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

[Cryogenic Filmworks]

Congrats on the sale. Love to see positive things happen for our members.

:thumbsup:

 

[brianluce]

Lemon[/I] and just continued on with my life. But, in Feb 2008, he started to get some bites. while.

Kyle

What was the Entertainment lawyer's script marketing odyssey like? Had he marketed scripts before? Or was this a one time deal for him? details details details!

 

[Larry Rutledge]

Hey Kyle, can I borrow a few bucks? :grin:




Seriously dude, that is fantastic news. Who knows where this might lead, but for now just enjoy the fruit of your labor.


Congratulations!

 

[kylekmd]

What was the Entertainment lawyer's script marketing odyssey like? Had he marketed scripts before? Or was this a one time deal for him? details details details!

For many years he worked for the Chicago Film Commision, and made many contacts in the industry that way. Through a contact in LA, he was able to get the script read by some DEs. Very surreal, still.

 

[EJ Pennypacker]

Hey Kyle,

Do you have a logline you can share with us for this project?

EJ

 

[Erik Olson]

What is the option period on this? Can you share those particulars? Congratulations, getting the first one sold opens a lot of doors!

e

 

[EJ Pennypacker]

erik,

Not sure if I follow what you mean by option, but he sold the project not optioned it. He now no longer owns the material. The studio/company does.

EJ

 

[Erik Olson]

No reversion rights then?

e

 

[EJ Pennypacker]

That would've been worked out with the lawyer, and whether the company was WGA sig (no doubt it is) so it would be in his contract for revisions no doubt.

EJ

 

[Erik Olson]

EJ, with all due respect, I'm asking the original op for exactly that reason. I write deals for intellectual property, that's why I'm asking.

I specifically asked if there was R E V E R S I O N language... not revision rights. Please, let him answer?

e

 

[EJ Pennypacker]

My bad Erik. I indeed thought you meant revisions.

I'll just go get Kyle so he can answer your Q's

EJ

 

[brianluce]

EJ, with all due respect, I'm asking the original op for exactly that reason. I write deals for intellectual property, that's why I'm asking.


e

Hi Erik, so you're an intellectual property attorney? I don't suppose you know any entertainment lawyers do you?

 

[dougspice]

Huge congrats, you must be bouncing off the walls.

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.

This is really well observed, and it's taken me a long time to see that the same is true in my own writing and that of other people I know as well.

Just curious, where outside of Chicago are you?

 

[Erik Olson]

I'm not an entertainment attorney, but have one of the best in the business.



e

 

[Erik Olson]

My bad Erik. I indeed thought you meant revisions.

I'll just go get Kyle so he can answer your Q's

EJ

No problem, and I apologize for being a little harsh there. Another pint I owe a DVXUser member!

e

 

[Kholi]

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...

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.

Congrats on the sale, Kyle! And, thanks for putting together the guide and offering some words on your method of writing!

I do have some thoughts on writing for theme and how you initially formulate the "theme" altogether. Do you start off writing for theme? Or, find out after the first draft what your theme is after the first draft THEN go back in the next fifty or so to mold according to?

 

[dougspice]

I'm anxious to read the PDF you put together but many of the pages are showing up like this:

I'm having the same problem.

 

[brianluce]

I'm having the same problem.

Here's what I got. Feels like dyslexia...

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[Jared Meyer]

Brian and Doug: You need to open the pdf with the latest version of Adobe Reader. If on a Mac, don't use Preview, which is what caused me the problem.

 

[kylekmd]

My contract had no REVERSION clause. I sold the "property" outright for a fixed purchase price. The only responsibility I have yet to realize is the additional draft requirement.

In regard to theme, I like to define it well in advance of the actual writing. Maybe someday I'll find myself Amygdala-deep in a project before the theme emerges. Or maybe it will only declare itself upon completion of the first draft--who knows? But right now, being somewhat of a perfectionist, I find it important to know theme early, as it often helps with structure and writer's block.

I'll be back later--

Time for dinner. The wife's calling!