Feature sales have been on the rise, but if you want to see your movie on the big screen you need to write it in a way that feels like an event. Something that people can’t miss whether it’s in theaters or the next water cooler hit. It has to be epic, even if it has a small budget.

At the same time, you have to keep your budget in check if you don’t have a built-in audience from IP. It’s a tough balance between a story that grabs people’s attention but doesn’t have to cost $100 million. And if you do write a film that costs a little more money, you have to do it in a way that when someone with decision-making power reads it they instantly want to champion it.

Here are five examples of original stories crafted for a range of budgets that feel absolutely epic.

Challengers

Challengers by Justin Kuritzkes debuted earlier this year to largely positive responses. While it had a fairly high production budget (estimated $55 million, which mostly likely went to CGI for the tennis matches and its star/producer) this film could have been produced for significantly less than what the team spent. Whether they spent $5 or $50 million, Kuritzkes script felt largely like a throwback to the adult dramas of the ’80s and ’90s.

Something that Kuritzkes did so well in his writing (as discussed in his interview on Final Draft’s “Write On”) was to make the transitions come alive on the page. The script directs the director without writing in camera directions and transitions by using the phrase ‘FWAAAACK’ whenever a tennis ball is smacked on the screen before cutting to another scene.

There are a lot of online debates over whether or not it’s acceptable to include camera directions on the page. With things like contests and fellowships, it’s best to leave them out because they take the reader out of the script, but countless professional writers include them. However, Kuritzkes sidesteps the debate entirely by using prose to achieve the same effect.

By getting creative with his prose to make the reader feel like they’re on the court with the characters, and leaning into the extremely personal stakes, the writer created a story that feels immensely bigger than the three characters it centers on.

Damsel

The Netflix film Damsel by Dan Mazeau, starring and executive produced by Millie Bobby Brown, is an action-packed, YA fantasy that carries some very dark twists. You may see online pundits saying not to write period or fantasy because it will be too expensive to produce. This film was reportedly made for around $60 million.

While not an indie film, this is a range many films fall within. A huge part of the reason the film was made was because it found a champion with Brown. She is known for starring in Stranger Things and had just had a hit with Enola Holmes, also for Netflix, when this project was announced in November 2020, several months into lockdown. At a time when the industry was said to have slowed, a major streamer was investing in an epic film.

What makes the script for Damsel so epic is the journey of its heroine Princess Elodie (Bobby Brown). She’s on an intense journey to survive, return to her family, and hopefully get revenge on the people who tried to sacrifice her. It’s an epic story but it largely centers on Elodie and what she must physically and emotionally overcome. It had all the traditional elements of what it means to be epic, and it also provided its star an opportunity to continue to flex her chops as a producer. Think about whether or not you’ve written a showpiece that a star will want to jump on for your script.

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A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place has become a massive franchise with a sequel and a prequel that was recently released in theaters. The original script broke many conventions on the page with limited dialogue due to the premise and even unconventional font and formatting to emphasize action and raise the tension for the reader.

You can click here to read the original script by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods or the revised script from when John Krasinski signed on to direct and develop the project. Feature film scripts are typically 90-120 pages long. The original script for A Quiet Place was a mere 68. But this script packed a punch in this short time. It’s this script’s intensely strong concept and tight use of every page to control the story, packing, and thrills that make it epically unique.

Knives Out

When Knives Out was released it instantly became a hit that reminded studio execs and audiences how good original storytelling can be. With its large, star-studded cast, seeing them all on-screen felt like a special event. You can’t control who is cast in your film unless you’re producing it yourself. But you can raise the odds of getting your script in front of great talent by writing roles they want to play.

What made the script feel singularly epic was how these great distinct characters bounced off one another from scene to scene while simultaneously adding to a clear theme of how money corrupts people.

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Monkey Man

Like Knives Out, Monkey Man was conceived and directed by the same person, Dev Patel, which can greatly impact how a project is written. Writers/directors may include more directing cues on the page, or leave certain things out of the action because they know they’ll have the opportunity to create their vision on set. However, setting that aside, this script feels significantly bigger than its reportedly $10 million production budget shows.

The reason that this film feels so epic is because of its scope. It’s set in India and focuses on themes of poverty, the caste system, and discrimination. In depicting those themes, the story moves from rural villages to the poorest parts of the city to the wealthiest. Patel portrays a protagonist with deep, lifelong trauma. In achieving his goal, the character must rise within the system to bring down the most corrupt. So while it’s centering on one character’s journey, it moves through a dozen distinct worlds little seen on screen, creating an epic journey for audiences.

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All of these small budget feature films are original stories that made an impact on audiences by feeling epic in different ways. Some focused on a singular character in an epic journey while others created an “event” with a fantastic ensemble and others used an epic concept or themes to draw viewers.

There are many ways to make a story feel epic and like it has to be told. With so much content available for viewers, make sure that you’re creating the boldest and most epic story that people can’t look away from, even when working with a small budget.

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