If you've ever been on a film set, you know the excitement lasts about 5 minutes... after that it's boring. Most of the day is spent moving the camera and setting the lights while the stars sit in their trailers.

Low Budget films have found a partial solution to this. By having a large portion of the film take place at a central location, that location can be pre-lit to save time setting up shots. Most low budget films have a primary location where half of the film takes place, then several secondary locations. This reduces down time for crew moves and allows a production to maximize the number of pages shot per day. A low budget film averages at least five pages a day, compared to the page or two a studio film can roll between packing and unpacking the trucks.

On "Steel Sharks" almost a third of the film takes place in the Control Room of Gary Busey's 688 attack Class submarine. The periscope area was lighted, and we spent a day shooting all of the periscope scenes. Because the main lights were set up, a change in camera angle meant only touch-up work with fill-lights in the event there were shadows. Without the down time of re-setting lights, we could zip through a major chunk of the script. A low budget film might average fifty set ups a day because the script is DESIGNED to be shot in the most efficient manner possible.

On "Steel Sharks" the north half of the Control Room could be lighted, all of those shots done without much down time, then the south half of the Control Room would be lighted for the next day. We worked Gary's butt off, and kept him out of his trailer!

Though "Steel Sharks" was directed MOW style in masters and close ups, nothing prohibits a more creative director from using the basic lighting set up with more creative camera work. Robert Rodriguez managed over 50 MOVING CAMERA set ups a day on his Made For Showtime film "Road Racers".

For your script, you'll need to find a handful of locations where most of the story will take place. This sounds difficult at first, but our story is going to take place on an interior set: A space station, a submarine, a 747, Apollo 13, a speeding bullet train, etc. These places don't have many sub-locations in the first place. Our plot isn't going to be like "North By Northwest", but more like "Silver Streak". "North By Northwest" travels all over the place. "Silver Streak" takes place in about 3 train cars... and the TRAIN travels all over the place.

"Steel Sharks" was designed with two primary locations, about 30 pages at each. More than half the script designed for fast and easy filming. The second location was the CDC (Combat Direction Center) onboard Billy Dee Williams' aircraft carrier. Williams plays an Admiral who spends much of the movie coordinating the rescue operation from satellite transmissions on wall sized video displays. We shot 25 pages on the CDC set, and another 5 with Williams on the deck of the aircraft carrier with the ocean in the background or planes taking off. Because Williams spends 25 pages on a pre-lighted set, we were able to zip through his scenes, saving time and money.

The remainder of the script takes place in a variety of different locations, all in 5 page (one day) increments. Though another 25 pages of the script takes place on the Iranian submarine set, it takes place in many different rooms and passageways of the sub, and contains so much physical action, it was much slower going. The central location cut out time wasted with crew moves, but each portion of the submarine set had to be lighted. I tried to keep it at 5 pages per room, frequently re- using the same room in a later scene. Other locations included the Navy SEALs training course, a village in Iran, the building in Iran where they are keeping the scientist prisoner, and the US Navy Headquarters in Bahrain.

CONFINED CAMEOS

This is a low budget trick for maximizing your expensive talent. Let's say you can afford to hire Robert Vaughn for one day. You want to maximize his screen time, so you confine him to a location. Instead of spending valuable star time moving the crew from location A to location B, you make sure EVERY SINGLE SCENE Robert Vaughn is in takes place at Location A.

Let's say he's the Chief Of Police. You stick him in an office, light it, and shoot every single scene between the Renegade Cop and the Chief Of Police: Chewed out, one last chance, badge and gun taken away, arrested by other cops, finally convincing the Chief to let him finish the case. These scenes are weaved through out the film, making it seem like Robert Vaughn was in the whole thing.

Now take that idea, and multiply it by 6 different locations and 6 different confined cameos, and you have an ALL STAR CAST which seems to be in the entire film. Karen Black as the witness. Martin Landau as the Senator who may be involved. Michael York as the suspect. Teri Polo as the widow of Renegade Cop's partner. Stan Shaw as the Renegade Cop's mentor, who owns a bar. You get the idea.

Each actor works ONE day at ONE location to maximize his/her screen time.

On "Crash Dive", I created an Admiral character who was confined to the communications room of the Pentagon for the entire film. We hired Frederic Forrest to play the role, and even though it appears as if the Admiral is in the entire film, in only took a few days to film his scenes.

On "Steel Sharks" I expanded the way confined cameos work. The producer wanted to hire two names for a week each in supporting roles. By plugging my confined cameo actors into my primary locations, I was able to maximize both talent AND sets. Both Busey and Williams became co-stars in the film, rather than just supporting roles. Usually one of the primary locations "belongs" to the lead actor (like Rick's Cafe in "Casablanca", or Kathy Bates house in Misery ), but in "Steel Sharks" the primary locations belong to a pair of confined cameo co-stars, and the lead travels through the secondary locations.

MORE DIET TIPS

Another element in making "Steel Sharks" a blockbuster on a budget was accuracy. When pitching "Crash Dive", I showed the producers an article from Variety on how "The Hunt For Red October" had received US Navy cooperation, which enabled them to shoot actual Navy maneuvers and war games free of charge. The Navy requires that the script accurately depict US Navy life, procedures, and policy. So RESEARCH and ACCURACY in the writing and development of the script allowed us to shoot on an actual aircraft carrier on maneuvers in the Pacific. "Steel Sharks" has REAL F-14 fighter planes, REAL submarines, REAL Navy helicopters (a great sequence with a SEAL Team in SCUBA gear jumping from a hovering helicopter into the ocean!), and a REAL aircraft carrier. Billions of dollars in production value for the cost of a little research.

When we think of big event films, we usually don't think much about characterization and quality, and that's a big mistake. One of the easiest ways to attract name actors to your project is by giving them a showcase for their talents.

Sylvester Stallone costs $20 million if you re making a mindless action picture like Daylight , but will do "Copland" for scale plus ten. Though I don't think a studio could get away with paying Tom Cruise less than his going rate, if the role offers him a chance at an Oscar nomination, he might be willing to live without a couple of his usual perks.

On "Steel Sharks" I made sure all of the major characters had at least one big dramatic scene. William's Admiral has a meaty speech about sending men to war and knowing they might not come back. I'm sure that scene was one of the reasons he signed for the film. Good characters in a quality story are the most important (and least expensive) element in attracting actors.

"Steel Sharks" used another money saving method: We reused the set from "Crash Dive". In the "golden age", movies ALWAYS reused sets to save money. The battleship from "The Sea Hawk" was not only used in a half dozen other Warners pirate movies, but became part of a New York dock set for "Gentleman Jim". This year we have three summer films which take place on cruise ships: Speed 2", "Out To Sea", and "Titanic". All three from 20th Century Fox. All three used DIFFERENT sets! What a waste of money! The massive multi-million dollar Titanic set sits unused in Mexico. Why not shoot the other two films on it?

Producers could save millions just by recycling. "The Fifth Element" has amazing costumes, sets, and creatures. Why not reuse them in another film? An instant sequel! "Planet Of The Apes" reused sets and costumes in four subsequent films. Each of the sequels had the big budget production value of the original without the cost. The second film passed the lead from the pricey Charleton Heston, to the more affordable James Franciscus. Imagine amortizing the sets, costumes, and creatures of "The Fifth Element" over three films. Though the first film might cost you $100 million, the three films might have an AVERAGE budget of $45 million... easily recoverable in today's market.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY (SHOTS)

It's common in low budget films for a writer to wrap a script around an existing set. These are usually assignments. Another "golden age" recycling method which is often used to make blockbusters on a budget is using stock footage. An airplane battle from one 1930s studio film always pops up in ANOTHER film by the same studio... Just with a different star in the cockpit shots. This trick recycles expensive stunts or effects and adds millions in production value for the cost of a user's fee.

In "Black Thunder" we wanted to augment our (miniature) Stealth Fighter Plane dogfight sequence with some other big budget aerial action. We were able to buy actual footage of the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane in action, and I used it in several major sequences (putting our hero and his side kick in the cockpit). I incorporated an air war sequence from another film into Act 3. Over a dozen F-16s and MiG fighter planes. A huge air battle with big explosions turned our little film into an epic war story. All for the cost of the stock footage.

While searching through stock footage for "Black Thunder", I found an amazing air to air attack and crash sequence from another film. I've wrapped a story around the sequence and am pitching it around town.

Studios could save money by using big action stock footage and amazing FX work from the big budget films of 15-30 years ago (forgotten today). Thousands of films with expensive large scale sequences which could be recycled into new films to add that cast of thousands or amazing explosion sequence. There's a fantastic sequence in "Airport 75" where a man is lowered on a tether from one 747 to another... You could wrap a whole new action film around that scene!

If you re thinking about developing a low budget blockbuster around stock footage, let me explain how to find a "donor" film. No one wants to sell valuable footage, so the key is to find great footage in a worthless film. The donor film has to have flopped, so that the rights owner will see selling stock footage as a way to recoup some of his losses. Stock footage from a popular film is expensive.

Disney made a film four years ago called "Aspen Extreme" which flopped, but features some amazing avalanche footage. I'm sure they'd sell it to a producer. Maybe do a variation on "Key Largo" in a ski lodge, using the avalanche to trap our hero and his friends with a group of vicious criminals.

Amazing miniature footage can be found in "Raise The Titanic" from twenty years ago. A half dozen mini-subs exploring the ocean's floor; plus an amazing sequence where the Titanic is brought crashing to the surface of the Atlantic, water spraying. A big budget effect, and most of the shots still look amazing. Another sequence has the Titanic towed into New York harbor. I could come up with a dozen sunken ocean liner ideas which could harvest this footage. Recycling yesterday's big scale events to boost a reasonable budget film's production values, turning it into a blockbuster.

It's important to find a new spin on the stock footage. You couldn't use the "Raise The Titanic" footage for a film about the Titanic... the rights owner wouldn't let you. But anything else is fair game. You're only limited by your imagination.

These methods are just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of other tricks used by low budget films to compete with studio blockbusters. If the studios began using these methods on a third of their big summer films, they could give the audience the event films they crave... without going broke in the process.

Was DEATH RACE not nearly as good as the original DEATH RACE 2000? Should Tom get an Oscar for TROPIC THUNDER? Is HOUSE BUNNY the most politically charged film you've seen more than once on the big screen? Be heard: Movie Discussion!

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HOLLYWOOD CREATIVE DIRECTORY - 2008