John August is a guy who’s written a bunch of fantastical big studio scripts, and I just came across his website when he released a webisode he wrote/directed during the strike.
The Remnants from John August on Vimeo.
Don’t let the Reservoir Dogs-eque type treatment put you off, it’s 11 minutes of funny lo-fi sci-fi goodness even with the gloss of Hollywood connections giving it a slightly waxy taste. I also quite enjoyed his other lo-fi sci-fi directorial debut The Nines, and especially appreciate his sobering post-mortem on it. It reaffirms my belief that zerobudget is the way to go, as even Sundance-buzzed indie films aren’t making their budget back.
His how-to section is excellent, too.
Edit: Sorry, not Reservoir Dogs, Godfather-esque. Also worth checking out is August’s QandA section.
Thanks for the linkage, Jim. Lots of really useful stuff here.
Co-incidentally, I just caught THE NINES last week on TMN. Watched with zero pre-knowledge, so the sci-fi elements snuck up on me. Interesting picture.