Making Movies

First Rule of Hollywood: Everyone you meet is just one big break away from being a STAR.

Second Rule of Hollywood: Everyone you meet is working on a brilliant BLOCKBUSTER script.

What You Need to Make a Movie

A Night at Club Ivory is focused on the start of the movie making process. There are four components that go into this process. If you have a goal to start making a movie, you need to assemble the mandatory bits by the end of the game. The optional bits can improve your pitch.

Component Mandatory? Description
Script YES

There has to be a story to tell. Some people can actually tell a good script from a bad script. More people will tell you that they can, but they're lying.
Actor/Actress Optional

A good script can stink if made with a bad leading man or bad leading woman. A bad script might not stink as bad with a good leading man or good leading woman. Some people can actually tell you how good an actor or actress is. More people will tell you that they can, but they're lying.

If you have a strong script and enough seed money, but lack an actor or actress, you can still make a pitch to a studio. Studios usually have a stable of actors and actresses under contract, ready to crank out a new film.
Seed Money YES

A studio won't look at a project outside of their walls unless it comes with upfront "good faith" money. A studio has to know that there's interest in producing the script with the given actors and actresses. After all, everyone is a "star" with a "blockbuster" script. The studio needs a way to filter out the untalented, the desperate, and the hucksters. A Night at Club Ivory needs this mechanic, which is why this is here.

The more seed money you can raise, the more likely it is that a studio will listen to you. $2,000 is usually where the studios start to listen, and you'll talk to a couple of their junior executives. $3,500 is better, and will get you some quality time with a notable director or two. $5,000 almost always gets you a big meeting with the studio heads.

NOTE: The actual budget for a typical film of the time is usually much more than these upfront amounts. While a small studio might be able to grind out a cheap movie for $50,000, some of the blockbusters of the time had budgets up to and over $1,000,000. (This would be equivalent to about $18,300,000 today.)

NOTE: All these executives are sexist men. The only women in the meetings are there to take notes or to make coffee. It is taken for granted that women cannot write, edit, direct, or produce movies, and is laughable to suggest this is not the case. Things are slightly better today, but we can only keep pushing for the day when this finally changes to an equal and inclusive environment.
Movie Studio YES

When a Producer has their combination of at least the mandatory components, they can find a studio executive and pitch the film to a movie studio. Some producers may have pre-existing arrangements with a studio. It's an important consideration when investing in a film.

The Types of Movies That Get Made

There are several different kinds of movies that were made in 1934:

Blockbusters: A no-holds barred movie with big stars, lavish sets, and (hopefully) a good script. Budgets ran to $1,000,000 or more. Tarzan and His Mate went over budget, spending $1,279,142. These kind of movies are still around today, although budgets can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. (e.g. Titanic, Avatar, John Carter, Jupiter Ascending)

"Regular" Movies: A typical film, adapted from a book or screenplay, with a reasonable budget and familiar faces. The Lost Patrol was budgeted at $254,000. It Happened One Night, with two well-known and popular stars, had a budget of $325,000. It made $2,500.000 at the box office. These kind of movies are also still around. (e.g. much of what's at the theaters now)

Serials: A film that represents one episode in an ongoing story, with continuing actors. There would be an entire series of these films, typically ending on a cliffhanger not resolved until the next episode. The Indiana Jones movies were based on Lucas' and Spielberg's experiences growing up with serials. Given the short times between episodes, the equivalents are on television these days. (e.g. a season of Doctor Who or Battlestar Galactica)

Documentaries: Films about a country, a cause, a leader, or just what's going on somewhere else in the world. While there were radio stations, they were local and only broadcast for a few hours a day. People got their news from one or more newspapers. Documentaries, often short, filled in more details, or added to the propaganda. Newsreels, short pictures and descriptions of remote events, were often used as short films before the main movie. Today, with the Internet and YouTube, news, real and fake, can be produced easily, by nearly anyone.

Pornography: Films, typically crudely made and short in duration, they were available in men's clubs and specific theaters. There was big business in smut, albeit entirely underground. Do-gooders tried to outlaw or banish "blue films," but were unsuccessful given the incessant demand. Because of the low production quality and short lengths of the films, they might have a brief page of "script" and be made for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Today, these movies have moved to the Internet and can be made by anyone with a phone, almost without cost. Isn't technology grand?

A Few Movies Released Early in 1934

This is a short list of a few memorable movies from early 1934: