The Business of Screenwriting
Here’s some of my personal advice, from what I’ve seen, read and
experienced. And of course, you can choose to take it with a
grain of salt because if I REALLY knew what I was talking about, I’d be
making six figures a spec in La-La Land, wouldn’t I?!
So with that in mind, here’s some key things that I like to mention to
my clients and students...
Firstly, I believe that CRAFT = BUSINE$$. In other words,
you
have to have it on the page before anyone is going to take you
seriously. Of course, that’s not ALL you need to sustain a
career; if you are an asocial arrogant a-hole to boot...you probably
are not going to get far. This is a social business and you must
be able to be positive, friendly and articulate “in the room.”
But before you get in the room, no matter who you know or what parties
you attend, at the very least, you need something unique and polished
on the page.
GETTING “THE READ” -- It’s all about getting your script read by people
in the industry. Once you’ve registered and copyrighted it, don’t
worry too much about it getting stolen -- show it to anyone and
everyone. You never know who knows who and where or who your
script will be passed on to.
YOU’RE NOT THE DIRECTOR, YOU’RE THE WRITER -- You’re not going to
direct it, unless you can raise the money for the budget and you want
to spend the next three years on this project alone. If not, and
unless you’re an experienced feature film director, they’re not going
to let you direct it, so don’t ask, don’t attach yourself as director,
and take out those camera cues on the page.
MANAGERS VS. AGENTS -- It’s been said that Managers want to develop a
screenwriter’s career over the next 5 years, while Agents are only
looking for the big sale NOW. But from what I’ve seen...they’re
BOTH looking for the big sale now. (Wouldn't you be?) If
they don’t think your spec
is commercial, they won’t bother with you. Don’t worry now about
choosing between a Manager or an Agent or using both. Just get
your script to as many Agents and Managers as you can and be persistent
with them as they are notoriously bad at turning around material
(agencies usually don’t employ Readers). On that note...
WRITE A COMMERCIAL SPEC IN A LOW TO MEDIUM BUDGET -- it’s okay to write
a screenplay for purely personal reasons, as long as you don’t expect
to sell it. This is an audience medium, and a commercial
business, so you should have something that FITS into the commercial
marketplace and it shouldn’t be too HUGE because they only let writers
with commercial track records work on the really expensive films.
If you can’t pinpoint the GENRE and TARGET AUDIENCE of your screenplay,
how do you expect the cold Reader to do so? The fact is...those
are the first two things a Reader will be looking to determine...so
make them clear as early as possible in your script.
SUBMITTING WITHOUT REPRESENTATION -- it’s done all the time, it can be
done, don’t let a company’s “no unsolicited submissions” rule stop
you. Interest from a production company may be just the hook to
get an agent. Every production company or studio has a waiver
form (Submission Release Form) that you can sign and they will accept
your script for review if they think it has merit for any reason.
If they ask you to sign the form, sign it. If later you find out
they’ve stolen your script, then you have proof of registration,
copyright and a paper trail proving you submitted to them, right?
And if you really can’t or don’t want to get in the door without a rep,
pay a lawyer (any lawyer) a small fee to mail in your script with a
cover letter (that you write) printed on their stationery.
But they’re not going to steal your screenplay. Don’t worry about
it. Protect your screenplay, then forget about it and show it to
anyone and everyone with any connection to the industry. Register
online in a few minutes at...
http://www.wga.org/
THE INTERNET -- What is it? Just kidding. We know what it
is: an amazing tool to boost your screenwriting career, right?
Yes, it can be, but the internet is not the end-all be-all.
Please remember that every hour you spend on your screenwriter’s blog
site, contributing to online screenwriter’s forums, or editing that
super-cool digital video trailer you’ve made up to promote your
screenplay...is an hour that you’re NOT writing or editing your script
and I believe your craft will probably suffer for it. I say this
because I know firsthand that websites and emails take up a LOT of
time, and busy development people do not have time to go to a writer’s
website anyway; also, please know that Hollywood is still ruled by the
nascent piece of technology known as the telephone, and nothing matters
if it’s not on the page. With that in mind...get offline and keep
writing!
THE MIGHTY LOGLINE -- The best strategy: Work for months on your
logline BEFORE you write a single page of the screenplay. It’s
that important.
Use that dynamic logline to hook producers and reps on the phone --
they will request your script and break all rules to read it if the
logline is THAT good.
ATTACHING TALENT -- If you have an opportunity to get a script to
talent, an established actor or director, go for it, but don’t
waste
your time trying to get them officially “attached” to the
project. This applies even if you are related by blood to said
talent! If they are established, the chances of them clearing
their schedule for a project without a guaranteed paycheck are
extremely slim.
KEEP UP ON WHAT’S HOT -- Educate yourself about the industry and keep
up on what’s hot, ESPECIALLY IN THE GENRE OF YOUR SCREENPLAY. (Look around imdb, you'll find a LOT of movies you've never heard of with major talent. Watch those movies and find out the story of how they got made.) Be
able to “talk shop” about what’s current in movie theaters, on TV, and
in the development world (keeping in mind that what’s in theaters was
hot in development one to two years ago). And be able to make
comparisons between your script and successful films (not bombs; don’t
compare your script to a bomb).
READ BLOGS BY PRO WRITERS -- Here’s some personal blogs by top
Hollywood screenwriters...lots of helpful information and also very
entertaining to read...
John August (Big Fish, Go, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory),
very
informative essays and lots of Q&A...
johnaugust.com
Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds), very funny articles
about life in
Hollywood...
I find your lack of faith disturbing
Craig Mazin (Scary Movie 3) and Ted Elliot (Pirates
of
the Carribbean,
Shrek)...
The Artful Writer
NETWORKING -- can’t be stressed enough. Nowadays a lot of it
happens online, but face time is crucial. It’s still always
stronger to spend two hours with someone in person at a coffee shop
than 100 hours trading emails. But you may use a website to meet
people with whom you will later have coffee, so towards that end I can
suggest a fantastic site for networking with other screenwriters, the
TWB site...
The Writers' Building
There are a number of “peer review” and “writers community” sites out
there, feel free to take a look around and see where you fit in
best.
GET IT OUT THE DOOR -- submitting your script is a challenging and
exhausting process, but you must do it. Again and again, learning
from each submission. Firstly, you want to make up a *targeted
submission list* made up of production companies that produce your
genre of film at your budget range. How to find these
companies? A few great sources are...
Hollywood Creative Directories
The HCD guides are also available in print at bookstores. They
aren’t cheap, but if you’re looking for a geurilla way to use their
lists, a little bird told me you could take a notepad and pen with you
into one of those Schmarnes & Hoble bookstores and copy down the
info. I
do not know the little bird’s name, but he wore an Armani suit and ate
Studio Heads for breakfast.
And if you’re targeting lower-budget producers, heck if you’re just
looking to get your script out there to as many production companies as
possible, (which is your goal, right? Have you been listening?!)
then you can also use the Ink Tip site, which has a very strong track
record of success...
http://inktip.com/
ESTABLISHED PROPERTIES -- it’s a really smart move to connect your spec
script to some kind of pre-existing property. If you adapt a book
that’s in the “public domain,” then it’s free. Or you can
purchase the rights to a piece of material -- a book, comic book,
newspaper article, or true life story. This site will help to
look up those properties...
The WATCH list: a database of copyright contacts for writers, artists,
and prominent figures in other creative fields... http://tyler.hrc.utexas.edu/
WRITE THE NEXT ONE -- serious writers keep writing. Great writers
have many great ideas for screenplays, not just one. Don’t put
all your eggs in one basket; each script is another rung on the ladder
to success and another opportunity to learn.
I hope that helps -- any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
I wish you good luck!
-Daniel Calvisi
www.actfourscreenplays.com
copyright (c) Daniel Calvisi 2007
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