From: http://programming.oreilly.com/2014/04/simplifying-django.html

django_minimal_example.py

import os
import sys
 
BASE_PATH = os.path.dirname(__file__)
 
from django.conf import settings
from django.conf.urls import patterns, url
from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line
from django.shortcuts import render
 
settings.configure(
    DEBUG=True,
    SECRET_KEY='placerandomsecretkeyhere',
    ROOT_URLCONF=sys.modules[__name__],
    TEMPLATE_DIRS=(
        os.path.join(BASE_PATH, 'templates'),
    ),
)
 
def index(request):
    return render(request, 'index.html', {'request': request})
 
urlpatterns = patterns('', 
    url(r'^$', index, name='index'),
)
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)