Sold it! My screenplay--finalized deal this week!

Congrats on a great sale! The money's great, but open doors will be more valuable, but you already know that I'm sure.

Very cool!!!
 
Thanks again everyone for the kind words. I'm very grateful, and just can't believe any of this is happening.
 
Ten years? Find some way to invest that in something that'd pay 10% interest and that'd be $30,000 PER YEAR -- a lifetime of income in one sale! :)

(and yes, this comment is ill-timed since it's hard enough to find an investment that pays anything at all, plus there's taxes to consider, and inflation and blah blah blah, but -- dude, when $300k lands in your lap, you can do a LOT with that.)

(and if it doesn't go so far in NY, move to Kansas or Thailand and live like a king!) :)

And, congrats Kyle -- always fantastic to see a longtime DVXUser make great progress in their career!
 
Who cares about the screenplay, you have 300k! Just kidding. Congrats Kyle and thanks for the pdf, will read through soon. Hopefully now your foot's in the door the sales might come that much easier. All the best!

btw, any chance you could give us a trials and tribulations rundown?
 
Wow! That's very exciting. A dvxuser graduates to the big time. This should reinforce that it all starts with a great script. I hope it gets made into a movie!
 
Congrats kylekmd.

May I ask who you're repped by?

And please give us more information on how this all come about. Was this a cold spec you queried, that got you this sale? Was this a project you worked with management (if you have a manager?).

Do you post over at donedealpro.com?

Congrats again. Oh, BTW, thanks for the ebook. I'll have a look over it with interest.

EJ
 
Wow--you guys are great.

Well, let's see. In the late 90's I became interested in screenwriting. Took a lot of classes, read all the books. Then, over the next 5 years or so, life happened: three deaths in my family (within a few months of each other) and my career time requirements escalated bigtime. Needless to say, my screenwriting was derailed.

A few years ago, once I got established in my field (day job) and the time requirements diminished, I started to write again. Wrote 2 feature length scripts, mostly to hone my skills and prove to myself that I could focus on something for 8 months or more. Both projects lacked life; for months they sat there in a pile on my desk almost mocking me and my desire to write.

Last year I changed my approach--decided to WRITE FROM THEME. Now, I know many of you are saying that I should've been doing that all along, but I was stupid... plot seemed more interesting to me. Once I started writing from THEME, however, everything else fell into place--no more writers block, because certain things in the characters' lives had to occur if I were to be faithful to THEME. And it applies to all characters, all decisions regarding setting, mood, dialogue, etc.

I finished my conspiracy thriller, The Lemon Tree, and asked my real estate attorney (believe it or not) if he knew any entertainment attorneys. He did. I was shocked because I live far from the entertainment mecca; I'm living in the far west suburbs of Chicago. He loved it, and started shopping it around to his contacts. After about 2 months, I forgot Lemon and just continued on with my life. But, in Feb 2008, he started to get some bites. And the rest, as they say, is history. I'm still in shock.

Thanks again guys. You make it all worth while.

Kyle
 
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So Kyle, you had your attorney break the deal for you then? So you only shave off 5% from your deal? Kudos if that's the case!

Have reps been contacting you now? Agents and managers I mean?

EJ
 
Congrats Kyle.

I haven't heard the term "Write from theme" before. Perhaps this is just because I'm from Denmark, where most terms are naturally in danish, but perhaps I could ask you to elaborate a little on that, or provide me with any kind of reference? Always anxious to copy the succesfull :)
 
gi-jones,

THEME is what your story is really about... like a moral of the story.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY'S theme is "Can a man and woman be just friends". This movie explores that theme excellently.

EJ
 
I thought when Kyle referred to Theme he was meaning Genre. As in conspiracy, vampires, teen comedy etc.
 
Genre is very important, but when I said writing from theme I was talking about what Hauge and Truby refer to as Theme, McKee calls the Controlling Idea, Egri means with Premise. Tierno's, the Action-Idea, is the same concept, and Williams calls it the Moral Premise. It's what your story is really about, on a deeper, more universal level.

old examples... AND JUST TO CLARIFY, these examples come from Sherri Sheridan's book Developing Digital Short Films (pp 24-25) and S. William's book The Moral Premise (pp 72 & 149), respectively. Both sources are excellent.

Wallstreet: Greed leads to corruption.
American Beauty: Desire leads to suffering.

Another form (which I favor) consists of two parts... separated by a "but"...

Braveheart: Compromise of liberty leads to tyranny, but dying for liberty leads to freedom.
Bruce Almighty: Expecting a miracle leads to frustration, but being a miracle leads to peace.

You get the idea.
 
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