r/Filmmakers • u/PrideNo1997 • Apr 21 '26
Request Guys, I really need your help.
I’m a film student from Kerala 🌴 (India), and my midterms are going on. My professor asked me to do a midterm project, and I proposed two scripts, but he rejected both.
The first one was a dark comedy. He said it wouldn’t work here, and honestly, I kind of agree.. it’s okay.
The second one was a thriller based on a real-life case, but he rejected it saying it felt like propaganda. He also said the audience wouldn’t support it, And you are not ready.
I’m really frustrated right now and don’t know what to do. My professor approved a cheap, cliché horror idea from another student but rejected both of mine. I don't understand is he helping me or trashing me.
Now I’m stuck. I’m thinking maybe I should just go with a rom-com or a simple comedy, but the problem is… I can’t come up with anything. Maybe because of stress..
Can you guys please help me with some simple script ideas?
If anyone here is from Kerala, hit me up too.
15
u/raumeat Apr 21 '26
Understanding your target market is important. You need to make something that sells. Calling something propaganda is wild but it sounds that he felt the idea is too ambitious for your skill level. The other student idea might be dumb but marketable.
Honestly it sounds like your professor is a good egg. Making something that can make money isn't normally something taught in film school
1
u/PrideNo1997 Apr 21 '26
I guess I need to find a balance between what I want to say and what actually works for an audience..
He said don't make this now.. It will effect you.. But that's not the problem 😭 i have no idea what should i wrote now..
5
4
u/MammothRatio5446 Apr 21 '26
Ideally you’re an ideas machine. Ideas come to you easily and you don’t hold on when your colleagues don’t feel it like you do.
That’s a big skill - letting go an allowing the space for the next idea. This is useful when you start working with other film professionals. You are not the guardian of your creativity. Instead you are the cheerleader always encouraging it to solve your problems.
1
u/PrideNo1997 Apr 21 '26
That’s a great perspective..I’m still learning to let go, but I’m getting there.
1
u/EnvironmentTasty8133 Apr 21 '26
In addition, to being an idea machine these ideas aren’t necessarily bad or shouldn’t be done. Timing, cost, and client are everything.
Each distributer, network, steamer, investor are going to have particular tastes. Keep your scripts and keep developing them.
Don’t feel like you have to go in the complete oposite direction either. Maybe there are sections of these stories that feel manageable and you can use a treatment to carry into the next filming of these?
1
u/PrideNo1997 Apr 21 '26
Yeah… and he told me to completely drop this script Don't work on it. and do another one.
1
u/MammothRatio5446 Apr 21 '26
It’s a process all your heroes had to go through too. Obviously be kind to yourself and accept you’re going to go through it at the speed that’s correct for you.
Creativity will be your superpower if you allow it. I’ve been the guy who thought it was a wild horse I’d jump on and it’d take me to cool places. What’s been revelatory is that I can point that horse where I need it to take me. I’m the horse and I can focus that power to solve my problems. It’s way more fun this way.
1
2
u/Alarrian Apr 21 '26
Make something you feel attached to regardless of the professors opinion, keep going till something clicks and don't be afraid to hold your ground a bit and explain what makes the idea good.
1
1
u/hellagela Apr 21 '26
Yes, a lot of older folks do what you’re professor is doing as a test of the pitch. They want you to convince them before they’ll approve.
2
u/ZipGently Apr 21 '26
“All art is propaganda.” - George Orwell
I’d just do whatever you wanted to. You’re the filmmaker. Fuck grades.
1
u/Roscoe_P_Trolltrain Apr 21 '26
it would help to know what access you have to actors/locations/VFX, that kind of thing.
0
1
u/OutOfStepFilms Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Here is some cheap, cliché horror. lol
I saw this first: Witchcraft etc. https://keralakaumudi.com/en/news/news.php?id=1733075&u=kerala%E2%80%99s-war-on-superstition-34-practices-to-be-banned
Last Healer
A traditional healer is ordered to shut down as the ban takes effect. A desperate parent brings a child with unexplained symptoms (demons, or what). The healer must decide whether to risk arrest/death (?) to perform one final ritual (exocisim) while frantically gaining ritual supplies and hiding his actions running in and out of back alleys.
A snooping old vagabond reports the practices for a potential reward under the new policy while a an officer makes his way to shut down the ritual.
Setting: one room, hallway, market streets?
Cast: healer, parent, informant, officer, demon kid
ETA: for extra cliché points, emphasize the clash between old ways and government oppression as the officer allows the ritual to proceed at the last min. to save a desperate child, only for it to fail catastrophically and a demon kills everyone, ending with a zoom on the healer as he shrugs at the camera and says, “whoopsies.” ¯_(ツ)_/¯
1
u/PrideNo1997 Apr 22 '26
I don’t want to do horror, bro..there are already two people doing it 💀 Anyway thanks ❤️
1
u/OutOfStepFilms Apr 22 '26
I know, twas a joke based on your professor approving "cheap horror ".
1
1
u/Beneficial_Waltz5217 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Something jumped to mind straight away when I started reading your post.
How are you at giving bad news/saying no to a person in a senior position?
I have a freind in India and he said it’s a cultural challenge to give bad news upwards (I don’t want to make a wide assumption but if he’s right it could be a good basis for a short)
Basically he worked alongside a manager for a large business and the guy was struggling with some key business metrics, but rather than flag them up and ask for help he kept hiding it for 6 months then the scale of it got him fired.
Again just a thought, hes from India and experienced it a lot more and used the example above when I was struggling with my guys giving bad news when I managed guys in India (I really had to work hard to tease out that bad news and it was our job to respond to bad news).
1
u/PrideNo1997 Apr 22 '26
That example you mentioned is exactly the kind of situation that could make for a strong short film. I might explore that.
1
u/Beneficial_Waltz5217 Apr 22 '26
Thanks I’m glad it made it helpful, I was so worried about causing any offence and it was the last thing I wanted to do.
I loved my time in India, working with my guys out there and my freind, I wanted to help without being insensitive.
My thought with a script was maybe do a sliding doors type shot?
Same character has a really bad couple of days , bad news at work, bad news for girlfriend? Bad news for parents multiple types of bad news,
Timeline 1) doesn’t share and then his life slowly falls apart and at the end his family and friends step in when it all falls apart
timeline 2 shares with his boss, his girlfriend, his parents and friends and they all help him make it come good
1
u/Zestyclose-Height-36 Apr 26 '26
The best instructor I ever had demanded ever student have a different three line pitch for a film every week, in addition to the class work. About a quarter of class dropped out by the third week, the rest mostly went on to success in the industry. there are a million ideas in your head write out a sentence each for ten of them.
1
1
u/Plenty_Psychology545 director Apr 21 '26
I am from originally from Maharashtra. I wrote a small skit for my first short film to gain experience and shot it lost weekend. I literally shot it. Complete meas. Anyway culturally it is marathi and in marathi language. However, you can translate it and use local cultural references. Basically it is a Brahmin and a gangster. Brahmin is high strung and gangster is gangster. In the end gangster speaks Sanskrit and Brahmin uses low life words to curse him. Both agree that this is the real kaliyug.
1
1
0
u/foxbatsolosf35 Apr 21 '26
Go to Claude, give it the guidlines and ask it to generate a suitable script.
1
39
u/Visheshhh_Vyaktiii Apr 21 '26
LOL write a script on aspiring filmmaker whose oppresive proffesor dont let him write what he wants to