Let us hope for the day when talented pro-American writers can make movies cheaply and bypass the studios entirely.
We may be able to get to cheaper film production soon as movies are shot digitally (even if the resulting footage is still processed with effects to "look" like film).
Raw film stock, plus processing, plus printing makes it impossible to make a "cheap" film these days. You are talking millions of dollars of investment, much of it just in materials.
Even Desparado (which was shot in 16mm) was designed to be watched at home (and much of that rumored $35,000 cost was blown away by the STUDIO money that was used in editing the film, blowing it up to 35mm, striking prints, advertising, etc. In the end it was NOT a cheap film. Cheap by Hollywood's standards but then you could make a film for what Hollywood has been known to spend just in advertising.