Pre-Production

During the entire process, Alexander got to immerse himself in the entire script-making process. An entirely separate field from what he was used to but he could still manage with his new-century outlook on movies.

It finally made sense to him as to how his grandfather rose to assistant director ranks from a temporary crew member without connection or film background.

Sullivan approached the process of film in the same way as a business. It was by virtue of cost control and optimizing the product.

The old Sullivan's methods were a semi-perfected production manual that ditched all the unnecessary and focused more on what is at hand.

The major studios have business-minded people but they were too detached from the filmmaking process.

CEOs, Presidents, and board members looked at the bigger picture and had not much attention to the refinement of their movies.

They were too used to checklists and repetitions in material wholesale that they forgot about the quirkiness of every film.

Granted, people with the same level of expertise and attention existed in the major studios. However, they were a major studio for a reason.

Everyone had great ideas and schedules they want to fit into their films, essentially making it a hodgepodge creation.

Only extreme film controllers like Speilberg and Feige were able to achieve a relatively higher success rate in these creative clashes of egotistic investors and producers.

With only two efficient Creeds at work, the clash was lower and their progress was more synergistic.

Alexander couldn't be too sure about the expected earnings but he can positively say without a doubt that the proposed storyline is amazing.

Home Alone wouldn't be too formulaic as how 20th Century Fox had developed it into.

It is still a Kevin McAllister-led series with character development.

Home Alone 1 wouldn't differ much from the original.

Home Alone 2 would ditch the plane idiocracy.

Home Alone 3 is a bit too close to the original Taking Back the House and somewhat introduces an innocent love interest.

Home Alone 4 is a collaborative rift among the McAllister younglings.

Home Alone 5 would be transcendental with Alexander taking inspiration from the Book of Henry.

Every ingenious trick of do-it-yourself traps was juiced out that the young binge-watcher had to outsource from other films and genres. Granted that it was appropriate to the era of the late 80s and early 90s of course.

Kevin in these movies had practically become the living embodiment of pranks and house trapping. He was a young boy with a lot of obscure knowledge which makes him creepy but fun.

Every other movie's tricks were a refreshing treat that it wouldn't resort to the staleness of the original series.

It wouldn't lead to a series-killing movie like Home Sweet Home Alone. It is a well-known fact that the fourth made the movie a nightmare but Home Sweet Home Alone just lost the original flare with stupid choices.

As for the Creed versions, Alexander had even whipped-upped the thought of going secret service and advanced gadgetry but ultimately decided not to do it... or wait... until at least Home Alone 6 and onwards was remotely feasible.

Alone Against the Freaking Army isn't that bad of an idea for him.

Essentially, the entire array of scripts took an entire month, and the next months after that was the true implementation of pre-production.

Preproduction comes early in the filmmaking process, after development and before production.

It involves finalizing the script, hiring the actors and crew, finding locations, determining what equipment you'll need, and figuring out the budget.

Preproduction is the planning stage of a film, where you solidify all the details of your project before producing content. If Old Sullivan's advanced scripts were the written version, then the planning stage is materializing it.

The preproduction phase in filmmaking allows you to organize everything needed before one starts rolling the cameras.

Preproduction is when you figure out what you need to make your film, how much it's going to cost, and who you can hire to help you. It was in this

Effective preproduction can help save time and money, the two most limited resources in filmmaking when shooting a project.

An outlined budget means you are less likely to waste resources or run out of money, which can derail an entire project.

Detailing the schedule is also integral to a smooth production process, as it gives the crew a set idea of where time should be allocated for an efficient shoot.

Alexander knew that his grandfather's screenwriting was amazing but the product management efforts he is putting to use were even more amazing.

Blair the Witch, Paranormal Activity, and all those low-cost movie miracles became mediocre with his pursuit of extremely low financial expenditure.

The box office fails throughout film history signified an era of shame that was even more shameful.

----------

"Grandpa, are we breaking laws with all these things you are using?" This was what Alexander asked after inspecting, finalizing, and visiting a shooting location.

"Nope. But we are dancing on the edge in what could be called a gray area." Sullivan eased the boy while keeping his attention on the road.

"If production studios knew of these tricks, why are there movies burning millions?" The curious boy got more curious and inquired.

"That's because they trapped themselves with their reputation and enviable rate of monetary returns." The old man sighed at his analysis.

"Think of it like this. Someone bought 3 separate raw materials for one dollar each and made it into a true product. If someone were to sell that product only worth 3 dollars and earn 3 million dollars from it, what would happen to those materials."

Alexander did not answer but already got the gist of things.

Sullivan read his silence and continued. "Those owners of raw materials would be mentally unbalanced from that enviable sale and hike up the price the next time around."

"The 1 dollar raw material would balloon in worth until everybody loses out. The seller of raw materials and the product maker would come to an agreement while the product would lose its miraculous profitability."

"It would be fine if were just talking about cheap raw condiments and food products but everything gets much more complicated when human sentiment and film get into the picture."

Alexander also sighed at the complexity of everything in this world.