Apart from adding a workable structure to our current project, we had to rewrite the script so as to make it a low-budget first movie. That means we only need about R1,200,000 to get it made.

I’ve already had friends baulk at that amount, while people in the industry simply nod quietly. That’s roughly the equivalent of less than $100,000. By American standards, a low-budget movie would be about $500,000 to $750,000. Most low-budget movies coming out of the States are no less than $1,000,000.

Compare that to what we could do in South Africa!

At the million rand mark, we’ve had to cut down our cast, set our story in a single internal location, cut down on all our special effects and explosions and keep things so simple, it’s almost ludicrous. And yet, we still have a workable project. Our work on the story has proved to be very fruitful, giving us a nice meaty script that doesn’t rely on the action for its success. Of course, being an action movie, the mayhem still comes into play.

Unfortunately, everything that we do costs, and right now, we’re in a bit of limbo as we locate funders and investors. So if you’ve a few extra thousand rand lying about, consider a 20% ROI opportunity in our movie. Your money won’t go to blowing up anything but it will go toward creating an international standard movie in our glorious country.

And, once our movie breaks the box office, we’ll put all the exploding buildings, capsizing cars and hectic chase scenes in the second or third movie. 🙂