PAID SUBMISSION SERVICES

How do you plan to put your spec into the marketplace? I too just finished a comedy spec and am thinking of using InkTip.com. Have you used it before? If so, what were your results. Has anyone else tried it, or a concept similar to InkTip. And then there’s services like Scriptblaster. What are your thoughts about those services?
Thanks!
John (can’t get passed 4th place!) Hart

I have long been represented by a strong agency here in town (L.A.) and they handle initial marketing of my specs. I also have a great manager who does his share, too. Before I had an agent and a manager, I networked fairly aggressively and submitted scripts directly upon invitation. I have never sent a query letter to anyone and have never used a service like Inktip or Scriptblaster.

When I’ve been on the producing end of things looking for quality scripts, I did receive Inktip’s magazine which lists pitches. I don’t know how it happened to come to me since I never ordered it. I did not read it because I knew it was a pay-to-list service. Unlike agencies, which have some incentive to make sure the writing is marketable before they submit it, pay-to-list services do not. The material they list has had absolutely no professional eyes on it and no professional judgment. Ninety-nine percent of it is junk and neither I nor most producers have ever had the resources to review it to find the few diamonds.

Other services review your material for a fee, give you “coverage”, and claim that, if they like it, they will present it for you directly to industry professionals. These services claim to have sold some scripts. The services are very controversial for a number of reasons. Alex Epstein’s blog, Complications Ensue, has some material that presents both sides of the controversy – see it here.

A much sounder approach to your writing career is to share your writing through networking. As you network, you get real and continuous feedback on your scripts. It is a tough road because everyone has an opinion about your writing and most of the opinions can really shake your confidence. However, if you hang in and keep networking, you will develop a thick skin, learn how to channel input constructively, and improve your writing. The very process of working to make contacts for script submissions tends to help hone your craft.

While it is much easier to network from Los Angeles, you can do it from anywhere working through writing teachers, legitimate screenwriting contests, and other resources, honing your craft and getting your material submitted in ways that will get it noticed. It feels very hard to get noticed, but I can tell you from experience, once the writing really shines, it suddenly gets very easy to get noticed. Then begins the next level of hell – moving from getting noticed to making a first sale. But that’s a whole other topic.

Good luck with the spec.

SCRIPT BY BLOG

I have a screenplay that I am currently peddling and want to know what the ramifications of putting the finished SP on my web / blog. I am not overly worried about somebody stealing it but I don’t think many prospective prodcos would be happy at the thought of the script being out in the public forum.
Any thoughts?

Gary
Florida

Your instincts are correct, Gary. There is no good reason to post your screenplay on your weblog while you are marketing it to mainstream Hollywood. If the script is exceptionally good, it will circulate quickly anyway through the industry by being shared with, demanded by, slipped to and stolen for everyone who can get his or her hands on it. Good screenplays get around fast – whether they sell or not. Having people ask for your script is always good for you. Industry insiders are much more likely to remember writers whose scripts they have requested than those whose they are forced to read.

Even if it does not get that kind of reaction, you want to control access to your writing – at least while you’re breaking in. If you want someone to read it – you need to send it to her (provided she has agreed to accept it). If she won’t read it that way, she certainly will not read it on your weblog. In addition, posting your script will make you look like a complete amateur.

The last thing to say about this is, with all the rules, there really are no rules. While I think you are enormously more likely to damage the prospect of a sale by posting your script, at least a sale to mainstream Hollywood, you could be the first one to make a sale because of it. Your script might ignite an immediate buzz – your blog could get a million hits a day – and the phone could start ringing off the hook. Extremely, extremely unlikely – but weirder things have happened.

WORDPLAYER ON “THEME”

Give it a rest? I don’t think so. Here’s Wordplayer on theme.

P.S. If you don’t know the Wordplayer columns yet, you’re just not trying.

UPDATE: If you are having trouble accessing wordplayer.com, please see the comment below from Wordplayer’s webmaster. There is an email address for you to contact wordplayer directly. Do not use the IP address that has been given out (unfortunately by me). Thanks.

WRITING ACTION SEQUENCES

A question from a viewer:

In writing action sequences as part of scenes, do you really have to break down every camera angle and shot, or can you leave some things up to the reader’s imagination?

Reason I ask is, after reading various books, (Syd Field and others, as well as numerous screenplays), I’ve seen different ways to handle the description of a scene with regard to actual format.

It seems one school of thought advocates cutting to a new shot and mentioning it via format every time there is a camera change:

1. INT. INSIDE CAR – DAY
(SFX) BANG!
JANE DOE and JOHN DOE both run and jump in the car. JOHN drives off quickly.

2. EXT. STREET CORNER-DAY
The victim lays motionless in the street.

The other way seems to say let the action be described in the writing, without all the shot descriptions. Such as:

BANG!

They both jump into the car and drive off quickly, leaving their partner to die in the street.

To me, it seems that describing EVERY camera cut and shot change breaks up the flow of the read and tips off the reader as to what will come next, rather than having them be surprised.

What is the preferred method for first-time writers?

Thanks in advance,

Bill/NJ

Within certain parameters, it’s really up to you. Here are some guidelines:

1. Do not over cut any sequence. Anything that distracts from the narrative is a very bad thing.

2. Do not use scene numbers. You’ve used them above in one example, and it may have simply been to illustrate that you were referring to two scenes or shots. In your actual script, scene numbers are unnecessary, distracting and unprofessional. Numbering scenes is a tool strictly for production drafts to help Assistant Directors and others break down the script for shooting purposes.

3. Shots within a scene usually have a shorter form than a full location slug. For example – the full slug, which is usually conceived of as THE MASTER SHOT, might be: EXT. FREEWAY – DAY

The shots in that scene, also sometimes called MINOR SLUGS, would not be a full slug. Things like:

BILL’S CAR

slams into the guardrail. Sparks fly as it scrapes along.

DEBBIE’S CAR

skids into the opposite embankment, takes to the air, and
lands in a crumpled wreck on the other side.

4. Think more about directing the mind’s eye. You are trying to create a visual experience through writing and you can do whatever you need to in order to create the image and feel you want. Notice that in the example you use above, “BANG!” is not really a shot at all. It is a sound. Yet, it has a visual impact on the page and does the job.

5. Look at the tone of the overall screenplay. Keep the tone of the slugs in the action sequence consistent, even if more demonstrative. Hard action picture specs frequently have somewhat of a comic book feel. If that is what you are going for, you might have lots of MAJOR and MINOR SLUGS throughout your screenplay.

Most importantly, read lots of action scripts. Look at what works for you, what doesn’t and come up with your own way of expressing action sequences. It should be clear, concise, easy to follow, and fully convey the excitement of the sequence. Remember, any studio can hire any professional writer to write a sequence like one already written. Your job is to develop and express your unique voice and vision for the picture. Think about how the scene you are writing will excite you on the page. That’s how you should write it.

THE WORD LIST

A screenplay is a super-condensed description of events. Each word must convey a substantial amount of information, not the least of which is the emotion of the character or moment. There is very little room for neutral language. Phrases like “he looks at her” are not helpful. To help me increase my “emotional vocabulary”, I have compiled a list of words that convey greater emotion. I offer a downloadable version of that list to you now.

NOTE OF CAUTION: Whenever you download a file, there is a possibility of it containing a virus. I have scanned this file and have no known virus issues on my computer. However, the file is offered “as is.”

Click here to get the RTF format file.

SHOULD I SIGN THE RELEASE?

Viewer Question:

Thanks for maintaining your blog: I’m new to screenwriting and have been fascinated by your articles and your readers’ contributions.

I have a question about entering a script into a competition run by [Party A] and [Party B], one that has specific rules about assignment of rights.

1) “You acknowledge that the screenplay you are submitting may contain characters, concepts and other material similar to characters, concepts and other material which the judges of the competition or their companies or [Party A] are currently developing/producing or are considering developing/producing.”

2) “You agree that in consideration for their reviewing and perhaps discussing the submitted screenplay with you, you will not at any time assert or attempt any claim against [Party A] or [Party B] or any of the judges of the competition with respect to any use of similar material in any project which is developed, produced, distributed, licensed or sold by all the above mentioned parties.”

3) “All entrants acknowledge that the final winner will be expected to make a standard form of assignment of all rights in the finished work to [Party A] and [Party B] and provide a waiver of so called ‘moral rights'”.

Do these clauses give the competition organizers carte blanche to adapt and produce outstanding submissions (but not prize-winners) without crediting or compensating the original scriptwriter?

I guess that the scriptwriter is also barred from adapting any submitted characters and plot for other scripts and submissions?

Is this a neat opportunity to give the competition organizers some free inspiration?

(I had a look for similar questions, so please accept my apologies if you have already dealt with this type of question.)

I know I’ve asked a lot, but would welcome your input.

Thanks so much !! With best wishes, AK, London, England

I’ll answer, but first the disclaimers. (1) While I am an entertainment attorney (on occasion) in addition to being a screenwriter, nothing on this website is legal advice nor should it substitute for you checking with your own attorney, and (2) I don’t know much about British law so my answers relate to basic U.S. law.

Here’s the deal on release language. Most contests require you to agree to similar provisions. You can imagine that it would be hard to get professional judges for these competitions if they had to worry about being sued. Many similar ideas float around all the time and are being produced at the same time.

The good news is the release does not mean they can take any script submitted to them and produce it without buying it from the screenwriter. The bad news is, the language of the release is so broad, it’s hard to tell exactly where the line is.

Without getting too technical, copyright law protects your screenplay and the release is not a transfer of copyright (unless you actually win the contest). However, copyright only protects “the expression of ideas”, not the ideas themselves. That means, once you sign the release, the producers have a pretty good argument that you cannot sue them for doing a giant robot attacking an oilrig movie just like the basic idea of the script you submitted. Who would win that argument, I can’t tell you. I can say, the more detail they use from your script, the weaker their argument that the release bars your claim, but it may require that they use a huge amount of your detail for you to win.

The other thing about contests is that if you actually win, usually you have just sold your script to the sponsor for very little money. That’s right. The “prize” for winning is that you get paid next to nothing for your script. (Check the rules of the particular contest.) Of course, if you are out of town and trying to get noticed, it might not be a bad trade off, provided the contest has some credibility.

As to your final question, no the release does not mean that you can’t use these characters in other scripts if you do not win the contest. In fact, if you don’t with the contest, the script is yours to do with as you will. The release language does not prevent you from doing anything except suing the sponsors and judges and their companies.

My advice (not in a legal sense, just thoughts on a weblog):

1. Submission releases are common requirements for accepting scripts from unrepresented writers. Get used to it.

2. Check out each contest before you submit to see if anyone has really heard of it. The more reputable the contest, the less likely you will get something stolen. Some contests are quite well known and bring a great deal of notice to the winners. Others are just moneymaking schemes for the sponsors (who charge an entry/reading fee).

3. Accept the fact that as an emerging writer, you do need to share your writing and it is subject to having its ideas used by others, whether you sign releases or not. To get some ideas on how to protect yourself, check out this post.

Good luck with the contest.

BUT I HAVE A THEME!?

This is part two of the last post on theme.

Okay, so now I’ve convinced you that you need to consider theme. I’ve told you that a story without theme is shallow, less likely to sell, less likely to be made into a movie and much less likely to get you noticed as a writer. So you go out and pick a theme. “Make peace not war.” That sounds good, universal, who could disagree with that?

Okay, now you’re ready to write, right?

Not so fast. Theme is not something you pluck out of the air then hang a story onto. Rather, theme is the result of a search, part of which often takes place during the work of creating your story rather than all up front. In developing your theme, you should consider a number of issues: What questions interest you enough to spend nine months exploring them? What type of story are you interested in telling? What elements of the story have you already begun to be interested in? How does the theme support the kind of story you want to tell? How does the theme suggest a complete personal experience for your lead?

Sometimes you will try to answer these questions in advance of outlining. Sometimes you will just play with the story and see how the theme emerges – then solidify it in your mind and hone the story. There is no one way to arrive at theme.

To make matters more complex, theme is defined differently by – well, by everyone. If you pick up six books on writing, look at how theme is defined in each. They are all different. If they happen to analyze the same picture, they will each frame the theme very differently. Which way is right? The answer is the one that helps you the most to clarify and focus your story. The purpose of theme is to help you organize your story around a core question or set of questions about human values that is important to you and that will engage an audience, reader, studio exec or producer at a deeper level than just the immediate cleverness or artfulness of your story execution.

So, we know theme has something to do with core human values. So, what’s wrong with “make peace not war”? Maybe nothing. It certainly reflects a core human value. But, for me, I prefer to consider themes that ask questions instead of answering them. This allows me to explore and have the characters explore different aspects of the question in conflict. No easy answers and the characters can disagree. I prefer a theme like “How far should a person go to preserve peace?” over “make peace not war.” It suggests a much more complex set of emotions and one immediately envisions many possible stories or a number of characters within the same story that each have different answers, answers which might be in conflict with one another and which reflect deeply held values.

To develop your story’s theme, look inside yourself to see what is important to you and what you have to say about it. Be willing to show both sides of the value issues. Be bold. Expose yourself. Your writing will be better for it.