Nonetheless, it, too, is true. Having defined the general parameters of the audience we want to reach, we had already made some progress in determining the scale of production we were imagining for this still unwritten movie. It has to be a studio production, or at minimum, a major studio release. To reach for the audience we're aiming for means the movie has to be at least studio friendly. Stars are the studio's guarantee of opening well in the U.S., and selling well internationally.
Stars cost money mainly because they can do exactly that.
So now we know we are writing a big budget studio film, which, I might add, is unusual or perhaps even unique for me - at least in the last decade or so. Studio films used to be quite beyond my ken. Until now, of course. If not, we might have to start all over again to get in, and once in a lifetime is quite enough for me, thank you very much. It's about a lot of different people, all of whom could be played by seriously good actors of different sexes and ages and demographic appeals, thus, hopefully, appealing to all these similarly different audience groupings.