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Sci-Fi on the Cheap
lowbudgetfun writes "NYTimes.com is reporting on the Sci-Fi channel's huge investment (28 films for $21 million) for original B movies. Includes quotes from B Movie hero, Bruce Campbell." I especially liked this line from the article: "Shot on budgets ranging from $1 million to $2 million, Sci Fi's movies are made in money-saving locales like Bulgaria, Romania and Missouri."
July 10, 2005
B Movies Invade Your TV!
By LEWIS BEALE
"ATTACK OF THE SABRETOOTH." "Bloodsuckers." "The Man With the Screaming Brain." And, most indelible of all, "Mansquito."
A combination of outrageous genre concepts, low-budget filmmaking and sensationalized titles like the roll call above are all part of the Sci Fi Channel's attempt to establish a presence on Saturday nights, when a good number of potential viewers are out, asleep or watching reruns. The programming strategy has been a major success, with numbers that far exceed anyone's expectations.
"Alien Apocalypse," Sci Fi's biggest Saturday hit, attracted 2.7 million viewers in March. That may be a pittance for CBS or NBC, but it constitutes a major audience for a niche network. And besides, said Steve Sternberg, a television analyst at MagnaGlobal USA, "Friday and Saturday have become very weak nights for the broadcast networks," which, he explained, "have not been able to draw enough viewers with original entertainment series. Cable networks can flourish with much smaller audiences. Original horror and sci-fi movies seem like the perfect programming for Saturday night."
"They're good at the 'D' word, demographics," said Bruce Campbell, a star of B movies who also wrote, directed and starred in the "Screaming Brain" film, to be shown in September. "I think they're micromarketing," he said, "which in this fragmented world makes sense. They're saying, 'Who's at home on Saturday night?' "
The answer might be surprising. Nearly half of Sci Fi's audience is female, and in the highly sought-after 25-to-54-year-old demographic category, Sci Fi is the No. 4 basic cable network on Saturdays, behind TNT, USA and TBS.
Sci Fi's foray into Saturday night mayhem began in 2002, when network executives realized that cheap, independently made genre pictures, an important element of their programming mix, were hardly being produced any more. So, said Tom Vitale, the Sci Fi Channel's senior vice president for original movies "We had a choice of recycling older movies or going out and trying to create original movies ourselves. We went back to these producers who made genre movies, and asked them if they wanted to make them with us."
People like Ken Badish jumped at the chance. Mr. Badish's company, Active Entertainment, will have produced nine Sci Fi movies by the end of 2005, high-concept features like "Mansquito" (experiment gone awry creates man-mosquito hybrid!), and "Alien Lockdown" (government science produces horrific slime thing!).
The most important element of a Sci Fi film, Mr. Badish said, "is a topical film that has relevance to our audience."
"In a film coming up," he added, "stem cells are key to the plot; in another, it's mad cow disease. Secondly, there's a good story. Like we're shooting a 'Jaws'-kind of movie featuring a giant squid. We make a reasonable use of C.G.I., because the audience wants that escapist thing. And we add emotional content, so the audience can feel for the characters."
Often that amounts to borrowing shamelessly from works like "Alien," "The Fly" and "The Thing" and then adding ideas gleaned from Scientific American or Wired.
Shot on budgets ranging from $1 million to $2 million, Sci Fi's movies are made in money-saving locales like Bulgaria, Romania and Missouri. They're cast with B-list celebrities like Luke Perry and Stephen Baldwin, with the occasional big-picture actors - Sean Astin and John Rhys-Davies of "Lord of the Rings" - making an appearance. The network pays $750,000 for domestic TV rights, and the producers make their money back through international and DVD sales.
But are the films any good? Critics have not found much to praise, though some seem to have tried pretty hard. Virginia Heffernan of The New York Times said "Chupacabra: Dark Seas" (monster runs amok on a cruise liner!) was "founded on broad clichés, overacted and clumsily blocked." But she added that the casting of serious actors like Mr. Rhys-Davies and Gianc
The sale price of SF network is in dollars, so this way they can get better actors/sets/environment in another country where the prices are lower, and sell it in their own high priced dollar country. It does not make you backward, but probably more realistic. The high incomes in the US are not realistic compared to the skills of the people. The low incomes for the experts in Bulgaria are also not realistic (should be higher), but for now you can higher an expert in Bulgaria for about 25% of the price of the US expert.
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
These guys make the CG effects for some of the Sci-Fi movies. I bet the end result is much cheaper but at the same time with comparable quality. Outsourcing at its finest.
Dinosaucers
The sci-fi channel has picked up firefly, but only the old episodes already made. It would do new episodes except that the movie contract with universal prevents it.
All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.
as all they see is schlock put together on the cheap
Know your sci-fi: Sturgeon's Law - Sure, 90% of science fiction is crud. That's because 90% of everything is crud.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
I just looked up some facts. Percent of people living in poverty: Missouri 10.1 % Now some blue states Oregon 11.7 Washington 11.4 California 12.9 Illinois 11.8 Michigan 10.8 DC 17.3 Rhode Island 10.7 New York 14.2 Hawaii 10.7
Your wish is partially granted:
:-D
Schedule
Type "firefly" into the search box and hit return. The signal returns this coming Friday - in order, even *grin* but they aren't airing all the DVD episodes, apparently. (why I don't know)
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
That's been tried. "Salvage One", from 1979.
We might consider to accept Missouri as well if you will behave and make some progress...
Missouri probably doesn't belong in the EU, because it's large and wealthy already. Its GDP in 2003 was $194,611,000,000 USD, or $29,252 USD per capita. Its population is about 5,755,000. Its armed forces number approx. 10,500 soldiers and airmen (not including those which it contributes to the United States' armed forces).
That means that its per capita GDP is almost equal to those of the UK or Belgium, and is higher than those of France, Germany, Italy, or Spain. Its economy is larger than those of Ireland, Luxembourg, Finland, Greece, or Portugal. Its population is greater than those of Denmark, Finland, or Ireland, let alone the EU's tinier members.
Missouri is the seventeenth-largest of the United States, and is usually considered a rural state.
And, no, I'm not from Missouri, and I've never been there.
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.