How do you get this type of blue sunlight cinematography?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay. And yes the person who told me that said that if it's a b movie, it's more likely to get funding. But I'm just not sure how to make it into a b movie.

[Josh Bass]

Ah, but can one even make a b movie with intent? Are we sure those directors weren't doing their absolute best to make artistic gold, and ended up with a B movie instead? Despite what Tommy Wiseau says, The Room was not The Room on purpose.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay. Well when it comes to a movie in the genre I was advised to for and a movie like I Spit on Your Grave for example, was that intended to be a movie? The script does follow a repetitive formula and is more predictable, at least to me... So did they know that, or were they trying to make something really good, script wise? But also, if b movies are not meant to be made with intent, do investors still know they are b movies when they read the script, if they would rather fund b movies?

[Brian Drysdale]

They know it's a B movie when reading the script, just as some of the modern A movies are basically B movies.

Some B movies are better than some A movies, you just don't start writing a bad script for the genre.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay well they tell me the script will sell better if it was a b movie script more so, so they are implying it is not b movie-ish enough then, rather than already being a b movie script?

[Paul R Johnson]

Are you sure you know what a B movie is? I suspect you have misunderstood the history. Low budget doesn't always mean bad, and some B movies are excellent - BAD movies die a painful death. Of course some are just not very good, but very famous actors were in B movies and it never did their careers and harm.

If you have a bad movie, it won't become good by getting a B movie tag. Really, I think B movies were like B sides on a record. They were the movie choice that came before the A movie - the one people really paid to see, that's all.

If you have crap actors then the movie is just a bad movie. If you know they're bad, it's pointless trying to justify the bad acting by calling it a B movie, because the B movie base is budget. Sure, it can mean poorer sets and costumes too, but primarily there is a B movie feel. The rush to get movie product into hire shops produced all those Hills Have Eyes type movies and of course Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Absolutely B movies, but studios here were churning out loads of budget horror movies too - the Hammer House of Horrors series. These were still decent movies. Peter Cushing and Vincent Price and Christopher Lee cleaned up. If your movie is going badly in the planning, it's bad to try to deliberately turn it into a B movie, but being very honest EVERYTHING about it I think you've now had issues with. A really dodgy script - simply because like me, wanting to write a script does not make it a good one. You have actor issues, camera issues, sound issues, set issues, location issues, music issues, content issues and of course the script you are struggling to make realistic.

We've never established what you're actually a natural at Ryan - you try so hard, but keep making the same mistakes. I wish we could sort it for you.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, I am not sure then...

Well I did suggest before that someone else could go through the script and punch up the dialogue since I was told that was a major problem, but I was advised not to do that because it would cost too much. I was also advised before that I could bring in actors from other cities to have more options of a pool to choose from as well, but was told that would cost too much.

So I am not sure what to do then, if I am to keep the costs down.

And yeah, I know what a b movie is, something like the ones you mentioned, or I Spit On your Grave, or Invasion of the Bee Girls comes to mind as well. Something like that?

But I was just told by a couple of other filmmakers, that I wrote a script that is in the "rape and revenge film" genre as they put it, but I go against expectations of that genre, and I should just meet the expectations, rather than try to do something other than, if they have a point.

[Brian Drysdale]

It depends on how define a B movie, that's an extremely broad church, it covers more than slasher and exploitation movies.

"I Spit on Your Grave" is a horror film, with a long gang rape. I thought you wee making a thriller, You really need to know the story you're trying to tell and which genre it belongs in.

Is there a reason why you want to write this particular script? It just seems to be because someone told you that it would be easy to sell.

That sounds like the beginning of something has little to recommend it as a starting point, At least the writer of "I Spit on Your Grave" claims that it's inspired by an encounter he had with a woman who had been raped by two men. At least that has a starting point in the real world, rather than watching films.

There are a range of films that have rape and revenge, so what makes yours different?

Whatever film you make at this budget will be a B movie, unless you're planning to make an art house movie.

[Ryan Elder]

Originally Posted by Brian Drysdale

It depends on how define a B movie, that's an extremely broad church, it covers more than slasher and exploitation movies.

"I Spit on Your Grave" is a horror film, with a long gang rape. I thought you wee making a thriller, You really need to know the story you're trying to tell and which genre it belongs in.

Is there a reason why you want to write this particular script? It just seems to be because someone told you that it would be easy to sell.

That sounds like the beginning of something has little to recommend it as a starting point, At least the writer of "I Spit on Your Grave" claims that it's inspired by an encounter he had with a woman who had been raped by two men. At least that has a starting point in the real world, rather than watching films.

There are a range of films that have rape and revenge, so what makes yours different?

Whatever film you make at this budget will be a B movie, unless you're planning to make an art house movie.

Yeah the script I wrote was a thriller, and no one told me to write it. I thought it was a good idea and came up with it on my own, and thought it was the best script I have for the lowest amount of cost.

But I was advised to make it more like a rape and revenge film like I Spit on your Grave or something like that and up the violence and gore, and graphicness of the whole thing. I was also told the plot may be too ambitious. But I did find I Spit on your Grave to perhaps not be an A movie, because the plot recycles itself, so I thought maybe it was a b movie because of that, at least in my perception.

[Brian Drysdale]

"I Spit on your Grave" would always be a B movie because of its budget it's nothing to do with the plot repeating etc.

There are A list movies, which are based on B movies.The difference being that they've got an A list budget, with A list stars, while the original had a B movie budget.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay well yes, in terms of budget, than my script would be a B movie too, but I was just told that people expect a rape and revenge film from my premise, and that means more violence, and more graphic content, and perhaps a different type of plot.

Too answer your other questions, about how mine is different from I Spit on your Grave; I think perhaps one reader at least, did not like how the revenge was not successful, and leads to other tragic consequences. Perhaps they wanted a successful revenge, and felt mine was different that way, but did not like that. But that is one guess for part of the story, as to why he may not have liked it, and may have wanted a successful revenge without consequences. Another thing that may make mine different is perhaps in other ones in the genre, the victim knows who the rapists are right away, where as in mine, the victim has to figure it out and pull on a thread to reveal one plot point, then another so to speak to find who they are first.

Another thing is, in I Spit on your Grave, the revenge of the rapists was done differently, where as in mine, the protagonist takes more of an approach where they play one against the other, so to speak. And the plan goes terribly wrong, and new approaches have to made. So I guess the structure and execution are different that way.

[Josh Bass]

Instead of guessing what readers didn't like or why they didn't like a certain thing, why not EXPLICITLY ask them? Literally write down their responses. Take detailed notes. Poll as many people as you can. No one here has read more than a snippet of your script, whereas these friends etc. have apparently read however much you've written.

[Ryan Elder]

I asked them but it's hard for them to put their finger, and when they say things like maybe it's that they do not like how the revenge was not successful... they didn't seem sure, but was contimplating if that were it or not, as well as comtemplating other things that could be the problem.

So I ask them but feel that the feedback does not come off as 100 percent certain, but more trying to figure it out.

[Josh Bass]

Ok. Well at least you tried.

[Brian Drysdale]

Feedback is never 100% certain, it's a subjective process.