How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell)

by Ashley Scott Meyers on May 25, 2012

I believe that most screenwriting books, seminars, blogs and other screenwriting resources don’t spend nearly enough time on teaching people how to market their screenplays. SellingYourScreenplay.com tries to bridge that gap.

When I started out in the industry I didn’t know anyone. I was just a guy with a few ideas and a dream. With a lot of hard work and persistence I have been able to sell several screenplays (click here to view my credits on IMDB) by applying the exact lessons I’m going to teach you on this blog. It’s not quick or easy and it’s going to take a lot of hard work. But if you’re willing to do the work I believe that you too can have some success as a screenwriter.

There are no shortcuts and I, nor anyone else, can sell your screenplay for you. Ultimately you’ve got to decide if it’s worth the effort to make a go at screenwriting. You’re reading this blog, so that’s a good first step. But that’s all it is, a first step. Now you’ve got to really dig in and start doing the hard work.
[click to continue... ]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Do the Work and Become a Professional Screenwriter

by Ashley Scott Meyers on May 7, 2013

I get emails all the time from folks who are sending me their half-baked, poorly conceived log lines and want me to re-write them for them. I really believe that most people (like 99%) fail at screenwriting, not because they lack the God-given writing talent, but because they never actually sit down and do the work that is required to make a genuine effort at becoming a professional writer. If you want to really understand what sort of effort his requires go read Jack London’s Martin Eden. Seriously, if you call yourself a writer and you haven’t read it, go read it now.

Recently I’ve been sending this reply back when someone wants me to re-write their log line for them:

You’ve got to really dig deep here. Go back and read the post I did on writing log lines. Start seeking out log lines all over the internet and read them and think about them and start to really understand what makes a good one good. Become an expert on writing log lines. It’s not going to be easy but it’s what you must do to become a successful screenwriter.

To make it as a screenwriter you’ve got to develop your own ability to self edit. You’re not going to be able to rely on me (or anyone else) to constantly email back and forth with.

You really need to decide if this is something you want to do and if it is, be prepared for a massive amount of work. Probably years and years of unpaid work sitting by yourself, alone in a room, learning and getting better. If you’re not prepared for that, which is totally fine, admit it to yourself and move on. There’s no shame in that. Screenwriting is not for everyone.

I can’t make you a better writer. I wish I could but I can’t. So go out there and grab writing by the tail and make it your bitch. Whip it, destroy it, kick it in the ass, chew it up and spit it out, and then put it all back together in your own unique way. Being a good writer isn’t something that just happens. It take a lot of work. And I don’t believe there is a secret note that I can give you to make you better. You must do it for yourself just as other great writers have done it for themselves.

Once you’re an expert on log lines, and a great writer in general, re-write your log line and send it out to producers and agents. You won’t need me to tell you it’s great, because you’ll be an expert on log lines and you’ll know it’s great.

Good luck!

{ 0 comments }

Excellent Post on Shane Black

by Ashley Scott Meyers on May 1, 2013

Shane Black is a legendary screenwriter. He wrote several classic spec scripts that sold for a lot of money in the late eighties and early nineties like Lethal Weapon and The Last Boyscout. He’s making a come back with the new Iron Man movie, which he wrote and directed.

I read this post recently that was a sort of “best of” Shane Black. I highly recommend reading it: http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/why-iron-man-3s-director-ruled-hollywood.html.

He has a very hip, distinct style that makes his scripts very entertaining to read. While I don’t recommend copying his style, it is worth reading his scripts to get a feel for what a “good read” looks and feels like.

{ 0 comments }

Raising The Money To Shoot Your Screenplay Yourself

by Ashley Scott Meyers on April 23, 2013

I recently wrote a post, The 100% guaranteed sure fire way to get your screenplay made into a movie. In that post I recommend that you go out and raise the money for your screenplay yourself. The post seemed to generate a lot of questions about how to actually go out and raise the money for a film and what you would do once you had actually raised the money. I’m a big proponent in making things happen for yourself so I figured it was worth trying to answer these questions in a full article.

My good friend, Nathan Ives, recently raised the money for a feature film that he wrote and directed and he was gracious enough to write a post about how he did it. If you haven’t read it, check it by clicking here. His article illustrates real world implementation of the things recommended in this article.

So there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that there is no magic bullet for raising the money for a film. There is no one size fits all, easy to digest template that you can apply to your project for easy results. The good news is that if you want it badly enough, it is possible. But it’s most likely going to be a brutal, painful, humiliating dogfight with a ton of rejection. Again though, if you’re willing to do the work, it is possible, and you can forge your own destiny.

So let’s begin…

Steps 1 and 2

Before you start trying to raise money you’re probably going to want to do two things:

#1 Get a production budget created by an experienced line producer

#2 Write a business plan for your film (optional)

You have to know how much money you need to raise before you start, so getting a professional production budget done is absolutely essential. You’ll want to make sure that the line producer has a lot of experience working with the sort of budget that you think you can raise. You’ll typically start out by telling the line producer roughly what sort of budget you’re thinking about and then he’ll try and back the budget into that number or let you know that your original budget ideas aren’t realistic. The line producer will work with you to understand costs so you’ll have a good idea of where the money is going to be spent. The whole point to getting this budget done is so that once you raise the money you can actually shoot the movie for the money you have, so make sure your line producer knows what he’s doing, even if that means spending a little extra money.

While it’s not going to be free, you can probably find an experienced line producer who will break down a feature film screenplay for less than $1,000. If you don’t know any experienced line producers you might try putting an ad in the Los Angeles Craig’s List Crew gigs section. I’m sure you’ll get many responses. Just make sure you vette the responses thoroughly and find someone who has a decent amount of experience.

Also, I have a friend who is an experienced line producer and will create a full and complete production budget on a feature screenplay at a very reasonable price. So if you would like this done, and don’t want to find someone yourself, let me know and I’ll refer you to him.

The next step is writing a professional business plan. This step isn’t necessarily mandatory, but you’re going to want to do it if you’re going to be pitching to people who you don’t know very well. With family and close friends, they’re going to care less about formality and will probably overlook the fact that you don’t have a polished business plan. But if you are going to be pitching people who you don’t know well, having a good looking professional business plan can make a difference.

It’s behind the scope of this article to explain all the ins and outs of writing a professional business plan for an independent film. In Nate’s post he mentions a book, Bankroll by Tom Malloy,  that explains how to create a solid business plan for an independent film. Check that book out if you want to try and create a business plan for your film. Again, if you don’t want to create your own business plan, let me know and I’ll happily refer you to a producer who can create it for you for a very reasonable fee.

There are some legal ramifications when seeking investments and writing business plans, so please seek the advice of a qualified entertainment attorney to fully understand how to legally approach people.

One word of warning: Getting a production budget and creating a business plan are the easy parts of this process so don’t get distracted by them. These first two steps, while important, can be a way of putting off the real work – asking people for money – so be mindful of that and set firm deadlines for yourself so you have plenty of time to actually do the hard work that’s going to be required to pull this off.

Pitching (the real work)

So now you have a production budget and perhaps a business plan. It’s time to hit the streets and start pitching.

Make a list of every single person you know with phone numbers and emails. Family, friends, business associates, co-workers, Facebook “friends,” literally every single person you know. And start pitching them your project. Phone calls are best but emails can work, too, as a non-invasive conversation starter. But don’t rely solely on email, especially with people you don’t know well, as they’re very likely to ignore an email but will have a more difficult time ignoring your phone calls. Even if they can’t help you, ask them if they know anyone else who might be interested in investing in your project. You’d be surprised how many people might not be willing to invest in something like this themselves but might give you information about a wealthy relative or friend who might be interested. Keep pitching and keep following up. Pitch to everyone and anyone you meet and don’t stop until you’ve raised your entire budget. I know this may not sound like great insight, it’s not, but this is the unglamorous part of independent filmmaking that will separate you from the wannabes. Are you serious about your career or are you a wannabe?

I know a lot of people will simply say to themselves, “I don’t feel comfortable trying to get money out of my friends and family.” That’s certainly okay. We all feel that way. But realize that’s a decision you’re making. It’s not that the movie industry is stacked against you, it’s that you aren’t willing to do what is necessary to succeed. Now of course this isn’t the only way to succeed — certainly people have succeed without begging from their friends and family – but at some point to be successful, you’re probably going to have to step outside your comfort zone and do some things that make you feel uncomfortable. It’s just a fact of being successful. If you’re unwilling to step outside your comfort zone, what are you willing to do to bring about success? Most of the screenwriters I meet simply want success to come to them. They think that writing a “great” script is enough. For some lucky people it is. But for most of us it’s not. You can’t count on luck. What I’m recommending here is removing luck from the equation so that your success, or failure, rests squarely on your shoulders. If you want it badly enough you can have it. You just have to go out and get it.

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing (kickstarter.com and indiegogo.com) is another way to pick up funds from family members and friends who might be willing to donate a small amount. I feel like crowdsourcing, like the business plan and production budget, can be a major distraction for putting off the real work which is pitching people your project. People spend far too much time creating clever videos and making their Kickstarter page look great when they should really be spending their time pitching their idea to people and trying to get people to pony up some cash for the production. Don’t let this be you.

While crowdsourcing can work, what you’re going to find is that 99% of the money you collect is from people you already know, so it’s really just a shopping cart for your own network of people. Don’t think that just putting up a campaign is going to somehow bring in lots of money, because it’s not. I would say in general, if you’re looking to produce a feature film, crowdsourcing is going to be a very minimal part of your overall fundraising strategy.

For a feature film I would recommend using this after you have completed principal photography to help raise post production money or a marketing budget. By the time you’re done shooting the film you’ve pitched a ton of people so you’ve personally started to build awareness of the film and many of those skeptical people will now see how serious you are with a nearly completed film. It’s much easier to get people to give money to a project that’s nearly done, as opposed to something that hasn’t even started. You can set up your crowdsourcing project to collect very small donations, so sometimes the people who you have pitched who didn’t actually contribute, are willing to then go ahead and give a little bit later.

Hiring a Casting Director

One thing that you might consider once you’ve started to raise some significant funds is to hire a casting director. A good casting director has relationships with actors and can get your script to them. Getting some talent attached can bring some real legitimacy to your project, which might help you raise more money. Before you do the production budget you should talk over your ideas for talent with your line producer so that he knows to budget enough money to hire the caliber of  talent you’re looking to attract as well as a casting director. The cost of talent can explode a budget, so if you’re looking to make a film on a shoestring budget (less than $100,000), you’re probably not going to be able to afford name actors. But you’d be surprised how many very famous well known actors are willing to work for less than $1,000 per day.

On some of the independent films that I’ve worked on we’ve been able to find good casting directors for a few thousand dollars so plan on spending probably $2K – $4K for the casting director. You can find casting directors very easily by researching them on IMDB Pro. Simply choose a movie that you like that is similar in tone and budget to your film and drill down into the credits and find the casting director. In many cases you’ll be able to find a telephone number or email address for the casting director by clicking on their name. But if not, most casting directors are in the Casting Society of America (CSA) and you can find their contact information at their website: http://www.castingsociety.com/

You don’t want to go cheap on this step because a good casting director has a lot more clout with top actors’ agents, which is what you need to get your material considered. There is also a lot of subtle things that a good casting director can clue you in on like what actors will sell your film overseas, what actors do these types of independent films, etc. Knowing who can sell your film overseas is going to be important and it’s not always as intuitive as you might think.

The casting director will help you come up with lists of possible actors who would be right for specific roles in your film. Then, the casting director will submit your project to these actors.

What you’re really hoping for is that an actor will read the screenplay and like it so much that they’re willing to sign a letter of intent without making it a pay-or-play deal. What’s most likely going to happen, however, is that some of the actors will be happy to do your film and their agents will quote you their daily and weekly rates, but they won’t sign a letter of intent unless it’s a pay-or-play deal, meaning that they get paid even if you never make your film. These are professionals with lawyers, so you don’t want to sign a pay-or-play deal with them unless you really can pay them.

While not ideal, even if they won’t sign a free letter of intent, this still may be useful. Some good work has been done. While you wouldn’t want to put it in writing (i.e. in a query letter) that these actors are “attached,” if an actor has said “yes” but won’t sign a letter of intent, you can certainly tell people that so-and-so is interested in the project when you’re pitching your project in person. This can add some legitimacy with potential investors.

Again, don’t let this be a distraction from the real work of pitching people your project and trying to get money out of them. There is a common myth that it’s going to be easy to raise the money once talent is attached. While it might be a shade easier, it’s still going to be hard, so don’t let this be another thing that puts off the real work.

Doing an Email and Fax Blast

In my post, The 100% guaranteed sure fire way to get your screenplay made into a movie, my main point was that raising the money, or at least a significant portion of the money, is by far the hardest part of making a movie. So if you’ve raised a lot of money, but not the entire budget, you might consider sending out cold query letters in an effort to find a producer who can get the final bit of funding in place. You would basically want to follow my guide, How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell). The only slight modification from this guide would be that in your query letter you would make it very clear that you had already done some of the producing. You would mention your total budget and also tell the producer how much you had raised. And if you had talent attached (with a letter of intent) you would also mention that.

I offer an email/fax blast query letter service, so if you don’t have time to build your own database of contacts, you’re welcome to use my service.

There is some potential downside here. By bringing on an additional producer who’s bringing money to the project, you do stand the chance of giving up some significant control of the project. So be careful when taking on any partners.

Presale a Few Territories

If you have your budget raised and have also attached some significant name talent to your project, you might be able to go out and pre-sale a few territories. This is your best chance for recouping your budget.

It basically works like this: With 100% of your budget in place and name talent attached to your project, you approach international film distributors and try and presale some large international territories. For instance, if your project is strong enough, you might be able to pre-sell theatrical and cable TV rights in Germany. Then as soon as your film is finished you would deliver it to the distributor and they would pay you the agreed upon sum.

Ideally you would presale enough territories to cover your entire film budget, but that probably won’t be the case. That’s okay. Even preselling 50% is a huge help as it means that your financial backers will be at least assured of recouping that much once the film is completed. You still have to go out and sell the film elsewhere, but at least some of the work is already done.

You’re going to need a strong project for a distributor to be interested in it. These types of distributors are probably only looking at films that are budgeted at well over a million dollars and with some significant name talent. I have heard of smaller films, with budgets as low as $250K, getting some pre-sales, but that’s pretty rare. The great thing is, though, there is really no downside to trying to make a few pre-sales once your package is complete. The worst these distributors can say is “no.”

In my database I have hundreds of distributors, so if you get to the point where your entire budget is in place and want to try this, I’m happy to help using my email/fax blast query letter service.

A Word of Warning

I would like to temper some expectations. Many people think that once they get their first screenplay produced their career is going to take off like a rocket ship. Unfortunately that’s probably not going to happen.

The main reason it’s so hard to raise money for an independent film is because it’s so hard to sell and ultimately turn a profit. Think about it: if it was easy to make money from independent films it would be easy to raise the money to produce them. It’s a fun, glamorous business, and if there was an easy way to make money with an independent film, there would be lots of people eager to invest their money and earn a nice return for doing something cool.

Everyone hears about the home run hits that make millions of dollars. Hopefully your film will be just such a hit, but in order for that to happen you’re going to need an incredible amount of luck, I don’t care how good the screenplay is. And you can’t count on luck. Luck is not a business model.

There are literally thousands of films that never see the light of day. Check out Eric Roberts’ IMDB page. He’s notorious for being willing to star in low budget independent films for a nice pay check. Look at the dozens of films he’s done over the course of the last few years. Yep, Eric Roberts has starred in literally dozens of films over the last few years! Surprised? Don’t be. You’ve never heard of most of them and most of them never found any significant distribution and probably lost money. It’s a brutal business.

But that doesn’t mean making your film isn’t worth the effort. There are a lot of intangibles for you as the writer and for the people who invest in the film.

I had a friend who wrote, produced and directed (and raised the money for) a low budget feature film recently. The film was pretty good but it didn’t take off. He’s a digital artist and the company he works for decided they wanted to produce films. When the CEO was looking around for a director he called upon my friend since he had directed a feature film before. So while the independent film he did didn’t directly get him his next directing gig, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have gotten this recent opportunity without doing his first film.

While investing in your film may not be a sound investment form a strictly business perspective, there are other things that you can offer your investors that give them value. For instance, you can invite them out to the set. For many people just being on set and seeing how films are made is exciting. You can offer the investors small extra roles, or even small speaking roles if they can act. You can invite them to the premier and the film festivals that you get accepted to. All these things are fun and interesting and have some value.

I had a friend who invested in an independent film and while the film hasn’t recouped all of his investment, he was able to get free “industry” passes to the large Comic-Con in San Diego for several years in a row. So be creative and give your investors as much value as you can and realize it doesn’t always have to be in the form of dollars. People don’t (and shouldn’t) invest in a film because they think the financial upside is great, it’s not, they do it because it’s fun and exciting and they want to be involved. Don’t lose sight of that.

Perhaps you could partner up with an aspiring director, producer, and actor. All four of you could bring one quarter of the budget to the table. That way you would all be getting a significant career boost from the film without having to raise the entire budget.

The key is to plan for the worst case scenario and make sure you get something out of it even if the worst case scenario becomes a reality.

Your film doesn’t have to be a megahit like The Blair Witch Project to be worth doing and help your career. Every film credit you get adds to your experience and resume and has value, no matter how small. Getting your screenplays turned into films is really the goal (or should be) of every screenwriter no matter what the budget. So go out there and make things happen for yourself. Good luck!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The Future of Film – What kind of writer do you want to be?

by Guest Blogger on March 27, 2013

This is a guest article by Alan Denman.

What kinds of films will be watching in the next ten years? What kinds of films will our children be watching in the next twenty to thirty years? Will films grow closer to computer games or computer games take over from film going? Will storytelling flourish and multiply or shrink and become formulaic? As screenwriters, where should we be focusing our attention? What stories will we tell?

At ground level it’s difficult to get an objective overview of where we are at at this time in 2013 but I think it’s safe to say the film industry is changing and changing more rapidly than we may realize. Studio movies have got more expensive and Hollywood is producing far less. The emphasis for some while has been on action and special effects – what are known as “ tent pole movies” (Transformers, Spiderman, X-Men and so on) because the big profits from these prop up other divisions of the Studios. However, with these kinds of films, with their $100 – 200 million budgets, character and story tend to suffer. These movies are visual popcorn, a roller coaster experience that usually is forgotten within minutes, but I think we’re likely to see more of these coming out.

Yet film still has – and always will have – the power to enchant, move and inspire us, because this is what really good storytelling does. Great stories have great themes and we will always need story for its ability to help us make sense of life and to inspire us to go beyond our everyday limits. These kinds of stories fall into the “independent” sector, that vast region outside the Studios and Mini-Majors, in which creative freedom is easier to come by but good marketing and distribution harder to achieve.

Perhaps a more useful question to ask, rather than what stories do you want to tell, is this: what kind of writer do you want to be? Do you want to be writing Studio movies and earning big bucks? Do you want to be working with independent producers on unusual and original projects? Or do you see yourself taking power into your own hands becoming a director and/or producer? And what about audience? Do you want to write children’s animation or family adventure, Gothic horror or zany comedy? No one answer is correct. You must follow your bliss, your dream. But to know what kind of writer you want to be will guide you not only in your writing but also in the way you connect with the film industry and people in it. Many people begin with a dream of selling scripts to the Studios or Mini-Majors but your true destiny may in fact be very different.

The platforms for viewing films, the technology for making them, the development of home-based graphics and animation, is increasing every year, but it will always come to this one question: what kind of writer do you want to be? When you know this, I believe, you will know what kinds of stories you will want to write.

ABOUT ALAN DENMAN

Alan is a British writer, director, producer and script coach and consultant. He has taught screenwriting extensively in North America, the UK and Europe and has spent much of his career in Los Angeles. As a script coach and consultant, he integrates his experience of screenwriting, directing and producing to help writers create scripts that are not only well-crafted, imaginative stories but that also have strong, commercial potential.

Follow his blog on screenwriting, storytelling and movies at: http://dream2screen.blogspot.co.uk/

FREE OFFER!

Alan is offering a free 20 minute story coaching session via Skype or telephone only to subscribers to sellingyourscreenplay.com

You can submit a 1-2 page story outline or the first 10 pages of your screenplay.

Email: info@script-to-screen.com to request your free session

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Five Ways to Make Your Script Feel More Like a Movie

by Ashley Scott Meyers on February 13, 2013

This post was guest written by Script Quack. They offer professional script analysis and are currently giving readers of SellingYourScreenplay.com a special discount. Just enter the discount code “sellingyourscreenplay” (without the quotes) on the discount page which can be found here:

http://www.scriptquack.com/discountpage.html

Making your screenplay feel like a movie is one of the most difficult things for screenwriters to achieve.

Not coincidentally, it is one of the most important things you can do to create a script that readers will remember long after FADE OUT.

Of course, there are lots of big things you must do write to create a ‘movie-like’ script. Write good characters that challenge each other. Create a hero with a goal. Craft a story rich with mystery and surprise.

But there are also small changes you can make to your script that will help you craft a more memorable screenplay immediately.

In all of the scripts we’ve read at Script Quack, both amateur and professional alike, one of the biggest difference makers is scene transitions.

Strong transitions can make mediocre scripts feel like movies. Clunky transitions are detrimental to otherwise excellent scripts.

In this article we’re going to outline five specific types of transitions and provide an example of each one.

Used smartly these transitions will smooth the lines of your screenplay, creating a seamless read for the next Hollywood big wig that checks out your work.

THE BUTTON

A button is a line or action that tops off a scene. Think of it like an exclamation point. It signals that one scene is over, and that the next can begin.

This technique is most often used in sitcoms, where it’s important for the writers to exit every scene on a laugh, keeping momentum flowing into the next scene as easily as possible.

A good button smooths over the abruptness that the audience would otherwise feel when a show or movie transitions from one story line to another. It’s kind of like throwing a smoke bomb and disappearing into darkness.

Here’s an example from the pilot episode of 30 Rock:

Liz Lemon: Where’s Gary? 

Jack: [Kicks down door and enters room] Gary’s dead. I’m Jack Donaghy. New VP of development for NBC/GE/Universal/Kmart. 

Pete: Oh, we own Kmart now? 

Jack: No. So why are you dressed like we do? 

And with that closing joke we move out of this scene with momentum and transition to the next one.

Note: In the excerpt above, the joke flows pretty naturally, but that won’t always be the case for you. If you’re struggling to find a good button for your scene, try to pay off something that was referenced at the top of the scene in the last line.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

If you’re not sure how to get out of the scene you’re currently writing, this technique could prove extremely useful.

End your current scene with a question: “Where did Jake go?”

Then pick up your next scene with the answer to that question: An image of Jake rollerblading shirtless through the streets of Manhattan.

Note: A character does not have to literally pose the question “Where did Jake go?” in order for this technique to work. If the scene asks the question with subtext, or visually, that’s even better.

Here’s an example from the How I Met Your Mother pilot:

MARSHALL: Yeah. What are you doing tonight?

TED THINKS. FREEZE FRAME.

NARRATOR (V.O.):  What was I doing? Here Uncle Marshall was taking the biggest step of his life, and me? I’m calling up this guy.

CUT TO:

SPLIT-SCREEN BETWEEN TED AND BARNEY (32, DEVILISH, LIVES ON STEAKS AND CIGARS). BARNEY’S CELL PHONE RINGS. HE SEES WHO IT IS, AND ANSWERS.

BARNEY: Hey, so you know how I’ve always had a thing for half-Asian girls?

 

FREEZE FRAME ON BARNEY.

NARRATOR (V.O.): Your Uncle Barney.

MATCH CUT

When the term “MATCH CUT TO:” is used between two scenes, it implies that the second shot will be almost identical to the first.

Here’s a quick example:

EXT. PARKING LOT – NIGHT

Ryan chugs his beer.

MATCH CUT TO:

INT. BAR – NIGHT

Jessica slams her drink down and asks for another.

Here the momentum is literally sustained from one image to the next. In the first scene, the beer is up. In the second scene it’s the same shot, but the beer comes down.

You’ve probably heard that you shouldn’t use ‘cut to’ or ‘match cut to’ in your screenplays, but that’s advice you’re safe disregarding. Match cuts are an invaluable tool that you’re going to need in your arsenal.

REVERSAL

The reversal is a play on the question and answer technique discussed above. Except with this method, instead of answering a question with a logical answer, you reverse the audience expectations and answer with a surprise or juxtaposition.

An example would be something like this:

EXT. PARK

John talks to his Dad.

JOHN

Melissa wouldn’t cheat on me. She loves me.

INT. CLUB

Melissa has sex with a STRANGER in a club bathroom.

Used sparingly, this technique can be good for a laugh or two throughout the course of your script.

But be careful! The reversal is becoming over-used as a transitional device, so proceed with extreme caution.

OPENING IMAGE

As has been said many times before, all movies are rooted in images. If you write in images, your script will be more memorable.

You should absolutely apply this idea across your screenplay, especially when transitioning from one scene to the next.

Try to open on an image whenever it makes sense. This will create strong visuals for your reader and keep the script moving as quickly as possible.

Always think about keeping your movie visually interesting. If one scene ends with a stagnant image, for example, open the next scene with a car speeding down the highway, or a plane taking off into the air.

This will keep your script moving visually as well as dramatically, and the importance of strong visuals in your script can’t be underestimated.

Now What?

There you have five transition techniques that will help you write scripts that feel more like movies.

Now you can get creative with each of these scenarios. Try juxtaposing cuts instead of matching them. Or see what happens with two buttons or no button at all. Above all else, remember that movies are carried by images.

Comb through the script you’re working on right now. Do you use these five important types of transitions, or could you use them more? Are there any other kinds of transitions you use to similar effect? Leave a comment below.

This post was guest written by Script Quack. They offer professional script analysis and are currently giving readers of SellingYourScreenplay.com a special discount. Just enter the discount code “sellingyourscreenplay” (without the quotes) on the discount page which can be found here:

http://www.scriptquack.com/discountpage.html

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Producers tell me to get an agent, and agents won’t read my stuff – How can I start my career?

by Ashley Scott Meyers on February 4, 2013

Quite often I get emails from people who say something like this:

“I sent a query letter to some producers but they told me they don’t read unsolicited material and to find an agent and have the agent submit the screenplay. So I approached some agents and they either won’t read my screenplay or they say that they only represent writers with credits. How can I start my career? It sounds like a catch-22.”

First check out these two posts I wrote a while ago:

Submitting to companies that don’t take unsolicited material

Production companies are telling me they do not take unsolicited material

The good news is that you’re not stuck and you can start your career. Every single screenwriter started out in exactly this same situation. But they got past it and so can you.

As a rule I’ve found that while many producers might say “no unsolicited material” many of them will, even if this goes against company policy, read unsolicited scripts. But the query letter and log line really has to grab them. Not every query letter and log line is going to grab every producer. In fact even the best query letters and log lines will probably only generate interest from a small percentage of the people you send it to, so you’re going to need to send out a ton of query letters.

Most agents will at least entertain a log line. Again, though, it really has to grab them for them to request the full screenplay. Keep in mind these agents are probably seeing dozens of query letters and log lines per week.

So if you find yourself stuck one of two things is going on here:

#1 You’re simply not submitting enough query letters to get through. When I’m submitting to production companies I’ll usually send out about 5,000 query letters. Even if I only get 1% to request the screenplay it still means I’ve got 50 script requests. And I usually get a ton that say “no unsolicited material.” That’s just how it goes. I offer a service email/fax blast service to this list if you would like to try it out.

#2 It’s also possible that your query letter and log line simply aren’t good enough. So re-write them, make them better, and try again. I an happy to review your log line and query letter in my screenwriter’s forum.

Most likely though it’s a combination of both things. Your query letter and log line could be better but you’re also not sending enough letters out to really know.

What you should do is build your database as much as you can. I would try and get several thousand contacts in it. Then start firing off batches of 100 at a time. If you get zero script requests from the 100 letters, write a new log line and a new query letter. Keep testing this until you have a solid query letter that’s getting at least one or two script requests per 100 sent, then scale it up and send it out to everyone in the World.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

7 Signposts for Successful Screenwriting

by Ashley Scott Meyers on January 2, 2013

This is a guest post by filmmaker Alan Denman. Alan is a British writer, director, producer and script consultant. He has taught screenwriting extensively in North America, the UK and Europe and has spent much of his career in Los Angeles. As a script consultant, he integrates his experience of screenwriting, directing and producing to help writers create scripts that are not only well-crafted, imaginative stories but that also have strong, commercial potential.

Follow his blog on screenwriting, storytelling and movies at: http://dream2screen.blogspot.co.uk/

Free Offer for SellingYourScreenplay.com subscribers: Alan is offering a free 20 minute story consultancy via Skype to all subscribers. For more information email him at: info@script-to-screen.com

Is screenwriting easy? Can anyone write a screenplay? What are the elements that make screenwriting a unique form of storytelling? People are always approaching me, once they discover I’m a screenwriter and filmmaker, and telling me their idea for a screenplay. I listen, I’m patient, but I am regularly bemused by their assumption that screenwriting is simple and that anyone can do it.

Of all the narrative forms – short stories, novels, plays, radio drama – screenwriting is in my view the most challenging and unique. You’re not only using different parts of your brain simultaneously, you are also having to unify creative and commercial demands. Whatever your background, whether you’re a total newcomer to the craft or you’re a published novelist, you need to approach screenwriting as a new venture requiring learning and practice, an apprenticeship of sorts.

To clarify what I believe is special to the craft of screenwriting I have created seven principles. Treat these as “signposts”, always guiding you back on track in your effort to create a great screenplay. The seven signposts are:

1. BLUEPRINT: A screenplay is not a work of literature, it’s actually a set of instructions to everyone involved in producing it – actors, director, cinematographer, composer, set designer and so on. Learn to think practically. Do you really need that army of ten thousand/ thirty-seven different locations/ that lavish, period mansion? Learn all you can about the production process. Understanding these practical elements will change the way you write.

2. ECONOMY: This isn’t about money – it’s about keeping things simple. Less is more. The simpler the story the stronger it will be and the easier for audiences to get hold of. If you want to write a labyrinthine script full of minute detail, then be a novelist. Economy is also about language. Don’t be fooled by the white space on the page of a good screenplay. It’s actually harder for us as adults to write simply. One adjective per noun, no adverbs, strong, active verbs, sparse dialogue. Look at great artists like Picasso and Matisse – they got simpler as they got older.

3. AUDIENCE: Check in with yourself and ask what kind of writer you are. Are you writing to explore ideas and experiment with language or are you writing because you love to reach an audience, to entertain and entrance people with the magic of storytelling? Story is as old as civilization. Ask trusted friends to read your outlines and scripts. They’re your first audience. Observe people’s responses at movies and see what works and what doesn’t. A good idea or a worthy script is not enough. You must be entertaining, page by page.
4. VISUAL: A film is not a stageplay. Stageplays are dialogue-driven. A film is a story told in pictures. If you can’t visualize your characters, see them moving around and doing their stuff, if you can’t see the landscape or living room in your story, then you’re not a screenwriter. Take a camera with you everywhere, photograph stills, study light, people’s faces, their body language, draw, record your dreams. Replace as much dialogue with action or facial expression that conveys the same meaning. Think visually.

5. EMOTION: We watch movies to be stimulated emotionally and feel more alive. The reason good screenplays are so sparse is because there is a hidden script written in invisible ink: it’s what is going on at an emotional level. For your characters to be real they must perform explicit actions but they must also have non-verbal agendas driven by emotional needs. Always be asking: what is my character feeling in this scene – and the next, and the next. Don’t allow yourself to be caught up solely in the visual action or in the linear sequencing of your story. Feel your characters and write with passion.

6. RHYTHM: A film is like a piece of music. It begins at a certain tempo, it accelerates, picks up pace, slows down, one “movement” or sequence comes to an end, a new one begins, and added together they build to the climax of the whole piece. Film editors know about rhythm. A film is counted out in frames. Rhythm and structure are bedfellows, but if you slavishly follow a structural formula your screenplay will lack soul and rhythm. This musical analogy will also connect you back into emotion. Feel your screenplay rather than write it in your head. Get that rhythm!

7. STORY: And last, but far from least, what your screenplay is all about. Be a storyteller above all and be true to this ancient, subtle craft. Don’t worry about fitting into this or that genre. Most stories naturally inhabit one main genre. Make your story interesting – twist the plot, surprise your audience, don’t let them guess what’s coming. Check there’s always tension and that your protagonist has got a great antagonist. But even more important, if you want to make your screenplay really appealing to audiences and producers make sure it has something to say, that inside the story there is a great human theme. This will give it universal appeal and make it stand out from the 95% of average to awful scripts circulating the planet.

There we are – seven signposts for successful screenwriting! And you will notice that the first letter of each one combined forms the acronym B.E.A.V.E.R.S. (I only tinkered with the headings a little bit to achieve this.) Acronyms are great memory devices and so I hope, as you beaver away at your desk, you’ll remember these seven principles.

© Alan Denman 2012
www.script-to-screen.com
www.stingingbullfilms.com

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

How to deal with a potential agent who wants to represent you

by Ashley Scott Meyers on November 7, 2012

One of the services I offer is an email / fax blast service to agents and managers. A member who recently used the service found an agent who would like to represent him and he asked me how to deal with the process of selecting an agent. There are many agents out there who probably aren’t worth signing with so it’s not as simple as “sign with anyone who will have you.”

First, read this post: How to decide if you should option your screenplay to a producer. This post covers a lot of the same ground.

Then, check out this post: How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!). It’s all about how to actually get an agent in the first place but also why you don’t need one. Writers, especially new writers, think that getting an agent is the holy grail of screenwriting. I wish it were that simple. I’ve had many agents and managers over the years and not one single penny I’ve earned as a screenwriter was the result of something my agent did. Read that sentence again and let that sink in. Results may vary, but realize that you’re probably going to have to continue to market your screenplays yourself even with an agent or manager.

Anyway, to answer the question at hand…

Meeting (or talking on the phone) with an agent for the first time is a lot like a first date. Ask a lot of questions and try and spend most of the time just listening. You’re going to want to figure out if your personalities will mesh. When you sign with an agent you’re typically going to sign with them for at least a year and that means they become you’re representation for that time period like it or not. So it’s important that you get along with them on a personal level.

One thing that I would ask is if the agent/agency has any working writers as clients. If they do, find out their names and ask if you can email them. If they don’t, it might not be a deal breaker. It’s quite possible that as a new writer your only opportunities to sign with an agent will be signing with an agent who’s also new. This can work to your advantage, too, because it means that your agent must find work for some of his writers in order to make a living, so he’s potentially very hungry. If an agent has a bunch of working writers already, it’s quite possible that you won’t get much of his attention. Be careful, though, I have talked with many agents who earn most of their money by representing commercial actors and run their literary department almost as a hobby. This is not an ideal situation.

I would ask them exactly what they think they can do for your career and how long it’s going to take. Write this stuff down if you sign with him/her and go back to it later and see if they’ve actually accomplished what they said they would. It’s important to set expectations and set some goals.

I would ask them exactly what they expect me to do. I would ask them how I can be a good client. It might be as simple as keep writing a good spec every 6 months so they have fresh material to send out.

There should be goals and expectations on both sides of the relationship. These will be very important in determining when and if the relationship should be ended.

Assuming the agent likes you and decides to sign you, they will present you with a contract. In California it’s a contract that’s pretty well regulated by the Government so there shouldn’t be anything too tricky in it. I would always try and shorten the time frame as much as possible. Some agents will sign you for 1 year but many will want 2 years and won’t go any less. More than 2 years however, seems unreasonable, so I wouldn’t go any longer than 2 years. As with any legal document, if you don’t understand anything in the agent’s contract always seek the advice of a qualified entertainment attorney.

Overall it’s really a judgement call. Do you “click” with this person? Do you think they can help take your career to the next level? If the answer is “yes” then it’s probably worth signing with them and seeing what they can do for you. But be honest with yourself and if you can’t answer “yes” to these two questions, seriously consider if maybe this isn’t the right agent for you.

I often get questions like, “If I find the deal does my agent still get her 10%?” The answer is a definite yes. And why wouldn’t she? She’s going to spend time and energy negotiating the deal, so that’s part of what she’s earning. But mainly as your legal representation she’s entitled to this money. Some of the time she will get the work for you, but some of the time you’ll get the work for yourself and the commissions are still split 90%-10%.

One side note, while agents and managers are similar, there are also some clear distinctions. What I’ve written about here really applies to agents but much of it can be applied to deciding if you should sign with a manager, too. Managers aren’t regulated like agents are so be more cautious when dealing with a manager or signing a document that they present to you. In general, managers aren’t supposed to solicit work for you, they simply provide career counseling and guidance, so make sure you have a clear understanding of what the manager is planning on doing to help you build your career.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Taking a break from writing features to make a short film

by Ashley Scott Meyers on September 18, 2012

Here is another guest blog post, this time by writer Carrick Bartle. She’s currently producing a short that she wrote. One thing I’m a big proponent of is getting out there and getting stuff done. Good things can happen when you’re out there pushing your material, which is exactly what she’s doing. I look forward to seeing how her short turns out.

Carrick Bartle is a screenwriter currently IndieGoGo campaigning for her sixth short film, (((JASON) JASON) JASON) JASON. You can watch her previous short, a Mad Men parody, on YouTube and hear her interview on Episode 32 of Will Sean Podcast?

After reading probably way too much on how to break into screenwriting, the strategy that makes the most sense to me at the moment is to do everything. Although I previously would have thought this too scattershot to be an effective approach, the screenplay spec market is so over-saturated that it seems necessary to try other ways in, such as making short films.

I haven’t done a scientific study on whether agents and managers are more likely to watch a short than read a screenplay, but based on what I’ve heard, this seems to be the case, which makes sense, given the fact that shorts have two significant advantages over screenplays:

  1. They take up less time.
  2. They’re not screenplays.

The ideal end results of a short film would be, of course, getting into Sundance, impressing someone at Sundance, and then that someone requesting to read one of my screenplays, but even if this doesn’t happen, I’ll at least have created a tangible product in the medium it was intended for, which is not the case of screenplays alone.

Getting ideas for shorts is, arguably, the hardest thing about making one. I’ve tried painstakingly cranking out ideas as well as collecting random concepts that came to me through the ether. But the short I’m currently making came from neither method; it was initially just a writing exercise. Someone in my writing group had come in with an astonishingly riveting scene, and we all asked him in wonderment how the heck he did it. He said he had just started writing about what he was upset about at that moment and let the scene flow from that impulse. I decided to try out this technique myself. It just so happened that what I was upset about at the time was one of the other guys in the writing group.

The short ended up being about a girl in a writing group who writes a short about the guy in her writing group that she has a crush on. Unfortunately, by writing this, I’ve committed a cardinal sin of writing: do not write about writing. Hopefully this one gets a free pass, given the fact that it’s really about unrequited love rather than, say, the vicissitudes of being a struggling writer. But either way, I decided to greenlight it. It was the best short I’d written—and, even more importantly, the cheapest to make.

I then asked some friends to see if they wanted to get on board. One of them helped get the script in a much stronger shape, another signed on as the AD, and another the DP. Although I could have made the short for basically nothing—with a simple camera and the lamps in my living room—I decided to try my luck with crowdsourcing. I’d contributed to a few of my friends’ projects on IndieGoGo and Kickstarter, and it frankly sounded like a fun process.

When it was time to make the pitch page, at first it felt as daunting as writing a personal statement for a college application, but I was able to find my way in through the short itself: I made the campaign as self-reflective and meta as the short, such that it’s practically become an inextricable extension of it. I’ll never know if making the campaign as fun as possible made a difference in terms of the amount I was able to raise, but it certainly made the whole process easier for me: sending and posting funny stuff about your project is a lot less embarrassing than constant pleas for money—even when your project is embarrassingly revealing.

It remains to be seen to what extent this will help my career, but there are so many other benefits to making a short (not the least of which is getting off your desk chair and interacting with real objects and people again) that it will have been totally worth it.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

How Screenwriter Nathan Ives Got His Screenplay It’s Not You It’s Me Produced

September 10, 2012

My friend and writing partner, Nathan Ives, recently wrote and directed a feature film, It’s Not You It’s Me. I asked him if he would be willing to write up a short post about how the film got made, and he has graciously agreed. I’m a big proponent of taking control of your destiny and [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries