Where To Start?

With the introduction of this film opening project, a few ideas came to mind. Wanting to be a filmmaker this was the perfect opportunity for me to show what I know and learn from the process. My partner Lara Finan and I had the idea to go with a romantic movie about two people from different countries who are in love. Seeing our budget won't exceed $20 for this film opening, going with a romantic film is the best choice, because what are the key elements in a romantic film? Two actors. That's it. There aren't any intricate props or special effects. Just two people who pretend to be in love. Simple. Yet, there is the challenge of setting and location. The challenge that these characters need to be from different countries and somehow know each other. It will be easy for one, since one side will be in the US, but for the foreign partner it might be hard to portray a foreign country. In the middle of this brainstorm of ideas, I happened to find myself in Ft. Lauderdale stopped at a stoplight. I looked around and saw a homeless man walk to a bus stop and lay down on the bench. This sparked an idea in my head of a character study. What if we made a film about the redemption of a homeless guy who goes from a lazy bum scraping by day-by-day, to a real pillar of the community. The film would open with the man walking the street chatting a few people up and coming across a drug deal where two kids under 15 are dealing drugs. He stops them and takes their drugs, telling them to go home but his real intention wasn't to stop these kids from doing drugs, but he saw an opportunity for free drugs. This introduces the idea of what this character is. What his motivations are. After further thought this idea is very far fetched for our budget and resources. We would need someone who looks homeless or make them look the part through makeup and wardrobe changes, but again, it was too far fetched in budget terms. So we will settle on the romance idea since we can make it as good as possible and have the resources needed to make this opening great.