Screenwriting to a budget: Staying creative while pinching pennies
Keeping the budget top of mind isn't necessarily sexy, but it is essential when writing TV movies. Turns out this is a good skill to hone for your indie projects too!
When I started screenwriting, my imagination was expensive.
The exhilaration of zero-gravity. The blackened depths of the sea. A fist fight atop the highest peaks. An alternate universe unlike anything we’ve ever seen. No scenario was too fantastical because my imagination was not limited by something as dry and tedious as a budget.
Aspiring screenwriters are often told not to think about budget constraints when writing so as to not hinder the creative process. If you had reminded me of that just five years ago, I would have wholeheartedly agreed. Now I write TV movies and I’ve learned that creativity can flourish within constraints.
Movies of the Week (MOWs) are a world that is highly focused on low overheads. The entire genre is purposefully constructed that way (Read my primer on TV movies here).
Early on in my TV movie writing days, I learned the hard way how to write to a budget. I’d spent six months meticulously crafting my perfect script. It was approved by the buyer! Pre-production began! They were actually making my movie!
What a shock then to receive notes from the producers and director telling me that the script was significantly over-budget. I had to cut characters, locations, characters in locations, fight scenes… My beautifully constructed script came toppling down. It was only through much cursing that I managed to wrestle it into the budget constraints I was given. It was a humbling experience, to put it delicately.
After this financial trial by fire, I now knew that writing to the budget is at the heart of the TV movie creation process and it begins with the writer.
But hang on. If budgets are the nemesis of creativity, how was I supposed to create something artistically fulfilling (and yes, I do find writing TV movies to be extremely artistically fulfilling!) if I had to focus on boring ol’ money? I quickly realized that I had to tap into a new kind of limitless creativity. A sort of creativity that can flourish while shackled to a spreadsheet.
This wasn’t actually the first time that strict constraints unbridled a new kind of creativity within me. Before I set my heart on becoming a screenwriter, I was determined to become the next great playwright. Playwriting may very well be the most constraining type of writing there is because your end product is limited by physical space.
Sure, you can bring in impressive sets, magnificent costumes and interesting props, but at the core of it, a play takes place within a black box. What that means for the story is that the entire focus of the play is on character and conflict. If you have a great play, you can strip away all those spectacular elements, and you’re still left with a compelling story.
When I produced and directed my first play, I truly got a sense of the limitations of space and the creativity that can pop up when facing them. Since this was a Toronto Fringe production, all of the props needed to fit into a 1x2 m rectangle which was taped out backstage. To make it work, we constructed our largest set piece, a prop door, with wing nuts so it could quickly and easily be disassembled by hand and fit exactly into that tiny footprint. Everything else was Tetris’d into the storage space with mechanical precision. Can I even express how satisfying that was?
I find similar satisfaction now when writing TV movies. When I can come up with a workaround or a solution to a problem that money could easily fix, hot damn! Creatively problem solving within the confines of a budget is, oddly, probably the most satisfying part of screenwriting for me.
Even the scripts I write for “myself” are now written to a budget, to a certain degree. Not necessarily a made-for-TV budget, but I definitely try to reign in my wildest fantasy. That’s because potential (indie) producers are always reading with budgets in mind. If your script seems like it’s going to cost tens of millions (or even more), they may pass on it before even giving the story a real chance.
If you’re writing a script to produce yourself, the skill of writing to a budget becomes even more important. Unless you have an angel investor or you’re a trust-fund baby, your self-produced project will likely have an extremely tight budget. You want to make every dollar work for you. If you write the script with that budget in mind, you’re already saving yourself cash down the line.
All this budget talk, of course, doesn’t apply to spec scripts or scripts you’re writing to hone your craft. Please! I want to read your live-action talking seahorses in space script. I really really do.
After that verbose introduction (where is the “jump to recipe” button, amirite?), I just want to let you know that I’m writing this guide from the perspective of a TV movie. The same or similar advice will apply to any script that will have a limited budget. Without further ado…
How to Write a TV Movie to a Budget
Think about the budget before the first draft
For MOWs, you should be thinking about the budget even during the outline phase. Check out this super in-depth post about my outlining process for more details on why an outline is so important in TV movies.
If you plan from the outline phase to keep the budget to a minimum, it will not only be easier to write when you move to script, you won’t be forced to make massive changes later when the producer and the AD get their hands on it.
In my experience, it’s way easier to change an outline than to set off the butterfly effect that can occur when you make one small change in the scripting process.
Keep your script a reasonable length
As screenwriters, we all know that 1 page of script equals (very) roughly 1 minute of screen time. Most TV movies are around 90 minutes, so your script should be at least that (if not a little closer to 100 to give the editors additional footage to play with).
In terms of scenes, you’re going to aim for 80-90 (including establishing scenes), since this is all that are feasible for the short MOW shoot. Every scene will include minimum one setup (the positioning of cameras and actors and the dressing of the visible set), but sometimes more. Too many scenes therefore become impossible to capture and you’ll be forced to do some major 11th-hour edits.
The less people in your script, the cheaper
Generally speaking, the less characters you have in your story, the less money this is going to cost the production. This also applies to crowd scenes involving masses of extras. Obviously, you need to balance this with creating a world that doesn’t feel like it’s been picked clean by ravens.
Achieving that balance is where your creativity can really shine. How can you build a world that feels grounded and full with the absolute bare minimum human beings? I often find that characters need to reference the greater world a little more in their dialogue in these scripts, since we don’t have the luxury to show it.
Limiting speaking parts is also a great way to stick to the budget. In higher budget productions, the barista might have some friendly banter with the lead when they go to get their morning coffee. In the world of the TV movie, the baristas are extras who smile but don’t speak.
Do more in less places
The same logic for people above also applies to locations. The less locations you can manage, the cheaper the overall production will be. That’s because staying in one place longer means less moving between locations and less set dressing, two things that are very costly for a production.
Think of it almost like a play: You’re limited by the space you’re in, so the characters and their conflicts need to shine. Would your story still carry the same weight if you stripped away all the trimmings? It’s a good goal to strive for with any script!
Avoid one-off locations
If your story calls for the lead to go to a completely unique and separate location in only one scene, ask yourself if the same can be achieved with them going somewhere that they’ve already been in the story.
One-off locations are expensive and, unless they are essential to the story, are best to be avoided. I find that most of the time, I can rework the moment to function somewhere the characters have already been. I once had to remove an entire location in which multiple scenes took place. Reworking the action in different places actually provided me with greater clarity on the story and it was better for it in the end.
Be aware of who appears where
The more locations a character appears at in the film, the more days the actor will be on set. That’s why it’s useful to use the reports function in Final Draft to get an oversight of who appears where and to limit the number of places they show up in from the outset. This doesn’t apply to your lead, of course, but for the principal and secondary characters.
To see how many locations your character is in in Final Draft: Go to Tools > Reports > Character Report. Choose one of your principal or secondary characters and make sure to tick the “Include Scene Headings” box. Now you can see all the locations that this character appears in.
Is there a location they only appear at once? Can you find a way to rewrite it so the action occurs somewhere they’ve already been?
Limit the “fancy stuff”
This one is hard even for me because, like many of you, I’m always dreaming of car crashes that end in slow motion barrel rolls. If you’re going to include what I call the “fancy stuff”: expensive practical effects, VFX, inclement weather, car chases, lengthy fight scenes, stunts, animals, etc., be aware that they will automatically increase the budget. A lot.
When I’m writing a fight scene, for example, built right into the description, I’m writing the action in a way that could be cheated to look real without actually needing a stunt performer. It’s the difference between:
Guido punches Hal square in the eye socket, knocking his head back at an odd angle and sending him flying to the floor.
VS.
Guido winds up to punch Hal, his fist flying towards him. Milliseconds later, from the ground, Hal looks up at Guido through a blooming black eye.
Find the “bud” in “budget”
If you let it, the budget can actually be a useful friend that helps you tap into a new kind of ultra-satisfying creativity. Shifting your perspective on the limitations of the budget can make your work as a TV movie writer even more fun!
So there you have it! What are some examples of creative solves you’ve used to tackle budgetary issues? Let me know in the comments below!