Film Finance for writers

•The minimum rate per the W.G.A for an original screenplay and treatment up to a final draft is now set at $53, 256. See http://www.wgaeast.org/pic/2005/01/03/mi...

But does it matter if your budget is $5000? But if you know how to shoot, edit and burn a DVD, I think you can do it for $5000 dollars.

The alternative is to write material that you can produce and either show on local cable, sale on a DVD or "Show Time." You can invest in a camera, buy an extended warranty and insurance to avoid variable rental costs and availability.

For my documentary I borrowed an 8mm video camera, at an "Avid" conference and editor told me that was fine. I shot one scene at a time, for "free" on my own time various shots. I used the backwards approach and wrote the narrative script as I edited the film. Experts would say it was video, but in MPEG 2 does it really matter, it can be placed into a DVD format.

According to Epstein the studios made $18. 8 billion in DVD sales worldwide. We, as screenwriters, like the studios, know that's where the real money is. No "Avid" system for me I found "Pure Motion Edit Studio"( a free disk) worked well in matching shots and ensuring film continuity. Film shots, as you know have many theories.

•There is the Russian method perfected by Eisenstein and Stanislavski. French verite for docudrama and then Hollywood style.

•Hollywood believes that money is the motive for making a film or DVD to be precise. From the selection of a director, producers and their minions the bottom line is directed toward a profit margin. According to the Writers Guild East the studios indicate six out of ten films don't make a profit. http://www.wgaeast.org/mba/2004/articlei...

Fates are hinged on a Friday night performance and remain transfixed until the next weekend when a magic profit drop of 1/3 to ½ regularly occurs. Sometimes the popcorn is good, sometimes it's not. Even the Motion Picture Association cannot make people go to the theaters. Case in point, since its opening I have wanted to see " War of the Worlds." But the thirty-mile drive to use an AMC movie card has not motivated me. Like a lots of Americans according to Epstein a DVD may satisfy my curiosity to

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