Planning the Low-Budget Film
Encyclopedia
Planning the Low-Budget Film is a book by Robert Latham Brown
describing the processes involved in scheduling and budgeting motion pictures.
Brown is a 30-year veteran of motion picture production and he uses his experiences on many well-known films to illustrate his points. The book is a wealth of information and covers topics ranging from breaking down a film script
to creating a budget
, finding locations, dealing with the personalities, and hiring the crew
. It also includes a large appendix, glossary, and index.
and how to recognize one. This is the unit of the script that is used in scheduling. Brown states that a shooting sequence is a piece of the script that has a single action, uses essentially the same cast throughout its length, is contiguous in time, and can be shot in one place. Borrowing on studies of ancient Greek drama, he calls these the four "unities" of a shooting sequence.
Robert Latham Brown
Robert Latham Brown is a film producer, line producer, production manager, author, and teacher. In his 30-year film career, he has worked with Mel Brooks, George Lucas, Paul Verhoeven, Steven Spielberg and many others. His expertise in budgeting and line producing inspired Mel Brooks to nickname...
describing the processes involved in scheduling and budgeting motion pictures.
Brown is a 30-year veteran of motion picture production and he uses his experiences on many well-known films to illustrate his points. The book is a wealth of information and covers topics ranging from breaking down a film script
Breaking down the script
The process of breaking down the script occurs after the producer reads through the screenplay once. Then he or she goes back and marks certain elements that need to be taken care of before production, or even before pre-production can begin.-Marking 1/8's:...
to creating a budget
Film budgeting
Film budgeting refers to the process by which a line producer, unit production manager or filmmaker prepares a budget for a film production. This document, which could be over 150 pages long, is used to secure financing for the film and lead to pre-production and production of the film. Multiple...
, finding locations, dealing with the personalities, and hiring the crew
Film crew
Television crew positions are derived from those of film crew positions.A film crew is a group of people hired by a production company for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. Crew are distinguished from cast, the Actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for...
. It also includes a large appendix, glossary, and index.
Scheduling
The books goes into detail describing a shooting sequenceShooting sequences
In a film script, a shooting sequence is a part of the script consisting of a single unified action and which can be shot in one place, at one time, with essentially the same cast throughout...
and how to recognize one. This is the unit of the script that is used in scheduling. Brown states that a shooting sequence is a piece of the script that has a single action, uses essentially the same cast throughout its length, is contiguous in time, and can be shot in one place. Borrowing on studies of ancient Greek drama, he calls these the four "unities" of a shooting sequence.
Publication history
- Chalk Hill Books, 2006, paperback (ISBN 0-9768178-0-2)