Creating the low-budget feature film script: Development as emergence

This chapter focusses on the development of a low-budget feature film script, Waiting For Robbo, the successful outcome of an intensive, structured and competitive development process co-financed by Screen Australia and managed by ScreenACT (now Screen Canberra). The process involved "rounds" of development that eliminated unsuccessful scripts/teams, reducing a starting cohort of more than 40 writers to three "finalists" who completed the process with fully developed scripts, market attachment by a distributor and access to production fund for financing. With access to supporting documents, tools and feedback notes, this chapter examines how the writer was supported to navigate the creative challenges of working with a restrictive production budget and an international script consultant, turning constraints into virtues early in the development process. The case study also reveals the complex social and political dynamics that take place when writing a screenplay that is part of an industry-focused process involving commercially minded distributors and a bureaucratically managed, state funded prize.