Paramount must be really high on the success of Paranormal Activity, as they’ve launched a new initiative to try and match the success of the film, which cost only $15,000 to make, but grossed over $100 million in the US alone. The studio has set aside $1 million each year to produce 10-20 micro-budget films, none of which will have a budget of over $100,000.
In Hollywood terms the money is virtually nothing – indeed just writing the script for one of their normal films would probably cost more than that – but it allows them to fund and seek out new and unusual films that might be able to match the success of Paranormal Activity. Variety reports that currently the studio hasn’t set a target of how many of these movies will get a theatrical release, although there’s speculation that with with some of them, it’d almost be like making a pilot episode for a TV show. The tiny budget version would be used to see whether the concept works, before Paramount mounts a full scale version (in fact, I don’t know why no one’s thought of doing that before, because if you can test 10-20 films for a million and see whether the script, director etc. work, it’s an amazingly cost effective way of doing things).
Of course, if and when these films do get theatrical or DVD releases, the marketing budgets will push the cost up, but at least by that point the studio will know whether it’s worth it.
This should be great news for the indie and low-budget sector of the market, which has been hit by huge cutbacks, particularly as most studios have moved away from such films, because competition between them was driving up costs, while the revenue remained the same. With the Paramount funds targeted at both unknowns and established filmmakers, it should be a good way to find new voices and ideas and give them a chance to work in the Hollywood system – albeit very cheaply. It may not be a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but it’s nevertheless and interesting initiative, and it;ll be interesting to see whether it produces any new movies of note, or finds any previously unknown talents.