How Does A Movie Producer Read A Screenplay?

How Does A Movie Producer Read A Screenplay? - Mark Heidelberger

Рет қаралды 15,563

5 жыл бұрын

In this Film Courage video interview, producer Mark Heidelberger share his thoughts on how a movie producer reads a screenplay?
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Пікірлер: 38

@BJ-zv5nl 2 жыл бұрын

The person who does the interviewing for Film Courage is fantastic. Great piece, thanks for the introduction to Mark Heidelberger. Really found value in this segment.

@filmcourage 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks B J! Great to see you finding value here!

@christophermoonlightproduction 5 жыл бұрын

I'm a producer first and a director second AND I write my own scripts, which means I only ever write things into my scripts that I know I can afford. This is the exact opposite of how screenwriters are taught to write. If you're just writing art for art's sake or have a limitless studio budget then that's fine but nothing drives me crazier than hiring a writer to work on a low budget film and then have them hand me something that obviously costs 100 times more than the budget we talked about.

@christophermoonlightproduction 5 жыл бұрын

That's a valid point and one that I've heard many times from film school students and teachers, alike. If ever given the time I would personally love to write a film script that didn't have any budgetary limitations but speaking from the standpoint of my business model, it's counterproductive to spend so much time indulging in scenes that I know won't be filmable. I'm also going to disagree with the directors you mentioned on the point of letting money get in the way of creativity. In my experience, I have found that removing limitations has often led to a lack of creativity. When you have them you have to start getting creative with your problem solving and new ideas that would have never been considered arise. I think both Nolan and Tarantino have done some of their weakest work right after their immediate low budget successes got them access to much bigger budgets. Another good example of this is James Cameron. When he did Aliens he had an 18 million dollar budget. That was pretty big at the time but he didn't have the luxury of being a celebrity director with the most advanced CGI facilities at his fingertips. Even when he did T2, which was the most expensive movie of that time, he was pushing the boundaries of technology and it had some huge limitations that he had to get creative to overcome. Now, whenever he has an obstacle his answer is to just throw money at the CGI department. He can satisfy every whim his imagination desires and the result is just not as interesting. However, this is my opinion and their are acceptions for every rule.

@jag5798 4 жыл бұрын

Christopher Moonlight Productions - I come from the world of overseas govt contracting, so everything is about $$ and part of my profession. Perhaps, its good for me that I think/write with that in mind.

@abhirajbanerjee9777 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you Film Courage for such amazing educational videos. you all have no idea how much these videos help. Thank you so very much.

@filmcourage 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks abhiraj, we are grateful there are people who find our work valuable. Our best to you.

@nkanyisoinnocentkhwane3752 5 жыл бұрын

I was taught to write using the resources around me but it's interesting to see a producers perspective

@mattybeats3290 5 жыл бұрын

This is amazing!! Great work fam! 🤘

@captaincurd2681 5 жыл бұрын

This channel is fantastic! As for me listening to people in the movie business is understanding how they think so that I can work with them rather then a method for my operation.

@filmcourage 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your support. Glad you have discovered our channel. We like to hear that you are adopting mindsets of people in the movie business. If you would like to meet and talk with Mark directly, we have an upcoming class with Mark in North Hollywood on November 13th - www.eventbrite.com/e/straight-talk-about-feature-film-development-and-production-a-night-with-mark-heidelberger-tickets-51340732513

@johnstanson3479 Жыл бұрын

Great clip, thanks!

@TheLombardProject 5 жыл бұрын

Film Courage is rocking my world.

@seedoflifegab 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome Mark. Whenever you want to shoot in NZ let me know I will help you out. Gabriel - Cheers

@DP_Productions99 5 жыл бұрын

The greatest helpful video yet

@sampsonraysimon 5 жыл бұрын

Dude, that was super-insightful!

@dignoragonzalez9652 5 жыл бұрын

The film he described seems very interesting, but didn't he give too much of it away?

@howardkoor9365 Жыл бұрын

Very insightful.

@skollrum 5 жыл бұрын

I find myself actually adjusting script as I realize I can't do that.

@jag5798 4 жыл бұрын

As Logistics/Procurement person working as a freelance gov’t overseas contractor - $$ is a big part of what I do and therefore, I think about that when I write.

@MikeJones-ws4vm 7 ай бұрын

@jag5798 You're the first person I've come across from procurement that is pursuing film. Which agency? I do the same thing! Funny how contracting touches many of the roles a producer would be responsible for.

@Jenkinsjournal 5 жыл бұрын

Helpful? This channel has changed my life

@filmcourage 5 жыл бұрын

Thanks Jay! What do you mean has changed your life?

@isaacbarlow8247 5 жыл бұрын

Yes I usually write a script thinking about budget...and I know you're not supposed to but I do.

@bobwebster835 5 жыл бұрын

well, you are right to consider the budget in your creative process. the primary concern, no doubt, is what the art product is going to be, what is it's essence. the secondary concern regards the best way to implement it, what is the best instance of the art product. for the second concern, cost of implementation of the instance is a common sub-concern, usually due to finitude of budget, but even with infinite resources, it could still make more sense to consider the cost and minimize cost so long as the essence it preserved, or optimize value/cost, where the value is calculated based on some objective and mainly the artists subjective criteria. punk, as a transmedial genre, was found on making art products satisfying their respective essences (cf. intensionality in logic and mathematics) using the least resources.

@MiguelExhale 5 жыл бұрын

We love story.

@davidram9511 4 жыл бұрын

Clap clap, make a “play it safe, boring kids movie” Disney plus will buy it, bravo

@quentilpompey6827 5 жыл бұрын

It almost seems impossible for a screenwriter to balance script and budget.

@skollrum 5 жыл бұрын

Rock the Cradle Electric.

@gnarthdarkanen7464 5 жыл бұрын

The short... Short answer is "yes"... From my perspective, it's not so much that I wouldn't expect some logistical questions to come to mind while a Producer (the guy who spends his LIFE on logistics and problem-resolution) is reading a script. It's that as one is Writing the Story, the logistical nightmare of ACTUALLY crashing a very large plane right down THE strip in Vegas doesn't come to mind in the middle of Fantasizing Doing It... It's easy (enough) for a StoryTeller of almost any caliber to just "see" the story in their head and blurt it out in so many words... You're too busy raining down Hell to worry about how much it's going to cost... up until you've got this magnificent story to sell, and you're throwing the pitch. SO to have a Producer start talking about the "substance" of what's going through his head when he reads this thing is VERY USEFUL to those of us who might ever actually get something together worth pitching in the first place. It's easy to shrug it off at "Well, the writing is my job. Figuring out how to shoot it is someone else's department." BUT it's not so easy to answer, "DO you have ANY idea how much that's going to cost???" from a white knuckling and wild-eyed guy in a suit across a large table. I'd like to see something a little "deeper" on this subject, though... Something about maybe "being flexible" or "offering collaborative support" that might affect the pitch and logistics... AND on that "Lito" story... Just one minor plot-hole in mind. It would seem considerably more feasible (financially too at least) for the two kids to just buy another Lito... The parents got rid of the first one, and when the second was procured by the children, this Cloud-A.I. thing "remembered" them... SO with the talk about separating them, two different schools and all... Getting a second unit to interact via the Cloud wouldn't be as horrible an expense or burden as trying to cover a double-homicide (getting rid of parents)... Besides that, it wouldn't be too inordinate a trick for Cloud Computing to pursue the coaching of the children so they could reliably enter with probabilities to win trips and internships (etc) nearer to each other by choice... something the Parents would NOT get much privilege to intersect without overtly acting against their own children... Sorry, but it's worth pointing out those possibilities... AND even with the hopes of a chiller-thriller... It's simply a more intelligent solution to dubiously supersede Parental wishes than to outright and violently attack the Parents, themselves. A Cloud-A.I. unit would be privileged to enough Computational Power to figure that out, even just by reference to historical criminal databases and case histories... NOT to say they don't know what they're doing or talking about... BUT if I can so quickly foresee the potential "disconnect" for even a "casually" Computer Savvy audience, I would like to hope someone has thought OR is thinking about them before it gets shot... or wasted... ;o)