Business Insight Zone

Back when Cloverfield came out, I added to the general ranting and raving about the movie’s viral marketing strategies. Now uber-blogger John Scalzi analyzes how J. J. Abrams’s creation has become the best return-on-investment of any sci-fi pic this year — even better than Iron Man.

How to Make a (Good!) Science Fiction Movie (for Cheap!)

What Cloverfield shows us is that in this age of nine-digit film budgets, it’s still possible to make a science fiction film that looks great, has all the bells and whistles that fans expect — and still costs less than what Will Smith gets paid.

Scalzi has at least three distinct advantages in writing on this topic:

1. He cut his writerly teeth as a film critic in California and has kept up with the business since then.
2. He’s an award-winning science-fiction novelist in his own right.
3. As anyone who reads his highly popular blog knows, the man’s got wit.

Therefore, go and read the words of Scalzi, that you may become wise in the ways of making cost-effective science-fiction films.