In light of the box-office success of Oren Peli’s low-budget (almost no-budget) movie Paranormal Activity I’ve decided to start a new category on this blog dealing with filmmaking. The first quote will be from writer/director Peli who was asked by Indy Mogul’s Erik Beck, “I was wondering if you had any advice for our audience of aspiring filmmakers?
“Yeah there are three things that I would probably advise, but the most important one is casting. If you don’t have good actors that do a convincing job then it doesn’t matter what your budget is, it’s just not going to work. If it wasn’t for Katie (Featherston) and Micah (Sloat) being as good as they were we wouldn’t even be talking now because the movie wouldn’t have been going anywhere. The other thing is the issue of perseverance, it’s not easy to make a movie and you just need to keep going and be extremely stubborn and not get discouraged when things don’t go well. And I would encourage people to pick up a videocamera and just start shooting and no matter how well it turns out you’re always going to learn and gain a little experience.”
Oren Peli
In the coming days I’ll unpack the perfect storm of a downturn in the economy mixed with some incredible recent breakthroughs in small cameras that can help you “just start shooting.”
Screenwriting from Iowa 
[…] In light of the box-office success of Oren Peli’s low-budget (almost no-budget) movie Paranormal Activity I’ve decided to start a new category on this blog dealing with filmmaking. The first quote will be from writer/director Peli who was asked by Indy Mogul’s Erik Beck, “I was wondering if you had any advice for our audience […] Original Source… […]
If Oren Peli says “Pick up a videocamera and just start shooting” then okay.
I take the same approach to writing, just sit at the keyboard and start pounding it out.
It’s all that work with the material after it’s on video or paper that makes the difference.
David Gillaspie
deegeesbb.wordpress.com
You know what they say—the greatest talents started out beginners. Chances are good when you start writing or shooting your efforts will be pretty weak. But you’ll grow and learn as you write and shoot more.
Read the post about the 10,000 hour rule:
https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/beatles-cody-king-10000-hours/
It’s not uncommon for screenwriters to write 5-10 scripts before they sell one. (One writer said he wrote 16 scripts before he got one made.) No one said it would be easy.
And what separates all the writers and filmmakers? That’s where the magic comes into play.