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supagenius
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 57
Location: Alexandria
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Well...
Threads - like robots - take on a life of their own.
Ani Skywalker's not doing shit, and kicking no-one's butt. Maybe if Uncle George (Lucas, not Romero) shows up with 200 million bucks U.S. and decides to throw it around. The idea I'm talking about - if it ever gets off the ground in terms of getting enough money to shoot it - is going to be cheap. Real cheap. And it won't be about Robot Wars per se. It will be about a character who's involved in robot wars, and whose passion is making robots, because it is one of those things in his life that actually means something and makes life meaningful.
So, while the amount of chat and feedback that this thread has generated has been far more than I thought, I think I should make a few things clear:
1) There's NO MONEY involved. By that, I don't mean for robot wars. I mean, there's NO MONEY. Anything I write, I'm doing because I want to do it, with little or no prospect of getting paid. So, this is really low budget - there's no Ari Skywalker, no robots taking over the world, no special effects, not even a Light Sabre. Nothing. It will be about a character who makes robots and his general life outside of that, and how the robot building and combat give his life meaning. That's it.
2) It won't be a documenatary or a rockumenatary. I make my living writing drama scripts. I'm not a doco film-maker. And buying music rights is hideously expensive - like hundreds of thoudands of dollars (U.S.)
3) By drama, I don't mean some high-falutin' bullshit where the hero conquers all. I mean small, everyday triumphs - we're not talking about defeating Grand Moff Tarkin, Darth Vader, Darth Moll/throwing the Ring into the Mountain of Doom or whatever. We're talking about the achievement of competing at Maryong. Or placing 4th when you didn't think you had a hope in hell. Or finding that just being there opens up some other possibility in your life. Small, personal, everyday things that make you feel that little bit better about life and yourself. Who knows? He - "He" being the main character - might even get a root out of it.
So. I'm not out to pour shit on anyone's ideas. But it all starts and ends with budget. We don't even have a budget. And the facts are that American movies are being made for $100 million U.S., and the usual Aussie flick gets made for $4 - 5 million Australian. And this flick - if it gets made- will be about 1/5 - 1/10th of that - assuming whe can even raise that.
Don't want to piss on anyone's ideas, but I thought I'd better make it clear what we're talking about. And what we're talking about is something which has a better than even chance of never getting made.
I'll be at Maryong on 26th Feb, and look forward to whoever is willing to talk to me.
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Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:26 pm |
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supagenius
Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 57
Location: Alexandria
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Thanks Windhammer. You made a point that I thought of about 10 seconds after my last post, which is: everyone who builds robots, esp. in Oz, seems to do it 'cos they're passionate about it and without much money. So, I'm not whinging about not getting paid or not having money to make a big movie. Again, I just want to be clear about the scale of story. Small, and no Rusell Crowes or Nicole K's, and which probably won't get made.
Checked out Robotcombat.com to see how much basic starter kits were; ~ $1200 USD for the dilletante model. From the tech chatter thread, everyone here's doing it themselves from the ground up. For what it's worth, whether Cobra costs $1,000 or Basilisk $1,300 you all have my admiration.
Hats off, pants off, etc.
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Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:24 pm |
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