Low Budget Films Win Acting Academy Awards

All of the Academy Award acting winners this year acted in films whose production budget was $20 million or less. $20 million might seem like a lot of money, but these are in fact small budgets to most major media companies. In 2013, for example, Disney spent a reported $250 million to make The Lone Ranger, with Johnny Depp. Last week Mathew McConaughey and Jared Leto won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, for Dallas Buyer's Club, a film budgeted at $5 million. Best Actress winner Cate Blanchett appeared in Blue Jasmine, budgeted at $18 million, and Lupita Nyongo, the Best Supporting Actress winner for her work in 12 Years a Slave, was in the biggest budget picture of all. Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave cost a reported $20 million. How did a low budget project like Dallas Buyer's Club capture a star like Mathew McConaughey? He supposedly turned down $15 million to star in the screen version of Magnum, PI to take $200,000 (plus backend considerations) for Dallas Buyers Club. Would you turn down $15 million for a $200,000 fee? You might if you were an actor. McConaughey had already made millions from a series of big budget films that didn't provide great acting challenges or do very well at the box office. McConaughey wanted to work on projects that provided both. Years from now, people may not remember that he starred in Sahara, but they will remember Dallas Buyers Club. Actors want to act. Most big budget action films don't require a lot of emotional depth, or offer actors a chance to play characters that can help them win awards. Many actors would find a good script that offers them a chance to show their talent and range very compelling. That's particularly true if the subject matter is compelling history, like the early history of AIDS or the savagery of slavery. Therefore, the key to capturing a great actor for your independent production is to write a great script. Make the lead roles attractive to actors by offering them opportunities to create memorable behavior within a compelling story. Give them a chance to win an Academy Award. However, a great script with great parts isn't always enough. It's important to make sure you have the business side of your project in order. Try to partner with a company that has a record of getting distribution for their projects, such as Fox Searchlight, which distributed 12 Years a Slave. Actors may be attracted by your great script, but if they're going to work at a reduced rate they want to know that their work will be seen. Even a talented newcomer like Lupita Nyongo will be hard to cast in your film if she doesn't think it will be distributed. I'll discuss more about what the success of these films mean for the industry in a future post. For now, I hope those of you creating content understand the lesson from these success stories. Make your script and your story as good as you can every time. Who knows, you just may get an Academy Award winner to star in your project.