why breaking into the ENTERTAINMENT industry is so difficult

Think of it like this, imagine two men build a bench - One has incredible top of the range tools, the other has exactly what he needs; and enough experience. The two men both build their bench, with the one with the better tools’ bench looking slightly better.

Both sit on their respective benches and it does exactly what it should do. They sit, it’s comfy and it doesn’t fall apart. I have no doubt that the one with the lesser tools is the prouder of the two, because he worked on this project harder, he had to, to make it what it is. This man with less put in more effort and more time than the first man purely because the equipment, time nor money isn’t there.

This is you creating on a budget. Be the guy with the crappy tools and use your superior know-how to not need a Batman V Superman budget, but rather exactly use what you need. In my previous posts, I’ve talked about lower budget successes (Evil Dead, Braindead, and Swingers have all been mentioned) These are movies that rely on effects and scares, or in Swingers’ and Clerks’ case, their scripts.

your script is the solid foundation you build your PROJECT on

As a hungry writer with no money but a passion to shoot, this is your work-around. Make your script bullet-proof. Make it so thin and light on money that it’s begging for scraps..

Time and again, a script has been thought of as a blue-print, a starting point. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be your best asset. By making your script and its words as brilliant as they can be, something so good, and so well written, that an actor cannot help but do it justice, you make it harder for it to fail. Remember that the script is the first step, and a foundation of what you are making. I’ll stop making builder analogies soon, promise, but for now, with that solid foundation, the rest of your production will follow suit (This transfers to stage too. Naturally more of a focus is on the words that an actor will recite, but with dialog being at its best, any sort of props, or scenery can be secondary in comparison).

SKETCH IT OUT

If you’ve been keeping up with these posts on ScreamWriter then you’ll know that naturally my brain is always going to jump to and recommend anyone starting up to work on sketches.

Sketches can hone your talents and present them in a way that is hysterical and cost effective. Do yourself a favour and check out this sketch from pre-fame Simon Pegg in Big Train - this is shot beside a field! There’s only one angle and no one is in irregular costume. It is entirely reliant on the script (and language in general) to make it funny.

Take another from Cardinal Burns - their infamous Fiery Hawk sketch shows an insight in to the industry and the ridiculous things we have to do sometime to forge a career, but please note again how this sketch is purely performance - budding actor Dustin Demri-Burns is complete performance through his mime and makes this sketch what it is - with the writing and dialog even forcing you to do a Blair Witch and make you imagine something scary than you’re actually seeing on-screen.

KEEP IT SIMPLE BUT ENGAGING

Please see: this music video of Jack Penate’s “Second, Minute or Hour” and look at its simplicity. A little different to what I’ve said already, but it certainly shows how engaging something so straightforward can be. This whole video is a one shot, following Jack run along promenade beside Brighton Beach. Although I don’t know the ins and outs of how this was shot, and yes, they would have had some sort of budget to shoot it - at its most stripped down, this idea needs a song, an actor, a camera man, and a director (at a push). Continuing that scenario, you’re not paying anything for location, and lets assume that everyone involved is a volunteer, taking your current budget up to a lofty £0.00.

WORK WITH ACTORS (in kind)

Finally, for the most part, work with actors who offer to work for free (or in kind) If you’re script is good enough they will probably want to be involved (win/win, you get a good actor who makes your words come alive and they look great on-screen; but please don’t make them do Fiery Hawk) Just another cost cutting method, until you get your 50 million dollar budget.