How to make a martial arts film

Stage one: choose your location

Location is the most important choice in making a martial arts film, since you need a good backdrop for the fights. Unfortunately, there aren't so many to choose from; you cannot set a MA film in Wigan. Some alternatives:

1. Hong Kong (triads, a nice harbour to throw people into, and street markets give plenty of opportunity for overturning things);
2. Tokyo (hi-tech, and a must if you want yakuza);
3. Bangkok (bar girls!);
4. the mean streets (or high schools) of some American city;
5. the mean street of a small town;
6. the mean corridors of an American prison
7. medieval China or Japan;

Some directors have been more adventurous, setting their films in South Africa, Alaska, an alternate dimension or even Ireland, but this is not recommended to beginners.

Stage two: choose your plot

Choice is even more limited here, unless you want to do some kind of crossover film (MA/police, MA/war, MA/SF, MA/romantic comedy etc.).

1. Martial artists are lured or forced into competing in a tournament to the death.
2. The Good Martial Artist finds his friend/brother/student/dog has been killed (or at least crippled) by a Bad Martial Artist. GMA goes through rigorous training in order to be good enough to face BMA, then finds him and kicks the crap out of him (sometimes in a deathmatch scenario as in #1).
3. GMA returns home after a long absence (MA training abroad, service with the special forces etc.). to find that the town/neighborhood/school has been overrun by hoodlums, drug dealers and other scum. He/she kicks the crap out of them. Variation: the GMA may start a MA class, training unfit and inexperienced kids to the level where they can take on street gangs in a few weeks, or alternatively call up his/her old pals from the special forces, or a bunch of sweet but deadly Buddhist monks.
4. Wimpy kid gets picked on at school, meets a cryptic old man, learns MA and kicks the crap out of everyone (in a sporting way, of course, to show that MA also improves your character).

The thing to remember is to choose your location before you choose your plot. In the case of a mismatch, relocating is prohibitively expensive, but a screenplay can be re-written in a couple of all-nighters if you have a good stock of Tsingtao.

Stage three: choose your cast

Actually "cast" is an overstatement here, since normally only the leading role presents a tough decision (there are plenty of good, cheap villains, and for the wise old teacher you simply have to get Pat Morita or Victor Wong). Film technology has advanced to the stage where MA ability is not the main consideration, but it's obviously cheaper if you can find someone who doesn't need too much in the way of CGI and wires. Some of the big names are getting a bit long in the tooth: Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan and even Van Damme are too old to play the brash kid who learns kung fu to avenge his brother or the talented but naive GMA who is lured into a deathmatch. The best all-rounder is Jet Li - young, cute and with a twinkle in his eye - although if you want someone who can do serious acting (why?), Chow Yun Fat is a better bet. Because of the infamous Hollywood double standard, the age problem is even worse if you want a female lead, though Cynthia Rothrock and Michelle Yeoh seem to be happily kicking their way into middle age with no bad effects on box office ratings.If you want to go for the male adolescent market, though, Sarah Michelle Gellar might be worth calling now Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been axed. The best long-term investment, though, is either to hang around displays by visiting wushu teams, or pick someone who looks cute, give them some intensive MA training, and hire a really good SFX person.

Find the best fight choreographer money can buy

Each hour with a choreographer saves five hours of outtakes. Look at Charlie's Angels - if you can get Cameron Diaz to do kung fu, anything is possible.