Fun with Scripts: a Reality Check for Me

Writing to within budgetary constraints is an absolute mind f... fudge. I never understood dealing with these things. It's completely alien to narrative writing.

However,

"To make a great film you need three things: the script, the script and the script." Alfred Hitchcock

"I wanted to make a film but I had no money. Then I had an idea: my neighbour has a car, my friend has a dog, and I have a kitchen table. I'm going to write something that involves those. I'm going to write something involving everything I have." Robert Rodriguez

So no pressure, then...

I have exactly two characters in the beginning. That means it's almost impossible to show multiple sides to a character's personality within such a short space of narrative. People often only show one part of themselves to each person, unless they're very close. These two characters are close, but come on... I've only got around four scenes to do all this stuff! You still have to make sure readers get a good, solid impression of a personality, and it's very easy to make people seem wishy-washy. This isn't an impossible feat, but it means a lot of very careful, painstaking work. All good fun.

I have no costumes, so many of the scary moments I've come up with are completely out the window.

I can do nothing of the absurd. You know in The Shining, the elevator full of blood? Know how much that freakin' cost?

I can't even change the weather, or turn day to night. It's like my godly powers have been stripped from me.

I have almost no props, or set design, or anything I can just do in a paragraph of prose! I'm sure I'll learn a lot from this experience, and already it's a hell of a curve.

I just hope I have some damn good actors. I was joking about the coffee thing, but we'll see...

This pointless picture for pinterest brought to you by life's frustrations.