Chapter 3
Movie Development
Development is the process of assembling the essential building blocks of a film: a story idea, a script, a director, one or two main cast members (preferably stars), and a budget. The foundation upon which any movie is built is an idea or a story, and studio development personnel, independent producers, directors, actors, and other professionals involved in filmmaking, such as entertainment lawyers and agents, are always seeking ideas and material with the potential to become a movie.
There were 718 films released theatrically in 20161 in the United States, and roughly one out of every ten films in development actually makes it from a concept to the screen.2 At any given time, between the studios and the independent ...
Get The Business of Film, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
