best genres to write to break in?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

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What would you all say are the top genres to write to break in to the business (make that first spec sale)? I see this chart on the most popular genres by box office,
http://ddunlop.com/2008/12/recapping-2008-most-popular-movie-genre/
but I do not think that tells the whole story-- because for one thing I believe I have read that studios are unlikely to buy a spec from a noob for a high budget (special effects, space, explosions galore, etc); also high gross box office does not equate necessarily to profits. I would think studios would be more like to buy a script from a noob that could be shot lower budget but still do well at at a theater. So, what genres are best to write to break in the business?
randall
 
But in Michael Hauge's book on "Writing Screenplays that Sell" he says "Horror Films: The studios and networks will almost never produce original horror films. However, it is still a feasible way to obtain financing for a low budget film." Hauge puts horror in the group of genres to avoid for breaking in: musical, westerns, period pieces, horror, biographies, science fiction. Hauge lists these genres as being consistently strong commodities in Hollywood: action-adventure, suspense thriller, love story, comedy, drama.

Confusing, because in the pie chart at the link in my op, romance and horror each are only shows to be about 3% of the pie. But it think it comes to profitability, not necessarily how big a piece of the pie. But for selling a spec, and getting the highest dollar for a spec, what genre or two genres would be best?


Charli said:
Horror, hands down.

I say however write what's within.
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The one you know, what you're best at. If it's good, that's the genre you should go with. It's a poor idea to base writing on statistics outside of general market ideas, mostly because things can change by the time you finish. Some of every genre have made it huge, and if you're not comfortable in one of them yours obviously won't be that great.

The only exceptions come in cost. Producers are less likely to take large risks with new writers, so high budget scifi and action are a little more iffy. Especially because it gets rid of the lower buget independent way of doing things. Period pieces at all are not always the best choice just for cost reasons. They also might be more likely to put off a reader, since a lot of people see aliens, robots, Van Damme or knights and tune out. But even them, if your best story takes place in space it doesn't matter. If getting noticed relies on what genre is big and easy to break in with the writing must not be good enough.
 
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this site has updates about spec sales and according to this statistic comedy and thrillers are the most wanted. I guess it's only logical because a (romantic) comedy can still work without big stars and on a low budget. not sure what's the deal with thrillers though.

specsales82009.jpg
 
Yeah

Yeah

Yeah, definitely NOT horror, not sure why someone wrote that. This is the screenwriting forum, not the directing forum. It's true, if you want to make a film that has the best chance to sell by far, do horror. It's not to say you'll make a profit, that's a whole different story, but there are so many fan sites devoted to low budget, indie horror, and horror in general, and sci-fi / horror, etc., and so many distributors taking that type of content, that a horror film is a great choice financially for an indie effort. For a spec script? No. Most directors will write their own indie horror film if they're financing, anyway.

Romantic comedy makes a lot of sense, because usually you should be able to do a film like that on a variety of budget levels. I'm writing / developing 2 romantic comedies, 1 character drama that is partially sci-fi (well, nothing about it in practice will be sci-fi, it's set present day as if a certain medical advance has already happened, so no big deal, could be done fairly cheap), 1 thriller / psychological horror, and 1 straight comedy.
 
I found this page of 2008 spec sales by genre but it sure seems like 88 spec script acquisitions is a low number. Is the market for spec script sales really that low? From the article:
"Action Thriller / Thriller appears to be an area in which the studios continue to have interest. Movie fans do like to get caught up in action and suspense, and that can serve as great escapist fare as well. The top four genres -- Comedy, Action, Drama, Thriller -- combine for a total of 69 deals or almost 80% of total sales. Not surprising because the studios have historically mined those genres to fill out their annual movie slates."
~randall
 
Nah, maybe that's studio movie sales only for a year, but there are likely more than 1,000 options purchased per year, not necessarily actual script sales, though. That number is bound to be lower. But if you factor in indie sales, too, I'm sure it's higher.
 
I do see people looking for teen comedy a lot. And romantic comedy. And everything else that's safe but that I absolutely hate partly because it's so safe... and bland. And unrealistic. And stupid.
 
Eh

Eh

It doesn't have to be. Not at all. I don't even watch romantic comedies mostly, I mean it's not a genre I care much about, but I wrote my first script in that genre and it's actually really funny, like it was enjoyable to write and an interesting, different concept. There's definitely good stuff you can do in any genre if you bring your own style to it, you don't have to write formulaic crap that you hate to do.

Another romantic comedy idea I have should be pretty fun to write as well. And yet I rarely watch the genre, but it's fun to write something different. I love watching action movies, but I think it'd be super, super boring to write that.
 
JonathanLB said:
It doesn't have to be. Not at all. I don't even watch romantic comedies mostly, I mean it's not a genre I care much about, but I wrote my first script in that genre and it's actually really funny, like it was enjoyable to write and an interesting, different concept. There's definitely good stuff you can do in any genre if you bring your own style to it, you don't have to write formulaic crap that you hate to do.

Another romantic comedy idea I have should be pretty fun to write as well. And yet I rarely watch the genre, but it's fun to write something different. I love watching action movies, but I think it'd be super, super boring to write that.
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Yeah, I don't really watch romantic comedies either, but the current script I'm writing is a romantic comedy. Considering I've been in many relationships, I think I can do a decent job of writing one.

I also agree with action, but it seems difficult to write and one of the ideas I have is an action/drama...
 
Well I've seen a lot of the classic screwball comedies from the past, which I love, and I think if you go back and look at some of the really great romantic comedies, there is some fantastic stuff there that isn't mediocre nonsense and isn't pandering to audiences. There is potential in any genre!

I'm not a fan of "relationship" kind of drama, because it bores me, I'm not a girl, I don't thrive on that kind of nonsense at all. But I love comedy, and it happens relationships are a great sort of battleground for comedy, haha, so why not write something creative with that?

I'm not really sure why I've come up with several strong ideas there, though, considering I don't really put much stock in relationships in general, I've only had a few girlfriends (have one now, lol, my longest relationship), and I hate watching most chick flicks. But I write my stuff to be less chick flick and more comedy.
 
I was thinking about 1000 options+sales a year too, but that is just a guestimate and what do I know. But with 300 movies made a year, plut HBO/cable, and a 10:1 ratio of scripts purchased to scripts produced, it just has to be higher than 88/year (well I guess it doen't have to, but it seems logical). I know studios hire in house for some scripts, but still. Only 88/year would be quite depressing.

JonathanLB said:
Nah, maybe that's studio movie sales only for a year, but there are likely more than 1,000 options purchased per year, not necessarily actual script sales, though. That number is bound to be lower. But if you factor in indie sales, too, I'm sure it's higher.
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I'd hurry and write a teen movie, do it before the market gets to saturated. Get it done in the next 90 days.
 
Hmm

Hmm

Yeah, I don't get too depressed over that type of thing I guess, I mean for the most part I write material that I can produce myself, I'm writing it to direct it. Sure, some of the material I wouldn't mind parting with, but I'm writing stuff I love and want to direct one day, even if I write too much; at least this will give me a good amount of material so that when I get busy, I don't have to keep writing at the same rate I want to direct, if that's the case. I'm sure I'd be able to write a few screenplays a year though any way you cut it.
 
From my personal experience I only had people interested in my Sc-fi and Horror scripts. They didn't want to touch my drama or thriller. Have no idea why... maybe it's because us nerds are banding together and Sci-fi is no longer just becoming a niche genre. I feel like writing something completly random next just to see if anyone would bite like... oh... I don't know lets say Clue meets Hotel Paradiso with some Sweeny Todd... So a 1930's who dun'it musical from the serial killers point of view... hmm...
 
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