorrect information, asking blatantly stupid questions, or other foolishness.
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If anyone's getting a rise out of the OP's question, then I feel embarrassed for them.
 
Ironpony, How did the 3.0 channel mix work out? Did you decide to go into photography? Did you ever achieve the Casino Royal look or the T2 look you were after? How about that low contrast look you were after? What did you decide about the smoking scene in the nightclub? How did the audio turn out in that big room scene with the echo problem? Did Voalign work for you on that Foley project? Did you ever hire that DP with the stabilizer?

I was just wondering how all this advice is working out for you. It would be great to have you share how you have taken the advice from the forum and what results you are getting. It's one thing to read all this advice, which is very informative, but what would really be great is to see how that advice was used and the results achieved so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.
 
I don't think ironpony was trolling but I can see where some people could get slightly annoyed. Saying something like "my script's too good" is like saying "help, I don't have enough room in my garage to fit all five of my Ferraris, what should I do?!?!"
 
Paul F said:
I was just wondering how all this advice is working out for you. It would be great to have you share how you have taken the advice from the forum and what results you are getting. It's one thing to read all this advice, which is very informative, but what would really be great is to see how that advice was used and the results achieved so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.
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Ironypony has made a few attempts to post some things. But yes, it would be 'nice' to see some feedback on the advice given...
 
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