In the 1970s, Chevy Chase and Mike O’Donoghue shopped a hilarious screenplay, Planet of the Cheap Special Effects. Nobody wanted it.
Chase and O’Donoghue got it. Hollywood didn’t, at least not in the 1970s.
This industry later embraced lo-fi, to an extent, with Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Adult Swim, Between Two Ferns, and the whole Funny or Die esthetic.
Even Planet of the Cheap Special Effects eventually wound up being worked into the John Landis sketch movie Amazon Women on the Moon in 1987
Still, too many of us try to make movies, sketches, and shows with top-notch production values.
We try to raise tens of thousands of dollars from investors to hire professionals who can make our projects look amazing.
We shouldn’t be doing that. Here’s four reasons why:
1. If you can’t afford good production values, go without. Lo-fi is more authentic. Embrace where you’re at.
2. Bad production values are funny. (Chase and O’Donoghue understood this.)
3. It’s the writing, stupid.
If you dream of a big-budget movie or TV series based on your idea, a bootstrapped, lo-fi production is the best way to get there.
There is one caveat and one exception to the above. I’ll explain in tomorrow’s post. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
I like watching old Sid Caesar shows where the brilliantly written and acted sketches use goofy painted-on backdrops. Also— i read an interesting interview with Tarantino where he said the extravagant Jackrabbit Slim’s set ate up much of the budget for the Pulp Fiction film, but he was careful to shoot the Travolta/Thurman dialogue close in, with all of that opulence pushed away from the viewer’s vision. He didn’t want the visuals to swamp the writing.
Interesting question as to where you set the bar for lo-fi vs. hi-fi. As a technically averse writer, my bar is very low. Would love to add sound effects to my podcasts, or really any flourish via Audacity, but that involves a whole other skill set! I think this tag on a sweater hand-knit by Peruvian natives has wide ranging applications: "The minor irregularities in this garment are part of its handmade charm!