Category: The Business

Tavis from Portland has a lot to say about a number of challenges to breaking in. He says:

Everyone knows of the main catch-22 concerning screenwriting and agents. You can’t get one until you sell a spec, but to sell a spec you need an agent.

Not true, Tavis. You need a good screenplay and a referral to get an agent. You do not need a spec sale. Many screenwriters have entire careers without ever having a spec sale.

There is an initial quandary though, and that is finding the time to write a really great spec script while working a full-time job. I often find myself frustrated, thinking that if I could only spend 40-hours a week focused on writing I could really put something of quality together. But as it is I only have several free hours each day and they are after a mind-numbing full day at work.

This is a real challenge. Ron Bass, who is arguably the most prolific working screenwriter in Hollywood (and at one point was the highest paid writer), used to get up at 3:00AM to do his writing before he started his day job as an attorney. It took him 17 years to get his break. It’s hard, but it’s part of making it. You might consider doing your writing before your day job, too, so the writing is sharp.

So, basically this question is about funding and grants. Is it possible if you have a story which requires a good amount of research and is rooted in some sort of historical/factual/scientific background that a grant would be available to assist a writer in developing a project?

There are many grants and fellowships designed specifically to help emerging writers who show some promise focus on their writing. Alex Epstein at Complications Ensue recently ran this list.

I never hear anyone talking about these issues and just wonder are all the writers out there independently wealthy and can just spend their time writing whenever they want, or do they have spouses supporting them or what?

Of the working screenwriters I personally know, most of them were bartenders or production assistants (another low paying Hollywood job) before getting their breaks. None of them were wealthy.

Here is the preamble to a question I have for you:

Some people criticize story analysts/readers as being overly harsh on all material because they are frustrated writers bitter about their own lack of career. I have never bought that excuse for getting poor coverage, but that is just my opinion. In another post, the subject arose of submitting your script directly to buyers, for example through a direct contact inside the buyer, versus submitting through a producer. A variety of differing and conflicting opinions emerged regarding the best way to submit. Being strategic is important, but there are obviously different ideas about how to do that. In addition, story analysts are not uniform in their attitudes or prejudices. About the only thing they are uniform in is that flawed or poorly executed scripts get uniformly hammered. That’s what readers do – look for storytelling flaws and poor execution. However, well-executed scripts often get hammered, too, by various readers for various reasons.

So, today, here is my question for you. What are your experiences with readers? If you’ve seen coverage of your own material (which is usually a brutal experience), tell me, did you see any reader prejudice?

I have a script, which my agent had us attach a producer to. My agent and the producer are very good friends, and in our initial talks he had some good ideas. Well, after 3+ months of back and forth rewriting (the producer changed his mind on several points 3-4 times over) we finally had what he considered a final draft. The thing is my co-writer and I thought it was much better 3+ months before.

So, after it went out wide, no one picked it up, but we got meetings, we had several people (producers, execs., etc.) tell us what they loved about the story. Of course, it was the stuff we now only hinted at, as the producer attached had us cut lots of it out.

Anyway, I’m rambling. We now have our draft that went out, and our draft before the producer came on board. We’d like to revert back to our original draft and part ways with the producer, as his ideas, thoughts, and plans are all not at all onboard with ours.

So, what is the proper way of parting ways with the producer, who was attached via our agent, but NOTHING was ever signed, and no money ever exchanged hands. So how do we do it?

Chris from Los Angeles

The big question is, revert back to the original script for what purpose? It went out wide and was passed on by everyone. Who will you shop it to? Most specs end up as calling cards for their writers. This one was a calling card for you. Focus on the people you met as a result, nurture those relationships and get the next script in front of your new fans as soon as possible.

The next big question is, why now? How is the fact that this producer may or may not be attached for certain purposes stopping you from doing whatever you have in mind? Continue reading “UNWINDING PRODUCER DEALS”

I am a pre-pro writer with three solid scripts (one was a Chesterfield semi-finalist) but no agent. A good friend’s next-door neighbor is the CEO of a small but successful film studio. The CEO is essentially a line a credit and probably doesn’t have much creative control, but I imagine he’d be willing to pass along my work to someone within his company. I want to take advantage of this seeming opportunity but am unsure how best to proceed. What can I reasonably ask for from this contact?

Ryan from Pennsylvania

Having the attention of the CEO of a successful studio is a good thing. Don’t assume he (or she) is not involved in creative decisions. A number of studio heads have built careers on creative vision.

You can ask for a number of things:

First, you can ask if he can refer you to an agent. Referrals are the best way to obtain an agent. If the CEO does not know any agents, ask him to introduce you to the development execs at his company. They certainly know agents. Let them know you’d like to find a beginning agent with a good agency who people in the industry really like. Continue reading “IF YOU KNOW A STUDIO HEAD…”

Can you tell me exactly what a good development deal for a script should entail?

Cheers

Miranda From Australia

The most common script development deal in Hollywood is called the writer’s step deal. In this kind of deal, you (the writer) are promised a certain sum per step. The steps are usually (1) treatment, (2) first draft, (3) revision draft, and (4) polish. Ordinarily, the producer has the option of stopping at any step. The producer owns the material it has paid for and can continue with the project hiring other writers. The WGA has a short form agreement which sets out the terms of this kind of deal. If the writer is a guild member or the producer is a Writers Guild signatory, the writer is paid at least guild minimums. You can download the WGA 2004 schedule of minimums here.

A good deal is to have as many guaranteed steps as possible for as much above guild minimum as possible.

Vincent from USA asks:

Ok, so I am in a weird place right now. We (co-writer and myself) had a spec go wide a few months ago. Lots of meetings, no offers. We were approached by a good size producer, with several film credits of substantial size, who is moving into tv more and more. He has 2 new shows coming out this fall.

So, he is interested in adapting out script for tv, however not necessarily with us onboard. At first we said, NO WAY. But, the more we think about it, we’re both at a point in our careers where the “BREAK” has not yet come, and therefore we’re living very much day-to-day.

My agent suggests he wants us to sell the rights/pitch to someone and have them write the pilot. By someone I’m assuming a network? Anyway, what I’m wondering is IF we sell the rights for someone to bring to life for a tv series or at least a pilot, what kind of money is that?

Selling what essentially would probably be a pitch for tv. At this point we hate to do it, but really see the freedom a little money would give us to move a few other things forward.

I’m not quite clear on the question, so I’m going to state some assumptions on my part. As I understand it, a highly qualified producer wants to adapt your feature script into a television pitch but does not want you involved beyond selling the initial idea. Your agent suggests that you sell the rights to someone to write the pilot.

From your scenario, it’s hard to tell whether you are selling anything at this point, or whether a producer and your agent are just asking permission to present ideas to others for possible exploitation as a TV show. You need to clarify what is actually on the table. The important part of this process is always to pin down what is real and what is just an aspiration of the people that want a piece of your creativity, often for nothing up front. There is nothing wrong with deciding to let them have a piece as long as you know what is really happening and decide that’s what you want to do.

Here are some questions you should answer before you make a decision:

1. Is the highly qualified producer willing to pay you now to develop your script or does he intend to develop it and pay you only if it gets picked up?
2. Why are you assuming the “someone” is a network?
3. Are you guaranteed credit for being the concept creator?
4. At what points in the process do you get paid? When does the first money come into your pocket and what has to happen for that money to be real?
5. What kind of money can you expect?
6. At what point in the process does the amount of promise of money get reduced to a written agreement?

You will think of other questions, too. Anytime people are throwing around concepts you don’t fully understand, make your agent explain them. Don’t be intimidated into thinking you should know so it is dumb to ask. You are a writer, not a producer, and, especially in television, you may not have any idea how the process works.

All that having been said, if a real sale is on the table, if you haven’t sold anything yet, selling something to mainstream Hollywood is generally a good thing for your career, especially if it puts enough money in your pocket to allow you to focus on the next writing. As far as what kind of money they are talking about, I can’t tell you. You need to clarify that with your agent. It is likely no one has any idea at this point and they just want to know whether you are open to moving forward on a TV concept without you being attached to write it. If you are only willing to do it for a lot of money, say so and work with your agent to get some clarity on what “a lot of money” means to you. You do not want producers or agents who are excited by your work to start shopping something you are really not willing to sell.

Lastly, advice (including this advice) is just advice.

Good luck and congratulations on being in the game.