Low-Budget: It's Not What You Think It Is

One thing is true: writing a screenplay on a low- or micro-budget improves the odds that your script will be read, optioned, purchased, or if you're really lucky... filmed.

Here's another thing that's true, at least according to writer/producer William Martell in his latest column at ScriptMag.com

...a small drama about a family trying to save their farm from foreclosure might be more expensive to make than a science-fiction screenplay with a giant spaceship battle.

As someone who's made one low micro-budget sci-fi film that contained over 100 vfx/cgi shots for under $15K and a forthcoming film that could end up with twice that many shots, I can personally attest that this is true.

But cgi aside, even practical locations and large crews can be kept at a barebones cost if you have a lot of contacts and producers who know their sh*t. I made a film in 2002 called The Crusader that used over 35 different locations (!) and a cast and crew of over 160 humans (!!) for less than $3,000 on a credit card.

Granted, these projects were short films, not features, and it would be incredibly difficult for me to pull off something like The Crusader today for a price even close to what I used 20 years ago. But these films - not to mention other films I've seen that are done incredibly well on almost no money - do force the conversation about what is possible for "low" or "micro" budget. Advances in modern, off-the-shelf CGI software and generative AI have redefined what "low-budget" even means in 2026.

These are all things worth thinking about as you start working on your next project, regardless of which genre you're working in.

https://scriptmag.com/filmmaking/low-budget-screenwriting-part-1