The Seven Layers of Movie Development Hell
Posted by Neil Brimelow | Filed under Film General
The seven layers of movie development hell
1) An obvious “surefire” commercial film that will appeal to a wide range of people, which is the Holy Grail of films. Harry Potter is a good example
2) A movie that most likely that is Oscar Material, but will most likely do poor at the box office; i.e. you’ve written a great movie, but the concept/story is simply not commercial enough for joe six pack. No Country for Old men is a good example.
3) A High Budget, action driven film. 10,000 B.C. even as shitty as it was, still did o.k. in it’s opening week and will make back it’s relatively high budget overseas.
4) A low budget comedy/horror/drama film, that may be quirky, but still sellable in at least niche/genre markets. Movies Like Juno to Saw.
5) A Movie of the week, or miniseries; either cable or network.
6) Mansquito. Sadly yes, this is the bottom of the barrel. I use Mansquito as an example of very low budget movies, usually made for USA network, or Sci-Fi network, or movies that are sold to Cinemax for viewing at 3:45 a.m. I.E. Filler. Regardless, even at this level it still is a payday.
7) Soft Core Porn.
BTW, Mansquito was written by FOUR writers.
Male Mosquitos can’t bite. 