Writing a Script You Can Afford to Produce
The budget of a film, commercial, or music video starts growing long before the crew arrives on set.
It starts growing in the script.
It costs a screenwriter nothing to send the characters from an apartment to an airport, then to a night-time street, and from there to another continent — all on a single page. Their job is to create a compelling story. But almost every such decision later turns into a specific line in the budget.
If the budget is limited, the script is the first place to look for ways to cut costs. Here are the things that have a particularly strong impact on production costs.
1 - Too Many Locations
Every new location potentially means a new shooting day, or at the very least additional time to move and reset the entire crew. And one shooting day means the work of approximately 20–50 people, equipment rental, transport, catering, location fees, and dozens of other expenses. In commercials and music videos, the cost of a shooting day can start at around €30–40K. In film, it can easily reach €100K per day, depending on the scale of the production. On paper, moving a character from Budapest to Paris takes one line. In production, that line can cost tens of thousands of euros.
If the budget is limited: try combining several scenes in one location or finding a place where you can shoot several different settings at once.
2 - Night Scenes
Night shoots almost always make production more complicated. Some crew members charge higher rates for night work. In addition, the crew may simply work more slowly at night because people are tired. If the shoot starts falling behind schedule, overtime begins. And overtime means additional costs across almost every department at the same time.
If night is not essential to the story: consider whether the scene really needs to take place at night.
3 - Shooting Outdoors
Shooting outdoors may seem like a great way to save money on location rental. But the weather is unpredictable. The light changes, it starts raining, the wind picks up. If you are shooting for an hour in a free public park, there is probably no problem. If you have planned a full shooting day there, the risk is completely different. Imagine: the actors have arrived, the makeup artist has prepared them, catering has delivered the food, the equipment is rented, and the entire crew is on set.
And then it starts raining. The shoot stops, but you keep paying. The crew members have dedicated this working day to your project and can no longer leave for another shoot.
It starts growing in the script.
It costs a screenwriter nothing to send the characters from an apartment to an airport, then to a night-time street, and from there to another continent — all on a single page. Their job is to create a compelling story. But almost every such decision later turns into a specific line in the budget.
If the budget is limited, the script is the first place to look for ways to cut costs. Here are the things that have a particularly strong impact on production costs.
1 - Too Many Locations
Every new location potentially means a new shooting day, or at the very least additional time to move and reset the entire crew. And one shooting day means the work of approximately 20–50 people, equipment rental, transport, catering, location fees, and dozens of other expenses. In commercials and music videos, the cost of a shooting day can start at around €30–40K. In film, it can easily reach €100K per day, depending on the scale of the production. On paper, moving a character from Budapest to Paris takes one line. In production, that line can cost tens of thousands of euros.
If the budget is limited: try combining several scenes in one location or finding a place where you can shoot several different settings at once.
2 - Night Scenes
Night shoots almost always make production more complicated. Some crew members charge higher rates for night work. In addition, the crew may simply work more slowly at night because people are tired. If the shoot starts falling behind schedule, overtime begins. And overtime means additional costs across almost every department at the same time.
If night is not essential to the story: consider whether the scene really needs to take place at night.
3 - Shooting Outdoors
Shooting outdoors may seem like a great way to save money on location rental. But the weather is unpredictable. The light changes, it starts raining, the wind picks up. If you are shooting for an hour in a free public park, there is probably no problem. If you have planned a full shooting day there, the risk is completely different. Imagine: the actors have arrived, the makeup artist has prepared them, catering has delivered the food, the equipment is rented, and the entire crew is on set.
And then it starts raining. The shoot stops, but you keep paying. The crew members have dedicated this working day to your project and can no longer leave for another shoot.
If the scene can easily be moved indoors: sometimes a location that seems more expensive at first turns out to be cheaper than the risk of losing an entire shooting day.
4 - Public Places
A shopping mall. A market. A train station. An airport. They look impressive in a script. In production, they can become very expensive. You cannot simply put a camera in the middle of a crowd and treat random passers-by as free extras. There are issues of filming permits and permission to use people’s images. This means the filming area has to be controlled, while the crowd often has to be created with extras. Now imagine the cost of shutting down part of a shopping mall or restricting an area of an airport.
If you need the atmosphere of a crowded place: sometimes it is cheaper to find a controlled location and create the feeling of a crowd with a limited number of extras and smart staging.
5 - Acting Scenes
There is a big difference between someone who simply walks through the frame and an actor who has to perform a scene. The rate you would pay an extra turns into an actor’s fee and can increase several times over. The more complex the scene, the more takes you need. The more professional and well-known the actor, the higher the fee and potentially the more demanding the rider: a separate place to rest, special meals, a personal makeup artist, and other requirements.
If the project includes serious acting scenes, you also need a director who knows how to work with actors. All these decisions are connected.
6 - Crowd Scenes
The cost of ten people in the frame is not simply ten fees. The more people you have, the larger the entire infrastructure around them becomes. Casting costs increase. You may need a separate talent or extras manager. There is more work for makeup and wardrobe. You need more food, transport, and time for organization.
Sometimes removing five people from a scene saves significantly more than the total amount of their fees.
A shopping mall. A market. A train station. An airport. They look impressive in a script. In production, they can become very expensive. You cannot simply put a camera in the middle of a crowd and treat random passers-by as free extras. There are issues of filming permits and permission to use people’s images. This means the filming area has to be controlled, while the crowd often has to be created with extras. Now imagine the cost of shutting down part of a shopping mall or restricting an area of an airport.
If you need the atmosphere of a crowded place: sometimes it is cheaper to find a controlled location and create the feeling of a crowd with a limited number of extras and smart staging.
5 - Acting Scenes
There is a big difference between someone who simply walks through the frame and an actor who has to perform a scene. The rate you would pay an extra turns into an actor’s fee and can increase several times over. The more complex the scene, the more takes you need. The more professional and well-known the actor, the higher the fee and potentially the more demanding the rider: a separate place to rest, special meals, a personal makeup artist, and other requirements.
If the project includes serious acting scenes, you also need a director who knows how to work with actors. All these decisions are connected.
6 - Crowd Scenes
The cost of ten people in the frame is not simply ten fees. The more people you have, the larger the entire infrastructure around them becomes. Casting costs increase. You may need a separate talent or extras manager. There is more work for makeup and wardrobe. You need more food, transport, and time for organization.
Sometimes removing five people from a scene saves significantly more than the total amount of their fees.
7 - Children and Animals
Children and animals are wonderful on camera. But they are unpredictable characters. And one of the most expensive things on a film set is time. If a child gets tired or a dog decides that today it is not going to do what the director asks, the crew keeps waiting. In addition, working with children and animals may require additional specialists, permits, and special conditions.
If the story works perfectly well without them: from a budget perspective, this is a good reason to consider an alternative.
8 - Special Effects
“We’ll fix it in post” is potentially one of the most expensive phrases in production. Post-production can account for a huge part of a project’s budget.
The more graphics, complex objects, imaginary environments, and visual effects there are in the script, the more work there is after the shoot is over.
And sometimes five seconds on screen can require weeks of work from several specialists.
9 - Period Story
As soon as the story moves into the historical past, the near or distant future, the budget starts growing. You need period costumes and props. You need to control everything that appears in the frame. There is additional work for the production designer and their team.
Even a suitable location often needs additional set dressing. And you may need to rent it for more than just the shooting day. You need to allow time for setting up the decorations before the shoot and dismantling them afterwards. A single period scene can end up costing significantly more than several contemporary ones.
Children and animals are wonderful on camera. But they are unpredictable characters. And one of the most expensive things on a film set is time. If a child gets tired or a dog decides that today it is not going to do what the director asks, the crew keeps waiting. In addition, working with children and animals may require additional specialists, permits, and special conditions.
If the story works perfectly well without them: from a budget perspective, this is a good reason to consider an alternative.
8 - Special Effects
“We’ll fix it in post” is potentially one of the most expensive phrases in production. Post-production can account for a huge part of a project’s budget.
The more graphics, complex objects, imaginary environments, and visual effects there are in the script, the more work there is after the shoot is over.
And sometimes five seconds on screen can require weeks of work from several specialists.
9 - Period Story
As soon as the story moves into the historical past, the near or distant future, the budget starts growing. You need period costumes and props. You need to control everything that appears in the frame. There is additional work for the production designer and their team.
Even a suitable location often needs additional set dressing. And you may need to rent it for more than just the shooting day. You need to allow time for setting up the decorations before the shoot and dismantling them afterwards. A single period scene can end up costing significantly more than several contemporary ones.
10 - Complex Camera Angles
Pay attention to phrases like:
the camera pulls back;
the camera rises above the characters;
we see them from above;
the camera flies behind the car;
we see their room on the fifteenth floor from the street.
The camera does not fly by itself. Behind every such movement there may be additional equipment: a crane, dolly, drone, special rigs. You need people who know how to operate this equipment. And you need time to bring it in, set it up, test it, and then take it down.
The more acrobatics the camera performs in the script, the more potential lines appear in the budget.
What Is the Cheapest Kind of Story?
The story takes place in the present day.
Two or three people are in an ordinary interior: an apartment, office, or house.
No extras are needed. No period costumes are needed. No airport needs to be shut down. It is not raining. The camera or phone does not fly, run, or fall.
Boring?
I don’t know.
Cheaper?
Yes.
And that does not mean that such a story will necessarily be worse.
A limited budget forces you to look for drama in the characters, dialogue, conflict, and directing choices rather than in the number of locations and technical attractions.
Want to shoot a commercial, music video, or another video project without surprises in the budget? Get in touch. I can help you estimate the real budget before the shoot begins and understand which script decisions make production more expensive.
Pay attention to phrases like:
the camera pulls back;
the camera rises above the characters;
we see them from above;
the camera flies behind the car;
we see their room on the fifteenth floor from the street.
The camera does not fly by itself. Behind every such movement there may be additional equipment: a crane, dolly, drone, special rigs. You need people who know how to operate this equipment. And you need time to bring it in, set it up, test it, and then take it down.
The more acrobatics the camera performs in the script, the more potential lines appear in the budget.
What Is the Cheapest Kind of Story?
The story takes place in the present day.
Two or three people are in an ordinary interior: an apartment, office, or house.
No extras are needed. No period costumes are needed. No airport needs to be shut down. It is not raining. The camera or phone does not fly, run, or fall.
Boring?
I don’t know.
Cheaper?
Yes.
And that does not mean that such a story will necessarily be worse.
A limited budget forces you to look for drama in the characters, dialogue, conflict, and directing choices rather than in the number of locations and technical attractions.
Want to shoot a commercial, music video, or another video project without surprises in the budget? Get in touch. I can help you estimate the real budget before the shoot begins and understand which script decisions make production more expensive.
25.08.2026