When it comes to being pigeonholed, producing isn’t that different from writing or acting. You usually have a bunch of scripts you’re trying to get made. After pushing and pushing, one of those scripts finally breaks through and gets produced. Whatever the genre of that script is, that’s what you become known for for the foreseeable future. You may want to produce Westerns. But if you just broke through with a Musical, you become the “Musical Guy.”
Well, in a world where I get to choose which genre I break in with, without question, it would be sci-fi. I looooovvve sci-fi. So this next Showdown is personal for me. I want to find and produce a kick-ass science-fiction movie. So let’s make it official. Sci-Fi is the next Amateur Showdown on Scriptshadow!
What: Sci-fi Showdown
When: Entries due by Thursday, September 16th, 11:59 PM Pacific Time
How: Include title, genre, logline, Why We Should Read, and a PDF of your script
Where: Carsonreeves3@gmail.com
Now that we know what the showdown is, let’s talk about what I’m looking for. The best gauge for which concepts I’ll respond to is which Sci-Fi movies I love. Here is that esteemed list…
Terminator
Alien
Aliens
The Matrix
Ex Machina
Children of Men
Source Code
Cloverfield
Cloverfield Lane
Minority Report
Moon
Edge of Tomorrow
District 9
Mad Max
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Gravity
Inception
Arrival
Annihilation
Contact
The Fly
Invisible Man
Upgrade
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
A Quiet Place
Predator
Hunger Games
Escape from New York
12 Monkeys
Jurassic Park
The Thing
And here are some concepts I liked, but didn’t quite love the execution…
Ad Astra
Soylent Green
War of the Worlds
Gemini Man
Logan’s Run
Sunshine
Demolition Man (would love a non-cheesy version of this)
Needless to say, I would prefer entries with manageable budgets. The more money you’re asking for, the less buyers you have. So look at it like this. Anything that would cost under 10 million dollars is great. I know that’s not a lot. But they made Upgrade for under 10 million. Moon was made for under 10 million. The Invisible Man. Ex Machina. Creatively frugal versions of “The Fly” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” could be made for under 10 million. Both “Alien” and “The Thing” could probably be made for under 10 million.
The next tier up is “Under 50 million.” When you get to this kind of money, the concept has to be really good. Ex Machina – which was a psychological thriller about a man and a robot – is not a big enough idea to spend 50 million dollars on. That’s the kind of idea that needs to cost less than 10 million. You need to be thinking bigger in this budget bracket. A 2021 “Predator” type movie could be made for under 50 million. A toned down “Martian” could be made for 50 million (without an expensive A-list star and the expensive ship rescue at the end). Cloverfield could be made for 50 million. Terminator could be made for under 50 million. Source Code was well under 50 million.
The next tier up is 100 million and it’s very hard to get anything made in this range unless it’s based on established IP. So I would say if you’re planning on submitting something in this budget range, the concept needs to be amazing. The Hunger Games is a good example. Minority Report. Inception. Notice that all of these are BIG IDEA concepts. A competition where a group of children fight to the death. A futuristic thriller where you’re arrested for murders you haven’t yet committed. A heist that takes place in the dream world. If you don’t have an idea as cool as one of these, I wouldn’t write anything in the 100 million dollar space.
Finally, you have the 100 million and above sci-fi movie. These are your Star Wars’s. Your Guardians of the Galaxys. Your Jurassic Parks. Your Edge of Tomorrows. My suggestion to you? Don’t submit these to Sci-Fi Showdown. They’re impossible to get made. I would even extend that advice beyond Sci-Fi Showdown. You shouldn’t be writing these. The one exception is if you want a writing sample for those big Star Wars and Marvel assignments.
I’ve just given you a ton of movies for reference. But, as we all know, you can’t just copy a movie you like. You need to find a fresh new angle. I’m sure that you’ve had the experience of, after falling in love with a band’s debut album, eagerly buying their second album, only to find out all the songs sound the same as the previous album. There’s nothing new so you quickly grow bored. It’s the same thing with movie ideas. You can be inspired by old sci-fi movies. But you can’t copy them. You can’t reimagine Predator and just change the jungle to a desert. That’s a stale way to upgrade an idea.
One of the best ways to come up with sci-fi ideas is through other genres. Take a Western like High Noon and set it on an alien planet. Take a war movie, like the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, and give it a sci-fi spin (Edge of Tomorrow). Take Joseph Conrad’s classic novel, Heart of Darkness, and instead of traveling deep into the heart of a country, travel to the edge of the solar system (Ad Astra). Take a Tom Hanks movie about being stranded on an island but turn the island into Mars (The Martian).
Is there a version of “The Fugitive” that could be turned into a sci-fi movie? What about “Drive?” How bout “Sicario,” except people are smuggling drugs between planets as opposed to across borders. John Wick’s DNA feels like it could be altered to create several different sci-fi offshoots. A top assassin in the future who has to take out a syndicate. Or a time-travel assassin. Let your imagination go crazy.
Another way to find sci-fi ideas is to change the traditional POV (point-of-view). Ben Ripley famously figured this out during his rewrites of Source Code. He originally had the movie take place after a train crash with a detective investigating the aftermath. He eventually figured out that it would be more interesting if the POV was with someone ON THE TRAIN before it crashed. That turned a slow moving procedural into one of the fastest and coolest scripts in history.
Cloverfield is another example. We’d seen big monster movies before. But we’d never been limited to first-person-perspective camera glimpses of the monster over the course of 100 minutes. Sometimes it’s a single clever thought that can turn a standard sci-fi flick into something special. We’d seen aliens trying to kill humans a million times over. But we’d never seen aliens who hunted by sound, which meant the only way for humans to survive was not to make a sound (A Quiet Place).
You have to get inventive if you’re going to be the one to come up with that great sci-fi idea. To wrap this up, let me give you a few concepts I don’t want. Do not send me anything big and messy, like Interstellar or 2001. Don’t send me anything with 10,000 characters and an endless mythology, like Dune. I dig the core concept of Blade Runner (special cops tasked with terminating “replicant” androids) but I’m not interested in all the artsy-fartsy stuff that slows that film down. I’d prefer a faster-moving sci-fi movie to a slow one. I’m not looking for goofy sci-fi stuff like Men In Black or Independence Day. That format feels dated to me.
Finally, as is the case with all art, feel free to ignore everything I just said and write whatever inspires you. Sometimes the best ideas go against all logic. If you’re inspired by an idea, chances are other people will be as well.
I’m really REALLY looking forward to this Showdown. I can’t wait to see what all of you have in store for it.
And guess what? The competition begins… NOW.
Start sending those entries in! :)
