Read 'Screenplay format' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I get a lot of questions about proper screenplay format. So I thought I’d write up a post which can help with the vast majority of these questions.

In general, you’re best bet for understanding screenplay formatting is to read a ton of screenplays by professional screenwriters. There are lots of places to find online versions of film scripts. Google “movie title screenplay” and you’ll usually find the exact script you want. There really is no better way to understanding screenplay format than by reading lots of screenplays.

Usually the person who asks the screenplay format question will have some strange and obscure formatting issue that they have never seen before. Often times I don’t know the “right” way to format it either. But one thing to keep in mind when trying to figure out how to format your screenplay, above all else, make it easy to read and easy to understand. Never let the formatting get in the way of reading your screenplay.

Think about the journey your screenplay is going to take, if you’re lucky, from your computer to the silver screen. Assuming you can get your screenplay read (read my post How to Sell Your Screenplay to learn more about getting your script read, optioned, and sold) the first people who read your screenplay at an agency or production company are going to be entry level folks who have a lot of other screenplays to read. Even if your story is solid, if your screenplay has a bunch of really clunky formatting that makes the act of reading it hard, you’re seriously jeopardizing your chances that they will recommend your script.

Again, I’m talking about general screenplay format, your script has to look like a screenplay or it will never get past those entry level readers. But don’t get hung up over small picky little formatting details for obscure situations. Just tell your story in the simplest easiest to read manner you can think of and you’ll be fine.

I also find that many people who are asking about these strange formatting issues simply shouldn’t be including them in their screenplay. Ask yourself, is this direction absolutely necessary to tell my story? If it is, do your best to make it understood. But in most cases you could and should cut these situations out of your story and you’ll be much better off.

For many strange formatting situations there probably isn’t a “right” way to do it anyway. There is no official screenplay format council that decides exactly how screenplays should be formatted. There are simply some professional standards which you should follow. If you have a firm grasp on basic screenplay format you should be able to figure something out if you decide your story absolutely can not be told unless you use some bit of strange direction that needs special formatting.

I’ve written several posts on various screenplay formatting issues so be sure and check out those posts, too. You can find them all here: Screenplay formatting questions.

Read 'I think someone stole my story idea!' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“Years ago I took a screenwriting class at a community college. I wrote a synopsis and 30 pages of my screenplay. As students of the class we had to share our stories with the teacher and with each other for critique and advice. My story was very personal and unique, it is based on my true life experiences. I had never seen or heard of a movie about my subject matter. Now present day a new movie released this year, is about the same subject matter as my story and a lot of the details and circumstances are the same, when I saw the trailer it looked like I was watching a trailer of my synopsis. WHAT CAN I DO? Can I find out where they got their idea? Was it from my community college synopsis? Should I try to have my movie made? Will I be accused of copying if I present my story?”

Without knowing any of the details of your specific story I am 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% sure that no one stole your story idea. Look at it from the producers standpoint. It’s much easier to pay a writer for their idea than to try and steal it and face a lawsuit later. Forget about the morality of stealing an idea it just wouldn’t make good business sense.

I find that new writers tend to greatly over value their ideas. A screenplay is not one or two great ideas, it’s lots and lots of ideas executed in a very specific fashion. A lot of simple ideas that new writers have are not nearly as original or unique as they think and they’re not even copyrightable because they’re not new or novel. Just because you never heard of a specific idea doesn’t mean that someone didn’t think of it independently of yourself. We’re all basically the same living in essentially the same world, so ideas are bound to overlap.

The good news is that your original idea appears to be marketable so you might have good instincts for strong marketable story ideas. I would encourage you to continue to come up with ideas and turn them into fully fleshed out screenplays.

Now with all that said, I would encourage you to go and watch the movie. If after seeing the entire movie you are still convinced that someone stole your idea you should start to do some basic research. Start with the writer. Who got writing credit for this film? Did that writer grow up in similar circumstances as you did so that he might produce a story that is similar to your own? Or was that writer simply in your community college class? Do as much research as you can and if you’re still convinced that they stole your idea talk to an entertainment attorney. Stealing is wrong and it’s illegal and if someone really did steal your story you might have a legitimate case against them. A good entertainment attorney can advise you further.

Read 'The Hero’s Flaw and Your Story' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

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:

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We’re going to get into a lot of trouble for this one, because many times movies are different things to different people. But unless you’re a film student, a college student, or an iconoclast (and who isn’t once in a while?), movies are a character’s journey from being flawed to being less flawed. 
This journey may be geographical (“Star Wars,” “The Wizard of Oz”) or it may all take place in one location (“Casablanca,” “The King’s Speech”) but the emotional meat of any movie is your main character coming to grips with some weakness or flaw and, with courage and fortitude, overcoming that flaw to triumph. (There are lots of movies where the hero fails to triumph, but these are irrelevant to your story, so we won’t go into them here.)



What’s the Flaw?



Make a list of your ten favorite movies (be honest, now) and you’ll find that this is true of all of them. For instance, one of our favorite movies from last year was “Inception.” The question hanging over the entire movie was, could Leo’s character let go of his dead wife and get his life back? His law is he can’t move on, and it’s costing him, his friends, and his remaining family. For all its exquisite concepts, twists and turns, the movie at its root is about a man coming out of mourning. Another one of our favorite movies of all time is “It’s a Wonderful Life,” wherein a man who’s always wanted to leave his town is forced to stay. He struggles with self-loathing and resentment all his life, even as he builds a… well, a wonderful life. And when his crisis comes, he must realize the value of what he’s done and what he has. If he doesn’t realize this value, he will cease to exist. 
We could go on, but in the interests of time and space, we’ll make a deal with you– make a list of your ten favorite movies, and if you can’t see how the hero overcomes an inner flaw in any one of them, send them onto me, and we’ll point them out. But movies, especially commercial movies, are always about a character confronting an inner demon and overcoming said beastie. 
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Story and the Inner Flaw



Inner flaw is the meat. How we serve the meat is the story. The story is the mechanical circumstances that force the hero to confront the inner demon. Let’s say that you have an issue with being responsible. The very idea of responsibility scares the crap out of you. And let’s further say that you have become very adept at avoiding responsibility. You have set up your life so that you are independently wealthy, with enough money to last you until you’re 95, and you sit on the couch all day playing Nintendo. 
Actually, that sounds pretty good. Excuse me….

Okay, back to reality. Watching you on the couch, gradually ripening and rotting as you ratchet up the high scores, would make a great life, perhaps, but a terrible movie. Nothing interesting happens, and we see no growth from you, apart from your gradually widening ass. 


The Inciting Incident 
So what needs to happen? Something needs to shock you out of your comfort zone and move you into activity. In movies, this is called “The Inciting Incident.” The event from the outside that launches our hero into action. 
Now, if the inciting incident is that you run out of soda and Doritos, that’s not very compelling. It’s an easy problem to solve– take a sliver of your independent wealth and go to the 7-11. Problem solved. You can get back before the TV goes into sleep mode. 
But, if the inciting incident is more along the lines of, a
phone call from an old girlfriend with the news that she’s pregnant with your baby, now you’ve got something. Why? Because this problem directly confronts the character’s inner flaw– his fear of responsibility! And the audience gets it immediately; how is this fat-ass frustrated adolescent going to get himself together and take care of a child? It’ll never happen! Or will it? Let’s watch!



Desire Line. Plan. Goal.



To recap- Inner Flaw; Inciting Incident. There’s one more piece of the puzzle you need to have, and that is the Desire Line, or Plan, or Goal. The Desire Line is something that the hero wants or needs to accomplish, outside of himself. In this case, maybe he wants to win the world championship at Mario Kart. The contest is in one month, but he can barely crack the qualifying scores. (Make the desire line difficult, not easy). Then he gets the phone call from the old girlfriend. He decides to… what? Pay her off with his world championship winnings, or an endorsement deal? Or does he abandon the contest and become a Dad? Or… what? This is your story.

When it all comes together, what you should have is a character with an inner flaw and a dream. He decides to pursue his dream, either because of the inciting incident or just because, and the pursuit of that dream ultimately forces him to confront his inner flaw. The inciting incident could launch his pursuit of the dream, or it could be the sudden road block or conflict. Conflicts force the hero to confront the inner flaw as well. 


Disguising Story

Don’t duck this. It is your responsibility as a screenwriter to line up your main character’s inner flaw, desire line and inciting incident. Commercial movies require a set-up that includes all three. Your skill as a writer will be shown in how artfully you disguise these elements, so that they don’t look and feel like the writer is trying to include everything.

Let’s take another look at Star Wars. Their
opening scenes establish the world and justify the title, as well as set the story in motion. Princess Leia is captured by Darth Vader, but she gets a ship sent off with a message. The ship crashes and the droid winds up with Luke. Luke is our main character. We learn pretty fast that he wants to join the rebellion and fight the empire (set-up– the hero is frustrated and unappreciative; inner flaw) His parents refuse permission, and send him out to clan the droids. He gets Leia’s message, (inciting incident) and instantly falls for the girl. His desire line kicks in– he wants to save the damsel. His path is cleared by the empire, which has killed his parents. Off he goes with Obi-Wan on an adventure that will take him
to the heart of the war he wanted to fight in the first place. 
This is how it all ties together. Accept that all commercial successful movies have these elements, and your writing will vastly improve! These elements will clarify the story for readers and audience alike, and they can relax and enjoy the hero’s journey.

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Read 'The Magic of A Reading' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

This post was written by Jackie Wolf-Enrione. She’s a journalist and screenwriter. She’s sent in a few questions and she told me about an upcoming reading of her screenplay. I asked if she’d write up a blog post about her experience with the read and she generously agreed.

If you read this blog regularly you’ll know that I’m in a weekly writer’s group where we bring in around 25 pages every 5 weeks and have professional actors read the pages in front of a group of other writers. The other writers and actors then critique the pages. I highly recommend that everyone who writes screenplays participate in this sort of exercise. You get a great sense about whether or not the scenes are working just by hearing actors read them aloud. You can tell if something you thought was hilarious really is hilarious. You can get a general sense of how these pages will be received by others as there is usually a consensus on what’s working and what’s not. And you can spit ball ideas with the other writers which often really helps break your script open with a fresh set of eyes.

So I hope everyone out there considers this. Below is Jackie’s experience with her own reading.

I’m a journalist by profession. I have stacks of research to draw from; investigative journalism is my strong suit.  In 2005, I abandoned the notion of writing a novel about a plane crash I covered in the mid-1990’s.  The story arc just wasn’t working, and my characters were like yesterday’s soup.

My manuscript collected dust until January 2010, when an A-list actor and his production company descended upon my Westchester village for an entire month to film. A serendipitous moment in time occurred when I bumped into this actor in line at my post office. After five years of mourning the death of my novel, it came to me: then and there, I took a minor character; made him the lead and the story amazingly wrote itself.

Timing and luck does factor into the equation.  Of course, you have to be prepared in the event the stars align for you.

My first step on this virgin journey of writing a screenplay was to purchase a few books on how to write a screenplay.  Luck has landed me two thirds of the equation: 1) After having expressed interest in writing a screenplay, a crew member on the set was kind enough to give me a copy of the script.  That was the first ever movie script I’d seen.  2) I work part time for a major TV news network in New York City and coincidentally work with many actors. My first step testing the waters was a 20 page treatment I shared with my actor friend and colleague, Peter Von Berg. “Great idea,” he said. “But we’ll see how it translates with dialogue.”

Back to the drawing board: I had my work cut out for me.  Along with the ‘How To’ Books, I studied the structure and content of the screenplay.  I realized that was my path.  Though it doesn’t seem so to a novice, the format of the screenplay is formulaic.  It forced me to trim my many sub plots, focus on what was important and pump up the character studies.  First draft: 145 words in Times New Roman font.  What I thought was the finished product was just the beginning.  In writing, all the writing is in the rewrites.

Over the course of a year and a half of writing and rewriting, my actor friend and colleague Peter was kind enough to read the many incarnations of this script and make suggestions each step of the way.  My husband, a historian and editor and a friend, Homeland Security Specialist and author David Longshore, helped me with editing and military details.

Back in April, Peter suggested that we do a reading for Flight©. I was a bit reluctant but he felt the script was up to snuff. I could never have done this without his guidance and expertise. I would never have undertaken this myself.  Quite candidly, Readings are a double edged sword.  If you don’t have access to seasoned actors and an accomplished director to donate their time and expertise, it is my feeling a reading can work against you.  But if you are fortunate enough to know professionals who are willing to take on the project, the results are startling.

Peter virtually took over the process. It’s official.  Peter was the Director and the Head of Casting, just like that. First we picked a date we were both available—May 9, then a space.  The logical space was Guild Hall lodged in the wonderful Episcopal Actors’ Guild at 5^th Avenue 29^th Street (I’m a member, too).  Then Peter held auditions.  He selected seven actors plus himself to read.  The two leads: Tony Newfield played the airline pilot andElizabeth Keefe played his friend and neighbor, journalist Carly Foxx. Craig Wichman narrated. The other hundred or so characters were played byStephen Innocenzi, Michael Citriniti, Leslie Alexander, Sherry Skinker and Peter Von Berg (my director).  Because of the scenes, locations and sheer numbers of characters, it is infinitely more difficult to stage a reading for a screenplay vs. a stage play.  In brief a stage play lends itself to an enjoyable reading whereas the director and actors must work diligently to make a screenplay reading enjoyable and informative.

The purpose of a reading is primarily to help the author make final changes.  If an audience member just happened to be a Hollywood type who wanted to purchase the script all the better. Quite frankly, lightening would strike first.

Audience Q&A

I watched the audience from the back, to see their interest level.  Amazingly, they were absorbed from beginning to end.  Whether or not they agreed with the premise of the screenplay, they were passionate about their feelings, points of view and the characters.

Timed it: 1 page a minute.  Just like the pros.

Along with the accolades came the critiques.  This was so helpful for the fine tuning of yet another rewrite.

At the end of my reading, 1 hour and 46 minutes later there was serious applause.  After that there was a five minute break and I took the stage with the actors for the Q&A. Of course there were some gratuitous remarks by some who didn’t much like the premise.  That’s to be expected and in this business, you have to be thick skinned (I work on it every day). Having said that, the constructive criticism from the audience was brilliant.  In addition, the emails I received are enormously insightful and helpful for the rewrite.  In fact they light my path.  Interestingly, the rewrites will bring me down from 118 pages to very close to 110 pages.

Watching the fruits of my hard work was an emotional experience.  I  literally saw my characters come to life.

Twenty six people attended the reading.  Because the screenplay is a political thriller, a fictionalized account of a true incident, which the author actually chased back in the 90’s, it seemed fitting to have journalists, homeland security types, some people attached to network news, political circles and yes, a movie critic attend.

Read 'How to Recognize and Correct Overwriting in Your Screenplay' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

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At Script Quack Script Analysis, we see plenty of screenplays each month. Our clients range from beginning writers to veteran scribes. Often, the scripts we read are entertaining, funny, thrilling and compelling. But many also suffer from the same simple mistakes. These missteps undermine story and character; they distract us from the writer’s true intentions, and disrupt the flow of the screenplay.

The most common error we see is overwriting. Scripts with dense action paragraphs and endless dialogue detract from momentum and waste precious ‘white space.’ These scripts put off agency and studio readers before they read even one page of your script.

Fortunately, overwriting is a bad habit that’s easy to break. Follow our advice below to learn how to recognize and correct these errors in your own writing.

- Long Action Paragraphs

A great rule of thumb in action writing is to break up action paragraphs into shots. Every time there would be a new shot, begin a new paragraph. If your action paragraphs are greater than 3 lines long, chances are you’re not adhering to your guidelines.

By shortening your action, you make it easier for a reader to scan the page, reading quickly. This improves pacing and flow, and keeps the momentum moving.

In addition, this will help you see your own movie better in your mind. You’ll begin to consider shots more quickly and with a more discerning eye.

- Excessive use of adverbs and adjectives in action.

Adverbs have very little place in good action writing. Usually, they can (and should) be replaced with action verbs.

Here is an example of poorly written, adverb heavy action: “Bob walks slowly into the barn. He looks angrily at Jim. Jim runs quickly out the back.”

Now read the sentences again. Here, adverbs are replaced by strong, dramatic verbs. The writing is snappier and more direct: “Bob saunters into the barn. Glares at Jim. Jim sprints out the back.”

Newly devoid of verb modifiers, the moment described above is much less ambiguous. And the clearer the image you depict, the more enjoyable your story will be for the reader. Often, the inclusion of adverbs is really just filler. The adverbs serve absolutely no purpose. Take the following phrases, for example: ‘sprints quickly,’ ‘yells loudly’ and ‘clatters noisily.’ In each of these examples, the verb itself is all that’s needed. The adverb is kind of an insult to the all-powerful verb.

I’ve often heard screenwriting compared to poetry writing, and that comparison is never truer than in action. Great action writing, like great poetry, is sparse and powerful. Adverbs are used sparingly, only to introduce new layers or elements to a scene, and never when a strong verb could be used instead.

Read through your script and circle every adjective and adverb. If you’ve got a lot, you’ve got a problem. Decide which to keep and which to cut on a line by line basis, always keeping your thoughts towards crafting sentences that will elicit strong images, using the fewest words.

- Domino Writing

It’s also possible to overwrite with very few grammatical redundancies. I call this ‘domino writing.’ Domino writing is when the action describes every single movement necessary for a simple task to be performed.

Here’s an example: “John picks up his phone. Flips it open. Searches his contacts. Dials a number. Presses send.” Like dominos, every tiny action leans on the next until the phone call is placed.

The writing is robotic, graceless, and really hard to read through the duration of an entire script. If you take this long to get through every simple act, your reader will fall asleep on your script.

To fix this, identify common behaviors and simplify them. “John grabs the phone and makes a call.” Or better yet, “John makes a call.”

- Too Clever for Your Own Dialogue

As writers, we’re all super clever, beautiful people. So when our character has something to say, we sometimes struggle to find the perfect word or phrase. Instead of just picking one, we choose them all.

Here’s an example. Let’s say John wants to call his Uncle Bob fat. It’s tempting to something like this: “You’re overweight, Uncle Bob. You’re huge.  You’re obese. You’re the size of an elephant. Seriously, I’m worried. You’re super duper fat, you fat, fat fatty.”

Here, every line devalues the next. Until Uncle Bob’s epic fatness is almost an after thought.  Calling Bob fat so many times actually makes him seem less fat, effectively transforming John into “The Boy Who Cried Fat.”

A better line would be: “You’re fat, Uncle Bob.” Perhaps this isn’t the most eloquent sentiment, but it’s direct and it will resonate with your reader, and that’s all it has to do.

This problem might not always be as easy to spot as it is here (hopefully not), but redundancies in dialogue are a simple fix.

Generally, once something has been communicated, visually or through dialogue, it doesn’t need to be said again.

For instance, in the next scene, John’s mom should not say “I heard you called Uncle Bob fat.” There’s no point to that line, because we already know that happened.

Instead, Mom’s line needs to add a new element to the Bob/John dilemma. It needs to push the story further. To that end, a line like “Uncle Bob was crying all night after what you said” is much better.

This line might seem at first like it communicates the same information, but it actually relates something new – Uncle Bob’s reaction to John’s insult.

Hold each line to these standards, and you’ll have crisp, important dialogue that serves your story well.

- Screenwriting and Frogger

On the whole, think of your script like Frogger. Your hero needs to get across the street, and you need to write him there. But if you’ve ever played Frogger, you know that the best games require the fewest jumps.

Similarly, you need to execute the journey with swift, precise moves. If you’re hopping all over the board, you’re probably going to die.  So choose your hops wisely, don’t over write, and always keep hopping in the right direction.

Have they made Frogger into a movie yet? If not – - dibs.

Happy Screenwriting.

- Script Quack

If you’re looking for a script consultant to give you professional notes on your screenplay SellingYourScreenplay.com recommends Script Quack. They 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:

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Read 'Do I need permission to use a song in my screenplay?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“Can you tell me if I need a permission to use songs in my script? I would like to use a song while opening credits are shown and another song of the same artist in the end of the movie. Do I need to contact her to get her permission to do so?”

You do NOT need permission to “use” any particular song in a screenplay. You’re screenplay is just a blueprint for a film, it’s not a completed film, so you won’t get in any legal trouble for mentioning a specific song.

When the film is made the producers will have to get the rights from the artist to use that song in the completed film (assuming they plan to distribute and make money from the completed film). On a side note, I’ve actually seem many films with what’s called a “scratch track” where the filmmakers used what ever music they wanted in their films and started screening the films at festivals and for industry people while the “real” music was still being figured out. In fact if my memory is correct a film I saw at the Sundance Film festival was one of them, so a film can get pretty far along without having to secure any music rights.

However, it’s generally considered bad form to list a specific song in a screenplay. As the screenwriter the main thing to consider is whether or not that specific song is needed to move the story forward. It’s a lot like including lots of camera direction in your screenplay, don’t do it, leave that to the director. There are times when a very specific camera direction is needed to keep the story moving, and you could probably think of some examples where a specific song is needed for the story, too, but these should be rare exceptions.

From the description that you gave in your question, it does not sound to me like the songs are mandatory to move the story forward so I would NOT list them specifically in your screenplay. Instead of listing a specific song it would be much better to write something like, “Over credits we hear soulful blues.”

Read 'Finding an idea for a script' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

If you’re like me you’ve got dozens of seemingly “great” screenplay ideas floating around in your head.  But how do you narrow your ideas down and figure out which ones are worth investing the time and energy to turn into a complete screenplay?

My writing partner, Nathan Ives, and I are close to finishing a screenplay so we’re starting to kick around some ideas for another spec.  Here are some of the considerations that we’ve been talking about when one of us has an idea for a script.

Keep in mind a lot of my considerations have to do with our own writing process.  This blog post is more about me trying to crystallize our process of choosing an idea to write than it is about trying to tell anyone else how they should do it.  Use your own instincts and come up with your own list of considerations.  I’d be curious to hear how other writers narrow down their ideas.

The character driven story

Nathan and I seem to do our best work when we have a strong interesting character driving the story forward.  If you’re good at coming up with interesting stories I don’t think this needs to be a major focus for you at this stage.  Most Hollywood films are story driven not character driven so while this is probably the main focus for us at this point, it definitely does not have to be for others.  But for us to be at our best the story must revolve around a strong willed, often eccentric character (and an equally strong antagonist).  It seems like we usually come up with a loose idea for a story and then figure out our main character and then start to build our story around our main character.  The scripts that have turned out the best are the ones where we we’re able to create a really strong main character (or antagonist) who drives the story forward with a single minded focus.  While the scripts that we’ve written that have felt flat usually rely more heavily on story.

A strong ending

While this may seem obvious, I can’t tell you the number of “great” ideas I’ve had over the years that simply didn’t lead to a highly compelling dramatic ending.  Without a rush at the end your movie will be forgotten and unremarkable.  I recently saw Hamlet 2.  Overall I didn’t think the movie was very good.  Neither the story nor the characters were novel or interesting.  We’ve seen the good hearted teacher teaching kids who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks before and it was pretty obvious where this movie was going to end up.  Much of the comedy felt forced and stilted.  However, the ending was great.  It was funny.  It paid everything off and it made the predictable ending worth watching.  The ending wasn’t surprising but it was very entertaining.  After the movie was done I felt like I enjoyed it because the ending was so strong.  I’m not saying you can save 80 minutes of drek if the last 20 minutes are fantastic but a strong ending can save an otherwise average movie.  And more importantly a really strong ending can make a good movie great.

Don’t start writing your script until you’ve got a great ending worked out.  If the story idea doesn’t naturally end in a big dramatic climactic moment the idea may not be worth pursuing.

A marketing plan

Unless someone is paying you to write a script you should seriously consider taking a step back from your idea and think a little bit about the marketing of your script/film.  The more scripts I’ve written the more I’ve realized how important this step is – because I’ve overlooked it myself on so many projects.

There is really two parts to this when you’re in the early stages of developing a story idea.  First, figuring out how you’re going to pitch your script.  Second, coming up with an actionable list of ways you’re going to get your script made.

Your logline and pitch are what’s going to get this script read.  If people won’t read your script it doesn’t matter how good it is.  I highly recommend that you write your logline before you start writing your script.  If you can’t come up with a great logline it might mean that your story idea isn’t worth pursuing.  Don’t overlook this step and think “once the script is written I’ll be able to come up with a great logline.”  If you can’t do it now you probably won’t be able to do it when the script is finished either.

I highly encourage you to read and follow the advice that I give in my How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell) post.  While this is certainly an actionable marketing plan it shouldn’t be your only marketing plan.  In fact, sending out cold query letters to production companies, while it can work, should probably be a last resort.  If you’re new to screenwriting it might be your only option but as you develop as a screenwriter I highly encourage you to try and find other avenues for your material.

As an example, the script that Nathan and I are about to finish will go through three marketing phases.

First, our manager will send it to contacts that he personally has and Nathan and I will send it to contacts that we personally have.  A personal contact is a much stronger submission because they’re already at least some-what familiar with your work and are much more likely to give it a real read.

Second, if we don’t get any traction from any of our (or our manger’s) contacts Nathan and I will do a little bit of producing and see if we can raise some (or all) of the money to shoot the movie ourselves.  While this isn’t an easy proposition it’s a great way to learn more about the business side of writing.

Finally, depending on how much of the money we raise (if any) we will then consider sending out cold query letters as I describe in my How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell) post.  If we’ve raised a significant portion of the money our cold query letters will probably get a much better response rate.  What can you do to increase the response rate you get from cold query letters?

While this may not be a brilliant marketing plan it does give us at least a few clear actionable items to work on.  Of course while we’re pursuing these options we’ll also be starting on our next screenplay.

In the comments section feel free to offer up your own advice for how you narrow down your story ideas and find one to turn into a full screenplay.

Read 'Script Consultants' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

Should you pay a script consultant to read and review your screenplay?

Up until a couple of weeks ago I had never used any paid script consultant services.  If you read my blog you’ll know I’m a big proponent of moving to Los Angeles if you’re serious about screenwriting.  One of the reasons to live in L.A. is that you’ll run into people everywhere you go who are either in the industry or trying to get into the industry and you’ll become friends with many of them.  These friends become a great resource and might be able to evaluate your screenplays for you.

Since moving to Los Angeles I’ve meet many actors, writers, directors and producers.  I now have several good friends who I send my scripts to and can get competent notes from them.  I will often give them my opinion on their projects as well so the relationship is reciprocal.  I trust their opinions and they know me well enough to know that I want the truth.  In addition, I’m currently in a writers group. I present material and get feedback from other writers and in return the other writers present their material and get feedback from me. If you don’t live in L.A. these sorts of connections are much more difficult to find.

So if you know people in the industry that’s my first recommendation: get notes on your script from them before going out and spending money on script consultants.

However, if you don’t have friends in the industry your mom, brother, wife, and friends will NOT suffice in getting reliable script notes and you should seriously consider paying a trained professional to give you feedback on your screenplay.

Several of the writers in my group offer professional script notes at Script Quack. If you’re looking for a screenplay consultant to get quality notes on your screenplay I highly recommend Script Quack. Script Quack will give you high quality, reliable, honest notes on your project at a fair price.

Just enter the discount code “sellingyourscreenplay” (without the quotes) on the discount page which can be found here:

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

If you read my blog you may have noticed comments by Script Doctor Eric.  He offered to read one of my scripts and give me his “full service” script consultation.  My writing partner and I recently finished a first draft of The Un-Natural, a baseball comedy about the most uncoordinated kid in the world who works harder than anyone to make his dream of becoming a professional baseball player a reality.  Since we were really looking for notes on this script I figured this would be a good chance to put Eric’s service to use.

Overall he had a lot of great comments and if you’re looking for a good professional script consultant I highly recommend him.  He had a nice mixture of comments and suggestions.  A lot of people offer tons of criticism but offer very few actual suggestions.  I really like suggestions, even bad ones, as it helps me to understand where the person was coming from with the criticism.

As I mentioned I have never used any service like this before but it’s hard for me to imagine that you’ll find a better value with any other script consultant.  He doesn’t charge a lot of money for the service so if you’re looking for a script consultant, check out his website: http://www.scriptdoctoreric.com/. Script Doctor Eric did not pay for this promotion. He simply offered to review one of my scripts for free and I liked his notes so I’m recommending him. I’m not making any money from Eric by recommending him to my readers.

I’m very leery to recommend a specific price that I think is fair for script consultant services.  When purchasing something like this it’s all about value.  I did a quick Google search for “screenplay consultants” and clicked through to a few of them and found several that were charging nearly $1,000 for their “deluxe” service.  While this may seem like a lot of money – and it is – it’s hard to say if it’s worth it.  If it helps you get your script to where it needs to be and you end up selling it, it might be a good value.

When looking for a script consultant try and get some references from them and make an effort to call or email those references.  Ask the references about the value they think they got for the price.  Keep in mind that these references will be supplied by the consultant so they may not be too reliable.  In this day and age it’s hard for someone to make a living offering a horrible service thanks to Google.  So Google the script consultant’s name or website and see what comes up.  You might find someone who’s used their services and is willing to tell you the truth about them.

Another suggestion I would have is if you find a consultant that you like you might try the cheapest service that they offer to start and see what sort of value you get for the money.  If you don’t get a lot of value from their cheaper service than you probably won’t get a lot of value on the higher end either.

Read 'Getting through the dip and getting your screenplay written' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

Nathan Ives and I are working on a new script. I’ll spare you the boring details about the plot, structure, and character – yeah, we got all those things. Right now we’re almost done a very rough draft. And I mean really rough draft. We’ve been working on it for several months. In its current state it’s terrible. It’s so in-coherent in places that it wouldn’t even be possible to make a movie out of it. It just makes no sense. It feels like it’s never going to be any good.

I read a book recently called The Dip. It’s written by Seth Godin, a marketing guru and author. It’s a great book and you should read it.

Just about everything in life has a “dip.” When you start a new project there’s that initial burst of energy and enthusiasm that carries the project along for a little while. But then the initial burst starts to fade and you go in to what’s called “the dip” – that long hard journey to the finish line. I’m sure everyone has experienced this at one time or another.

Nathan and I are so far in the dip on this screenplay it’s hard to imagine that there is a finish line. We both have lost interest in the script and want to abandon it. But we’re going to finish it no matter how much we hate it and want to be done with it. We’re going to keep slogging away on it even though we feel like it’ll never be any good. Luckily I’ve written enough scripts to realize that eventually we will be done and it will probably be a pretty decent script. It just doesn’t feel like that now.

Several years ago I went to a screenwriting seminar. The teacher asked the people in the audience why they were there. There were about 20 people in the room and 18 of them all gave essentially the same answer, which was something like this: “I have all these great ideas but I can’t seem to get them into a compete screenplay.” They were all experiencing the dip. They had an idea for a script that excited them but then the dip set in and they just petered out.

The great thing about the dip is that once you’re through it, it works to your advantage because most people won’t make it across. So instead of hating the dip look at it as your friend. Lean into it and realize that you’ll eventually be through it. With each script you write you’ll acquire more and more skill and be in increasingly rarer company. Everyone has a great idea for a script but most people never bother turning it into a completed screenplay. A lot of people have written one script but a lot less people have written two. A few people have written two scripts but there’s not too many who have written ten.

Writing a script isn’t easy and selling it is even harder. I believe that if you keep writing and keep improving and keep sending your material out you will eventually have a career.
If you find yourself in the dip, keep writing. Finish your script. You’ll be glad you did and you’ll be one step closer to being a screenwriter. The worst script ever written is a whole lot better than the greatest script never written.

I highly recommend you read The Dip. It’s very short and easy to read. I think it will help you in just about any project you decide to work on.

Have you experienced The Dip?