Hollywood Filmmaking in Indie Films

Filmmaking is an art with a solid foundation in story. Movie making is the exact opposite. Movies follow formulas, they are designed for maximum satisfaction of audience expectations. Being an Indie filmmaker means you have more of reliance on story than you do on effects and the cult of celebrity. Indie films, true indie films, do not have A-list stars slumming for one hundred dollars a day. True indie films rely on strong stories to grab audiences, quirky stories that stick with an audience and strong production values.

That being said, all indie filmmakers should look at their scripts and discover where and how they can improve them. All scripts can be improved, there is no such thing as "the perfect script"...only the best script you can make at the time. It's useless to have a script that you can't shoot properly. Nobody will care if the script is gold if what they see on screen is absolute crap.

That being said, here are twelve points you can think about with your script before you begin filming it. Before you begin rehearsing it, before you begin location scouting, before any of that, you can look at your script and consider just how good it actually is.

1. A first draft is always crap, it's the "just get it down on paper" version and that's all it should be, nothing more, nothing less. In saying that, once you have written it, do not give it out to more than three people. That's all you need to get an idea of if you have told the story. Do not send your first draft to an agency.

2. Do you have an outline? Do you need one? Yes. Depending on how you write and the long, barren, desolate stretch known as Act Two.

3. Have you written a treatment? Write one after your first draft. Simply put, write your story as it appears in the first draft, what you have actually written down, in five to eight pages.

4. Your synopsis/pitch, does it sell? If you told someone your pitch, would they be keen to hear more? Or do they say "oh, that's just like that movie..."

5. Would you finance filming this movie? Mortgage your house? Sell your car? If not, then reconsider asking anyone else for money.

6. Does this film have a history? Are there other films like it that have been successful? Is there an audience for this film?

7. Are you able to match your story as a plot of sub-plot of any Shakespeare play? Consider the fact that Shakespeare has been performed for the last 600 years and is still going strong.

8. Describe your film in one sentence.

9. Define your film back into the three act structure, or even better, the five act structure.

10. Consider your hero's wants, desires and needs. Are they realized by the end of the film?

11. Read The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell. No, don't argue, learn the rules before you break them.

12. Learn the positive/negative scene structure of Robert McKee

If you can sort through this list, honestly, you will have a stronger script.