An excerpt from my script review for Wilder Than Her (Blood List 2020: Fresh Blood) which will be available 11/09/20:
1.) Marketability of the Idea
Today we’re taking a look at one of the feature scripts from The Blood List 2020.
This year, whether due to Covid or just other reasons, the list was more Fresh Blood than previous years.
Before we dive deeper into this particular script, I wanted to swing back around to the idea of just how marketable horror (especially low budget) really is.
One of the films that surprised me with how much I enjoyed it was Moneyball.
I bought the blu-ray cheap, and downloaded the digital copy to my tablet to watch during travel.
Not a huge baseball fan, but what really struck a note with me was the business aspect of the film, a low budget club trying to be competitive with those that have double and even triple their budgets.
Putting that in terms of Hollywood…studios shouldn’t be in the market of buying projects with stars, they should be in the market of making money based on box office stats.
In other words, sometimes you have to produce less glamorous projects you may not be interested in to afford the projects you’re passionate about.
(Think Nolan making his Batman trilogy to pave the way for Inception.)
Horror is the one genre that’s dependably bankable and even studios that don’t focus on it should consider building it into their corporate foundation.
We’ve talked about it before, but this “low budget horror” concept will play an even more crucial role as we do the “quarantine polka” of will we, won’t we go back into lockdown in the US.
It could be a while before companies are completely back up and running in terms of blockbusters, so they’ll something cheap/quick to fill in the gaps.
Look at Reals’ recent reviews of the Blumhouse/Amazon Studios team up.
Arguably some of these projects aren’t even that good, but studios, producers, streaming services are looking for damn near anything that was almost finished or can be made with limited budgets and more important limited crew.
Writing a horror script is something to consider, and I hope you do.
Once you’ve completed one, I wouldn’t wait around for a contest either.
Cold query to targeted company emails.
Or other services with results.
Seek out places that are actively asking for these types of projects, because they WON’T come to you.
As we enter these winter months, do yourself a favor and just don’t sit around.
Since we don’t have actual stats (yet), below is more information on what else made the list.
Blood List 2020: Fresh Blood Edition
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