An Entrepreneur in, of All Places, Hollywood

Robert Rodriguez' debut film, the 1992 "El Mariachi," began production with a budget of $9,000, much of which the moviemaker raised by volunteering to participate in a drug test. Rodriguez brought the border adventure in under budget at $7,000. It went on to gross more than $2 million and launch Rodriguez to near-mythical status among independent filmmakers.

Rodriguez has since written, directed and produced numerous feature films, including "Desperado" (1995), "The Faculty" (1998), "Sin City" (2005), "Grindhouse" (2007) and the "Spy Kids" series, for which he is now shooting the fourth installment. The latest, "Predators," remains true to Rodriguez' moviemaking philosophy of doing things inexpensively, yet well.

Rodriguez made "Predators" for $47 million, a bargain when the average Hollywood film costs about $64 million to produce. And, notes co-producer Elizabeth Avellan, "We brought it in for $1 million under budget." That's another Hollywood anomaly.

"I always try to create a win-win situation with my movies," explains Rodriguez. What he means is, he doesn't like making movies that have to set box-office records in order to make money. He keeps costs low by, first of all, not making movies in Hollywood. At his studio in Austin, Texas, Rodriguez takes advantage of financial incentives that reimburse him for 15 percent of whatever he spends in Texas.

Employees of Troublemaker Studios tend to be long-term staff members who live locally. And over the years Rodriguez has built up his capabilities until he can do everything from costumes and props to digital special effects in-house, without hiring the subcontract shops that drive up Hollywood budgets. "I'm not flying someone in from California, having to put them up in a hotel, pay for a rent car," explains production designer Steve Joyner.

Troublemaker also knows when to cut corners without sacrificing quality. For instance, says Avellan, when they needed fire special effects in "Predators," they used real flames rather than adding it digitally later. The grass? It's plants, not pixels.

They exhibited similar cost-conscious caution about the movie's multitude of creature effects. The titular "Predator" monsters are actors in molded suits, whose alien facial features are manipulated by puppeteers wielding radio controllers. They later enhanced the costumes with digital special effects, saving substantially over the cost of creating them wholly on computers.

It's no secret where the sense of frugality comes from. "You have to have a business sense," says Avellan. That, Rodriguez and Troublemaker Studios do have. A few months after its theatrical release, "Predators" had grossed enough to cover production costs, with the normally far more lucrative sales from DVD and Blu-Ray releases yet to be tabulated.

For Rodriguez, marrying business with art has a practical side. Since the studios know they can trust him not to overspend, they don't try to over-control him either. Or, as he puts it, "If you get a win-win situation, they'll leave you alone, so you can have a chance of making a hit."

(Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox.)