Is the "Western" making a comeback?

I've always wanted to write one about a group of Scots in a wagon train, but have been unsure of the market and/or budget to do it.

That said, there have been some lowish budget jobs that have made it through sheer artistry and a terrific script... The Proposition for example, though set in Australia, feels like a western.

If westerns are your passion, I saw go with the flow and write one... and I might just take my own advice and start mine tonight.

Willie

I seem to remember a 'western' writer's contest not too long ago.

I'm told by producers that Western scripts are total black sheep/orphans,and have been for over 30 years now.

First off, they're very expensive to produce. This is so because they are a very specific type of "period piece," and so they require authentic costumes, props, sets, etc. And almost all of them require horses, and horse wrangling is getting more and more expensive in Hollywood. And then there are stunt doubles (often for the horse scenes).

Second, there are few stars who want to do them (I am only told this, don't know it for sure). Supposedly in these post-Reagan years, any association with "cowboys" carries a negative political connotation to it.

And third, the biggest drawback of all is that the market for Westerns ain't what it used to be fifty years ago: kids of today have almost zero interest in them, and they are almost impossible to sell overseas.


Back in the Golden Age of Hollywood (the 1930's) all the way up through the 1960's, Westerns (both in film and on TV) were actually dirt-cheap to produce, and quite popular with most Americans, so there were more of them than you could shake a stick at. (And who could forget those classic Spaghetti Westerns!) But all that as changed. They're ghastly expensive now adays, and just don't bring in the audiences to justify them. Not even TV can do it anymore. And there doesn't even seem to be a straight-to-DVD market for them either. They are a serious step-child genre.

The only ones that get produced now are the rare indies, and then the passion projects of SOME vanity prodco's, and then the stuff with serious Oscar potential. And even with the cumulative output from all three of those camps, the Western is definitely an endangered species.

A few other things I have been told about as far as the astronomical expenses they can incur:

INSURANCE -- They are very expensive productions to insure (more expensive than most). The surity bond for a Western is out of reach of most small prodcos. (This is so usually because of the animals involved in production.)

NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS -- When word gets out that a Western is being filmed, the producers can often get hammered by calls from Native American interest groups.

CGI -- Yes! I said CGI! A lot of post-production SFX includes removing power lines and highways and air plane vapor trails and other signs of modern technology from the background (or even from the sound track).

no, i don't think they're making a comeback, sorry. but, there have been westerns of sorts here and there, but pretty low-budget stuff.

Westerns may be dead for now. But they will always make a come back. (In North America, anyway) Too expensive to shoot? I hear contradictory things here. The only westerns people have seen lately are low budget. How can both of those things be possible? I have no doubt that Hollywood has, for the time being, declared the Western dead. As they had at the time when Costner proposed did Dances With Wovles. Both Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven had defied their expectations and the conventional wisdom of the time.

There is something in the Western genre that carries the American ideal to itself in its stories and themes more than any other genre of filmmaking or story telling. Individualism. The establishment of law and order. The creation of order from chaos. The lawman as the avenging angle, someone who imposes order on chaos and establishes justice. Much of the way Americans think of themselves, the values they hold dear to themselves. come from these American stories.

Think about this. That peroid of lawlessness, that period off gunfighters and bankrobbers and trainrobbers and sherriffs, that period where all of these westerns are set only lasted for twenty years in American history. 20 years of 230 some odd years. And yet, think about how large these impressions loom in the American mind and how large a part of the psychie this is.

That is why the western will always re-invent itself. But whatever the western is, it can't be what it was before. It must be a newer, truer re-invention of itself.

westerns are like vampire flicks. there's only one or two good ones each year. which really says, there's virtually no market for them in comparison to nearly all other genres. if you attempt a western it's really gotta have something fresh and new.

the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford - fresh and new
3:10 to yuma - not so fresh but good character piece for a-list actors

Westerns are always in style...

As long as they are set in space!


All of the elments outlined above that make a 'classic western' are being recyled into sci-fi and space-opera. ("Star Trek - think 'Wagon Train' in outer space!" - alleged pitch line of Gene Roddenbury's)

Don't forget the old term for B-western's was 'horse opera'.

It's definately an up-hill battle trying to get any period movie (except sci fi) made these days. Costumes, locations, props - and yes, animals - all add to the budget. So its definately something to consider.

But also consider there is VERY little difference in terms of logistics between shooting a western and a medieval epic. Locations/costumes/horses/stunts/CG its all the same. Medieval/Fantasy films are the 'westerns' of todays youth. And they get made. So it's partly a generational PREFERENCE battle you'll be fighting.

But ya gotta ask yourself - do you feel lucky? Well do ya... punk?

If you're story is 'timeless' and universal enough, consider moving it to outer space. Hell "Outland" was High Noon shot on a space station.

If the story is 'small enough' then it might be picked up by an indy - a couple of people in a cabin, no horse work - some guys around a campfire... sure, it's not too bad, go for it.

IF its a sweeping "How the West Was Won" with cavalry battles and wagon trains ... well, think about it. And think about moving it to medieval England.

Ultimately only you can decide how badly you need to tell this tale. I've just completed a script - and I'm sending it around now. It's a family 'christmas' story. I wrote it BECAUSE Christmas stories are 'supposed' to be an easy sale. I wrote it BECAUSE it's been kicking around my head and in my desk for over a decade and it HAD to come out. I just got word the first draft is up for a REMI award at Worldfest next month - great. Not bad for a first draft, but it's on the fourth now...and it's much better.

Meanwhile.... my next script is.... . A western.


Yup. I've got this GREAT idea for a western. No one has ever done it. Absolutely unique, relevant, funny, great action - a real star vehicle.

And I KNOW it's going to be a hard sell, a high budget piece.

But the story is driving me crazy, so it's gotta come out.

"Go ahead Doc, I can take it."

Takes a swig from the whiskey bottle, and lays back on the filthy table.

I think the film Cowboys and Aliens is in production somewhere... a Sci-Fi Western, you can't beat that.

I only read this far because I was stopped dead by a red light in what you said:

WriteKnight said:

Westerns are always in style...

As long as they are set in space!


All of the elments outlined above that make a 'classic western' are being recyled into sci-fi and space-opera. ("Star Trek - think 'Wagon Train' in outer space!" - alleged pitch line of Gene Roddenbury's)

Click to expand...

I'm willing to bet you dinner at Outback Steakhouse that it was NOT Gene Roddenberry who said this, nor was it said about Star Trek. It was in fact Glen Larson who said it when he was pitching Battlestar: Galactica back in the 1970's.





(I haven't had a Bloomin' Onion in ages.)












.

Alright, you're on. Dinner at a steak house... off to 'googleland' for cites and sources... be back later.

Plot Device said:

I only read this far because I was stopped dead by a red light in what you said:

I'm willing to bet you dinner at Outback Steakhouse that it was NOT Gene Roddenberry who said this, nor was it said about Star Trek. It was in fact Glen Larson who said it when he was pitching Battlestar: Galactica back in the 1970's.


(I haven't had a Bloomin' Onion in ages.)


.

Click to expand...

I thought it was George Lucus when he made Star Wars.

Star Trek was famously pitched as "Wagon Train to the stars." Clicky

-Derek

Wow,

took less than a minute.

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/startrek/startrek.htm



Medium rare riby-eye if you don't mind.

Ahh Derek, you beat me by a few seconds! Funny some sources say "Wagon train to the stars" others "Wagon train in outer space". Still, I can smell the grilled onions now...!

that glen larson - he's a pitch/speech plagiarist/role model for obama maybe

You know what ...........





I'm gonna be a TOTAL bitch here and say that the quote is NOT the same.

The correct Gene Roddenberry quote regarding Star Trek is "wagon train to the stars," while the correct Glen Larson quote regarding Battlestar: Galactica is "wagon train in space."

http://www.battlestargalactica.com/outside_docs/bg_outdoc0045.htm



Be sure to bring your credit card. I like dessert.

Sorry, earlier sources use both quotes attirbuted to Rodenberry- and it just means Larson lifted it anyway!

WriteKnight said:

Sorry, earlier sources use both quotes attirbuted to Rodenberry- and it just means Larson lifted it anyway!

Click to expand...

Then I guess Outback is on me!

Seeing as how Larson DID say it at some point, I'll agree to go 'dutch'.

(But you can leave the tip!)

WriteKnight said:

Seeing as how Larson DID say it at some point, I'll agree to go 'dutch'.

(But you can leave the tip!)

Click to expand...

Deal!

I don't think it will ever make a huge comeback, not like it was (am I'm talking traditional western's not set with fancy technology) but I have noticed four recent requests for westerns by four different film companies.