Low Budget Films

The success of low budget films has prompted big studios and production houses to take a new look at their business models. Some studios make at least 50 per cent of their entire film portfolio as low budget films of Rs 5-10 crore. In 2013, Viacom 18 made almost 80 per cent of its films low budget.There is ami of star-driven big budget movies and content-driven low budget movies. Low budget films are good risk hedgers. Losses can be absorbed if the film does not perform. It is also true that really big money comes from movies featuring big stars. Digital revolution has set in. More than 70 per cent of films are shot digitally. It becomes time saving. Editing is done immediately on location. The crew size is reduced. It saves costs and salaries. There is no need to process the film in the lab after shooting. The film exhibition has gone digital. Digital trnsmission has cut costs. A digital print costs Rs 20000, as against Rs 70000 for an anlogue print. Even low budget films have a success rate of 10 per cent. To cut the risks from low budget movies, most studios prfer doing end-to-end production, marketing and distribution. There is no co-production.