How did we make a shootable script in two months?
Most scripts take months to write, months to rewrite, and then months to prep before going into production (ok, that might be an exaggeration, but what do I know?). Especially for amateurs wanting to make a film that sticks with the audience.
The script to The One Survivor Of Conifer is 55 pages. The rule of thumb is 1 page = 1 minute, and that's a pretty good rule. So how did we turn a 55 page script into a 76 minute film? And why?
As you know, we wrote this film knowing we'd have only 5 days to shoot. We knew what locations we could realistically get, we knew the actors we could realistically get, the crew, the props... we made the story based on the resources we had.
So the big question: how did we turn 55 pages into 76 minutes without stretching out moments? That sounds like an equation for a boring movie, I know.
Well, it goes back to my very first film- Stories Of The Subconscious Mind. That's a 10 minute short film. And a 5 page script. I know Stories isn't perfect... but people like it. I like it. It's alright.
And in making it, I realised I enjoy building tension. I enjoy letting scenes play out. I knew that I could stretch out a shorter script if it had tension built into it.
So we built tension into the script of Conifer. We built moments that could play out longer than what's on the page. We built moments where we could slow down the pace. We built moments knowing, well, we had to.
The script itself is also very heavy on action, light on dialogue. Johnny Maya, the star of the film, helped to write it. Not only because he's great at developing characters from the ground up, but because, after laughing at my attempts to write witty and engaging dialogue, we decided he would just improvise all his lines. And it's easier to improvise in a world you helped to create.
Yep, that means that The One Survivor Of Conifer is 100% improvised. We had only two months to write the script, and having worked with Johnny before, I knew his improvising was top notch. I knew that, by developing the story with him, he'd be able to bring the character to life on set, giving us a chance to focus on scenes and action and wants and needs and all that fun stuff in the script. It was a decision that, after seeing the rough cut of the film, I'm glad we made. And so far, everyone else has reciprocated those feelings.
But this started out as a short film. How did we make it cheaper to make a feature film than a short? This started life as The Unsurvivable Town Of Conifer (by the way, I grew up in a town called Conifer). It was a psychological thriller about a young man who believes he's the last survivor of a zombie apocalypse. It involved him killing people and having a run in with police.
In order to create that script, we had to shoot in Scotland (£££). We had to hire 4-5 actors (£££). We had to have makeup fx (£££). And we had specialised locations (£££).
But The One Survivor of Conifer? We had only one actor on screen. The shooting locations were near to the cast and crew. There were no stunts or special makeup fx needed. We took the core idea of the short film and used it to inspire a more realistic feature film.
What about the world? Surely it's impossible to create an entire world in only two months? Well... this is where it's handy to always be writing.
I have scripts on my computer. Finished and unfinished. Ideas and outlines. The world of Conifer is an amalgamation of stories and ideas I had already written, thought about, or outlined. The lone survivor of an attack? That came from the original script, The Unsurvivable World Of Conifer. The Creatures that you can't look at? That came from an unfinished feature script, Look At The Light With Your Eyes Closed. The radio idea? Infected Love. I think.
We didn't have to build a world from the ground up. We simply had to Frankenstein other ideas into one coherent story.
They say you shouldn't make a film just to make a film; you shouldn't write a script just to write a script. You should make things that connect with you, that you want to tell.
Conifer is a story of survival. Of sanity. Of forgiveness. What's real? What's not? What does it mean to survive and be a person? It may have been written in two months, rushed into production, and rewritten well into the edit... but we wanted to tell it. Before the insanity that became Conifer, we wanted to tell this story. The world elements, the psychological elements, him yelling at his teddy bear for no reason- it interested us. And it just so happens it worked perfectly within our constraints.
That's how we made a feature film script in two months: we found elements from other stories we wanted to tell and rolled them into our original short film idea. Then we created scenes we knew could, no... scenes we knew should, be dragged out in the edit. And finally, we threw away the difficulty of creating good dialogue by allowing it all to be improvised, knowing the person improvising was capable and up to the task.
Then sprinkle in a bit of stupidity and a lot of insanity, and you get a script.
And for any interested parties, we'd be happy to share with you the scripts for the stories above. The Unsurvivable World Of Conifer (edited for the feature), The One Survivor Of Conifer, Infected Love, Stories Of The Subconscious Mind. Unfortunately, Look At The Light With Your Eyes Closed isn't done, though a treatment is in the works. But we'd be happy to share those other ones with y'all if shoot us an email or a message.
