Does it matter if my first spec screenplay is high budget????

[wcmartell]

Can you elaborate on what a "stunt contained thriller" is? Curious. Thanks.

Sure - a contained thriller is a thriller that takes place in very few locations, often only one location. So movies like DESPERATE HOURS (family held hostage in a house by escaped convicts) or ROPE (killers have party in apartment with dead guy in trunk in living room) or LIFEBOAT where survivors are trapped on a lifeboat with the Nazi sub commander who sunk their ship) or WAIT UNTIL DARK (blind woman and bad guys in apartment)...

But sometimes the story is contained to the extreme - a "stunt" film (not stunt as in stuntman, stunt as in weird thing) - like PHONE BOOTH where the guy is stuck in a phone booth for the whole film or PANIC ROOM where they are stuck in the panic room for just about the whole film or BURIED where Ryan Reynolds in buried alive - and the whole film is him in a coffin.

For whatever reason, they seem to be buying these weird screenplays where one or two people are trapped in some small location. I think these are tough to pull off on screen, and, well, who wants to watch a man in a coffin for 90 minutes - there isn't much he can do!

- Bill

 

[Nektonic]

I could go off and write a film with only three characters, set in one location, etc that would be very low budget (I imagine) but i have no real ideas for that right now. And i am already of tol a good start with writing this bigger budget one.

My strategy is to just write what lights my creative fire, and not always worry about how marketable it will be to some suit in Hollywood. Does that mean I won't ever try to write a lower budget thriller or horror film that would be financially easier to make? No, of course not. It also means that if I just must write a mega-budget script or a period piece, then I see no harm in following my muse once in a while. I personally feel it is smarter to build a diverse and rock solid body of work across a few different genres, rather than trying to somehow magically capture hot genre-of-the-month-lightning in a bottle, all whilst balancing the notion that it can only have a few characters in one location, and especially if it were my first attempt at a feature screenplay.

Have fun with your first few scripts. You can tear all your hair out later trying to write the one that must conform to such a limited scope and budget. The reason being that when you hit those roadblocks on the low-budget script, you will be more experienced in overcoming basic problems that plague most scripts at the rough draft stage.

Also, bear in mind that everyone and his brother is trying to write a film that is marketable, low budget, has only a very small cast, takes place in one location, etc... This is a popular strategy because everyone thinks it will get them past the studio gates because the film will cost next to nothing to make. I suggest that you only attempt this type of script if you have a really original high concept take on the small cast/single location film (example: Buried). Because if you don't, no one will want to produce or watch just another run of the mill film of this type, what Bill calls a "stunt contained thriller". Also, the whole aiming for a lower budget can be a disadvantage due to the fact that a star might not be interested, or if one does become interested, the budget skyrockets because now Big Movie Star is interested and the studio has to pay him or her 20+ million. If the film is not based around a great high concept idea, then it will be harder to market. It is very easy to start with a no budget single location film, and then come out the other side with a big budget single location film.

Another consideration is that your single location must be something interesting and unique enough to warrant making an entire film where the audience is stuck in this place with the characters. It must also be logical as to why the characters are in this single location, not only from their perspective, but from an outside narrative perspective as well. Think of The Thing. That's a movie that must be a single location or it totally changes the characters, plot, and overall type of film. Same thing with something like Cube, Panic Room, Phone Booth, Die Hard, or Alien. Wait a minute. Panic Room, Phone Booth, Alien, and Die Hard - aren't those all big budget films, or they were back when they were made? There in lies the problem. Besides a few scenes or cutaways in another location, both Alien and Die Hard are primarily single location films. Alien started out as a low budget B movie, and ballooned to the larger budget classic we now have today. How much do you think Die Hard would cost for 20th Century Fox to produce today if they decided to remake it? I bet they'd spend at least 80 million on it, bare minimum, and that's if it didn't have Big Movie Star playing John McClane. Same thing with Alien. An Alien remake's catering budget could possibly cost more than the whole damn movie did back in 1979. A single location setting doesn't always equal a low budget. Look at District 9, which cost only 30 million, yet looked like it could've cost three times that much. How small of a budget could Avatar been made for it it was done with practical effects, makeup, and shot on location in the jungles of South America plus some sets for the human compound? Sure it depends on a lot of factors, but that is the point, the script is only one factor. It is paper. It exists solely in the minds of the writer and those who happen to read it. There is a lot of wiggle room for interpretation of budget, cast, director, and how much the studio is willing to not only pay these people, but how much they will put up to market the film.

Now for the real downer, everything is a remake these days, so selling an original script has gone from a billion in one chance to a trillion in one chance. These days you probably have a better chance of writing a sad letter to Obama asking for a personal government bailout than actually selling a spec script for any monetary value. I know it sucks, and is a sad state of affairs, but it is the current reality for all writers, whether you are an enthusiastic beginner or a jaded A-list pro with an Oscar taunting you from across the room, up there on the mantle like a shiny golden deity filled with milk chocolate.

In the long run, I feel it is better to have an excellent writing sample regardless of perceivable budget, rather than something that was written merely to satisfy some mythical Hollywood formula that will only excite the bean counters, more-so than it would engage and thrill a real audience. Now, when these two elements align, then great, you've got a leg up, but it won't be every script or every idea you come up with. Sometimes we need to write our impossible-to-produce passion projects to grow a bit as creative individuals. Ironically, it is oftentimes these more radical scripts that color outside the lines that garner the most attention, even though a lot of the people in the film industry might be afraid to actually make the damn thing, no matter how awesome it is. So if you feel that the bigger budget sci-fi action story is what you are excited about, then write that one. If it is good, then an agent or manager will notice. By the time that happens, you might be able to write more scripts anyways.

To me, any writing I get done is a step in the right direction, whether it is a script for a 200 million dollar kung fu-porno-space opera-western, or a no budget short film that I intend to produce and direct for a couple hundred bucks. I say just keep writing, hone your craft, make as many connections as you go along, and most importantly enjoy the process of writing. Be like a tiny snowball rolling down a hill. Eventually you get bigger and bigger. Then one day you will have grown into a gigantic, city-swallowing sphere of icy destruction out of some Roland Emmerich disaster epic that will not be ignored by those in your path.

For whatever reason, they seem to be buying these weird screenplays where one or two people are trapped in some small location. I think these are tough to pull off on screen, and, well, who wants to watch a man in a coffin for 90 minutes - there isn't much he can do!

I'll admit it is a clever idea, but really it is a movie length focus on the whole buried alive scene that has been seen in many other previous films.

As for these contained setting films, I suppose that there are only so many variations and settings that can be done with these ideas. I hardly feel it is something everyone should rush to their keyboards to try and write their own version of this type of film, as it is really limiting. Although, a fun twist could be a comedy version parodying this type of film. It could be about a dude with a bathroom phobia trapped in a port-o-potty whilst it is being transported across town. He calls his friends but they can't find him because the truck the potty is on is constantly on the move.

 

[HomerS3]

Don't write a mid-budget film. No one's buying them.

Seems like more and more it's TRANSFORMERS 2 or HURT LOCKER with little middle ground..

 

[Chamber005]

The whole idea of selling scripts is so alien to me. Like, I get selling a novel or a fully produced graphic novel or film, but selling a script seems so...odd. It would be like selling a comic book script. No company of any merit will ever, ever, ever buy and produce a comic book script. It's just a bizarre notion. Scripts in comics come out of the studio houses. They have a writer who is a gopher for someone (but who is really a writer) and then one day that gopher gets a shot at writing a monthly series. Or the writer has already established himself in the independent publishing world and so is then given a contract with a large publisher.

The idea of sending scripts to some company and saying "Make this thing I wrote" is just so...like I said, alien (and kind of laughable). A novel is already produced. It just needs to be edited and printed. Even if you went to Darkhorse comics you have to bring your own comic artist on board and create the entire short comic series so that they are, again, just editing and printing what's already been produced.

I guess people have these stories where they've sent in a script to some assistant person's slush pile and have been randomly plucked from obscurity, but I'm betting that 99% of those stories are just plain lies. You'll notice that a lot of the people who actually become employed screenwriters actually live in Hollywood. If the screenplays were being picked on merit (and at least, pitch), then there's no logic in nearly all working screenwriters to actually be living in Hollywood. Chances are they networked their way into getting a screenplay produced (which goes back to the "gopher" thing that exists in comic books).

I know people have written all these books telling people that you can be produced without knowing anyone, and I know there are a lot of screenwriters who want you to believe that they were actually picked because of their talent not because they knew the woman who does the laundry for some big producer, but, come on, these are obviously lies. The geography puts it pretty plainly. Again if 99% of getting a screenplay produced wasn't "who you know" then nearly all screenwriters would be coming from one of the other 49.

Talent will help (I think marginally) in a person's ability to get a screenplay purchased by a studio. In the end, though, it's nothing like writing a novel -- teleplays, screenplays and comic book scripts are all about who you know.

NO ONE is BUYING Transformers 2. No one. Not happening. Pointless pursuit.

People are BUYING whatever their friend or nephew Henry Adams is writing.

OR they're buying whatever that guy who wrote that popular movie is writing.

I guess what I'm saying is, don't worry about what you're writing. Whether it's good or bad won't actually matter that much. If your goal is to sell a script then train yourself to be a good salesman. Learn effective networking; learn how to manipulate the studio system. Writers are master manipulators, selling should be second nature. Just requires you to get up from behind the desk and position yourself effectively.

A book I love to read from every morning is "Cold Calling Techniques" by Stephan Schiffman. The entire book is structured around SETTING THE APPOINTMENT. And while setting the appointment doesn't really apply to my business anymore, the techniques are effective. If you're selling something, anything and including a script, you need to learn how to be a great salesman and a great network manager.

Being a great salesman, having the ability to manipulate a situation to your personal benefit -- there's no greater power on this earth. Power over people? That's what a great writer has, and that's what a great salesman has.

So regardless if you're selling vaccums or stocks or screenplays and regardless of whether or not any of what you're selling is any good, your ONLY JOB is to SET THE APPOINTMENT and then CLOSE.

Keep writing so that you have something to sell, but worry less about all this fluff and recognize that someone is sitting at a studio right now with boat loads of money. Either Henry Adams is going to sell what he's selling or you're going to sell what you're selling.

I'm a great salesman but I would never attempt to sell a script. That would be such a low for me artistically. I make money in business so that I can do the art I want to do.

So I guess it's a clear fork. If you want to make a bunch of money writing, if you want writing to be YOUR BUSINESS, then develop yourself as a salesman and a master network manager and write what is easily digested by the studio system. If your writing is primarily about artistic expression then reign in the expense and start YOUR BUSINESS as a production company the way any other small business owner begins, a little bit at a time, growing slowly over time.

My production company (or, small business) which I started a year ago has 11 feature scripts in its "vault". I'm shooting the cheapest one right now for what turned out to be 25K (which allowed me to boot two investors which meant two less hands in the pot). The next film is budgeted at 50K (if there is no studio involvement), the 3rd picture is at 75K (again with no studio involvement).

I've probably written in excess of 65 complete stories, but only 11 actually made it into the business plan for my production company that is forecasted out at 15 years. There's nothing particularly wrong with the other 54 treatments, but I needed the best and CHEAPEST to start my small business. So when (or if) I get the backing of a studio, I can exhibit to them the data and monetary structure -- I can show them why working with me, my productions and my company makes good business sense.

Again, I personally could never and would never write or create something for money. I would without hesitation, though, under the right terms SELL something that I wrote or created.

So, what's your motivation?

 

[HomerS3]

There's a lot of dangerous misinformation in your post Chamber. I just want to set some things straight.

I guess people have these stories where they've sent in a script to some assistant person's slush pile and have been randomly plucked from obscurity, but I'm betting that 99% of those stories are just plain lies.

Who lies about selling a script? Anyway, you're right in your assertion that blind submissions to production companies rarely result in sales (but I've seen it happen). Which is why you shouldn't make this your primary method of operation. You're using this as a strawman argument, as if it is the established path.

You write a script that has significant commercial viability, send it to managers/agents. Sure it helps to know someone to make the first conversation a little easier, but agents get a lot of crap scripts. Just because they know they writer's cousin doesn't mean it isn't a crap script. The rep takes care of the salesmanship you later referenced. It's his job. You write, he sells.

You'll notice that a lot of the people who actually become employed screenwriters actually live in Hollywood. If the screenplays were being picked on merit (and at least, pitch), then there's no logic in nearly all working screenwriters to actually be living in Hollywood. Chances are they networked their way into getting a screenplay produced (which goes back to the "gopher" thing that exists in comic books).

I know people have written all these books telling people that you can be produced without knowing anyone, and I know there are a lot of screenwriters who want you to believe that they were actually picked because of their talent not because they knew the woman who does the laundry for some big producer, but, come on, these are obviously lies. The geography puts it pretty plainly. Again if 99% of getting a screenplay produced wasn't "who you know" then nearly all screenwriters would be coming from one of the other 49.

Here's what you don't seem to get -- knowing people gets your material READ not MADE. You seem to think one script is as good as the next and whoever gets Spielberg to read their script is the one who gets their movie made. This is just plain incorrect.

I don't "know the woman who does the laundry." I moved to LA to become a writer. I PA'd, Assistant Editing, worked as an assistant -- anything to make connections. One of those connections led me to a manager. The manager signed me, got my my material to prod cos (that who does this, not you). The script drew a lot of attention and got me an agent.

Since I live in Los Angeles (not some profound conspiracy as you explain it, just plain logic when you know how things work) I was able to meet with dozens of prod cos, even those not wanting to make my movie. Those meetings led to assignments. Those assignments are developed in coordination with the producer who brought it to you. You meet them often for notes and discussion (starting to see why working screenwriter's live in LA?).

Just FYI, my original spec still has not been made. It's the assignments that came my way because of it that are much closer.

Yes, you can write and sell a spec from anywhere, but if you want to make a viable career out of this, you WILL be in LA at some point. Even if it is temporary in order to establish your presence, you will be in LA at some point. It's simply where all the movies are made...

Talent will help (I think marginally) in a person's ability to get a screenplay purchased by a studio. In the end, though, it's nothing like writing a novel -- teleplays, screenplays and comic book scripts are all about who you know.

Wow! Talent is marginal? Do you have any idea how many screenplays are written every year? How many are shopped by agents? How many are bought and how few are finally made?! It's obvious you think your writing is as good as Terry Rossio's, but you just "don't know people." That type of thinking will not advance you in the craft.

People are BUYING whatever their friend or nephew Henry Adams is writing.

This is perhaps the most ignorant thing I've ever read and people need to know that this is not the case. This statement tells me that you have the mentality that anyone can write an screenplay as good as the next guy. Plain wrong.

You think Jeff Robinov is sitting in his office at Warner turning away compelling material because his cousin wrote a script?! This is an INDUSTRY worth billions of dollars! You think people are playing favorites with their careers on the line?! Get your head out of the sand.

OR they're buying whatever that guy who wrote that popular movie is writing.

That's true. Because he's likely a damn good writer who has a proven track record. Again, no conspiracy here. Just common sense.

I guess what I'm saying is, don't worry about what you're writing. Whether it's good or bad won't actually matter that much.

No one listen to this advice. It's like saying not to worry about being good at basketball if you want to get into the NBA.

Call it another "obvious lie," but it seems to me that you have no idea what you are talking about. I would normally let something like this go, but this type of stuff is damaging to aspiring writers. You are painting a painfully inaccurate picture of how this industry works.

Complaining that the game is rigged is the knee-jerk reaction of someone who's having trouble winning. Stop making up excuses and misleading people.

Sorry if I've come across harsh, but it's not fair to new writers to have this misinformation presented as fact. It's a tough town and all we can do is work hard and strive to get better. The system may not always be fair, but it isn't rigged. Keep at it guys -- talent and hard work are rewarded.

 

[HomerS3]

One more quick point.

You'll notice that a lot of the people who actually become employed screenwriters actually live in Hollywood.

No one is from LA in this industry. Writers move here to make it. Correlation is not causation.

 

[Ted Spencer]

At the risk of insulting Chamber005, this post is just one of many of his I've read here that are, in my humble opinion, almost pure nonsense, yet consistently offered with a tone of (evidently) self-appointed authority. I strongly agree with Homer on every single point he disputed.

 

[CallaghanFilms]

A Swear? That's as PG-rated as I get:evil:

 

[wcmartell]

The whole idea of selling scripts is so alien to me. Like, I get selling a novel or a fully produced graphic novel or film, but selling a script seems so...odd.

Well, that's what I do for a living. Have for 20 years, now. I write scripts and sell them to a production company or studio based producer and then they get made. And I suspect that I am not the only one doing this.

I guess people have these stories where they've sent in a script to some assistant person's slush pile and have been randomly plucked from obscurity, but I'm betting that 99% of those stories are just plain lies.

Huh? Okay - here is how I sold my first script to Hollywood. I was living about 400 miles away from Hollywood in some hick town. My family's business was water wells and farm irrigation. I gave my script to a woman in my home town who had been in some local films and was moving to Hollywood. She got a role in a horror movie where she took off her top and was killed by the monster. I'm not sure her character had a name. She gave my script to someone on the film crew. That crew mamber thought the script was better than the horror film and passed it to his best contact... and for 3 years my script was passed to people's best contacts, because they hoped to be hired on the film. I am getting ready to go to work at my day job and get a phone call - from some dude who claims he's with a company on the Paramount lot. I am sure it's a prank. But it actually is a guy at Paramount - he wants to know if the script is still available. Yes. He wants to know if they can fly me in, meet with me, buy the script. Yes.

I made twice my day job annual earnings, quit., and move to Los Angeles... where that script is never made. But I keep handing scripts to anyone who will take them, and they keep selling.

You'll notice that a lot of the people who actually become employed screenwriters actually live in Hollywood.

I have a bunch of friends who live in Los Angeles and write screenplays for a living - and none of them come from Los Angeles. They all moved here. This is where the business is, this is where you move to (before or after you sell something). You want to design cars, you move to Detroit.

The geography puts it pretty plainly. Again if 99% of getting a screenplay produced wasn't "who you know" then nearly all screenwriters would be coming from one of the other 49.

Yeah, except no one in Los Angeles is from Los Angeles. Everybody I know is from someplace else... and lots of people I know sold scripts from someplace else and then moved here.

This is all part of that crazy conspiracy theory that there are walls around Hollywood. No walls. No secret handshakes to get in. No code words or special tattoos you show. What you need is a great screenplay - the kind that someone reads and wants to give to their best contact. If that is not happening for you, keep writing and keep learning and keep getting better.

I write the kind of movies that I regularly pay to see - the kind of movies that I can't wait to see, the kind of movies that excite me.

- Bill

 

[Chamber005]

lol. Didn't think I had to clarify. Yes, most screenwriters, I'd wager are not BORN in California (though some data on that would be interesting).

I think it's too funny that people are acting like talented writers are what make it in Hollywood. I literally cannot conjur something so laughable. Have you actually SEEN the movies studios produce? In the last ten years there are probably 20 scripts produced by large studios that are actually worth the paper they're written on.

I'm not claiming a conspiracy. No, I don't have to move to Detroit to design cars. I have to be the best at designing cars and be able to effectively sell my designs to make a living designing cars. The entertainment industry doesn't ask for talent, it asks for profitability and popularity.

Talent doesn't mean anything in Hollywood. Being talented and prolific won't give you two pennies to rub together in the entertainment industry.

Even the people giving examples here point out plainly that their road to success wasn't about them being plucked from obscurity. Someone knew someone who handed someone something. They got a job somewhere that they could meet someone and then they did. That's networking. That's business. And yeah, did they have to follow the guidelines of someone in some book telling them what to write and how they should write it, probably, but not to irk anyone, the fact is they probably got those positions because of the network aspect, not because what they'd written was actually any better than anything else sitting in the slush pile.

I, personally, believe that a large studio is INCAPABLE of supporting art. Art defies tradition, pushes against the status quo and so can almost never actually be profitable.

Think about it, if you wrote something that made everyone feel awkward and uncomfortable, that inspired change and unraveled what people exist for (even though you're, hopefully, entertaining them in the process), chances are that movie CANNOT be profitable and is thus a high-risk business move for a studio. That's why most of what is made by studios maintains the status quo and thus provides us with entertainment, escapism, but nothing resembling anything artistic or life-altering (the way good writing should).

That's why I said you can either go make money as a writer or you can be an artist and make smaller strides and gain popularity.

Writing in pursuit of profit = Hack. Writing under your own company's license UNTIL you're popular and respected = Artistic Integrity. Both can eventually lead to being monetarily successful. They're just different paths.

And because I guess I need to verify, of course this is all IMO.

 

[HomerS3]

Even the people giving examples here point out plainly that their road to success wasn't about them being plucked from obscurity. Someone knew someone who handed someone something. They got a job somewhere that they could meet someone and then they did. That's networking. That's business.

Yeah. Hate to break it to you, but there is no magic machine you insert your script into that hums to life and spits out a movie on the other side. Of course "someone handed someone something." Your original argument (which you conveniently seem to have avoided mentioning) is that only people who have an intimate connection to an insider executive get their movies made -- that is patently untrue.

Your "they don't like good stuff/my stuff's too good for them" argument is very transparent. We get it -- you've taken your ball and gone home. That's perfectly fine and, as I said, I would normally leave someone like this be. However, you are spreading this ridiculous mentality as if it is fact to people who may not have the industry experience to discern what is true and what is not.

 

[Ted Spencer]

lol.

Note: Chamber005 begins his response to almost every post that disagrees with his views in this way.

Otherwise, this latest one is about as chock-full-o-crap as the rest.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

 

[lambert]

I think this is becoming the thread from hell.
I always thought that it was a good thing that a producer wanted me to write for them, on a story I thought was great with a writer who was one of my literary heroes.
Damn. Now I have to go home and tell mummy and daddy that their little boy is a hack whore and not an artist after all. Thanks Chamber005 for setting me straight.

 

[wcmartell]

Since none of this makes any sense to me - you must lose money to make good films? Then where does the money for the next film come from? Hey, and does that mean that all of those scripts I wrote that nobody bought are *ART*? Cool! I'm more artist than hack!

I have run out of LSD and peyote and can no longer follow the logic of Chamber005... so, if anyone wants to ask a question about actual screenwriting, I'll appear again.

- Bill

 

[Chamber005]

Yeah. Hate to break it to you, but there is no magic machine you insert your script into that hums to life and spits out a movie on the other side. Of course "someone handed someone something." Your original argument (which you conveniently seem to have avoided mentioning) is that only people who have an intimate connection to an insider executive get their movies made -- that is patently untrue.

Your "they don't like good stuff/my stuff's too good for them" argument is very transparent. We get it -- you've taken your ball and gone home. That's perfectly fine and, as I said, I would normally leave someone like this be. However, you are spreading this ridiculous mentality as if it is fact to people who may not have the industry experience to discern what is true and what is not.

What age are you living in? There most certainly are programs that will provide character name, conflict, scene and story with just the press of a few buttons. And chances are it will churn out a screenplay on par with pretty much everything that is being sold to studios today.

And my original argument said nothing about the screenplay writer having "an intimate connection to an insider executive", I mentioned them knowing someone else who knows another person who has...well you know the rest.

Again, you can tell me until you're blue in the face that a guy sitting in Montana who just wrote a great script and sent it to an agent/production company has a shot in heck of getting his flick made. But the REALITY is that Gary who used some crap computer program to formulate his latest opus and who just happens to mow the lawn of an executive's dog groomer has a better chance of getting a gig writing treatments for a big studio than does Mr. Montana.

I can't even say that all things being equal (e.g. person A and person B both have the same level of business acumen and network) that the better script would actually win out. You can take nearly every example of literature and film ever made and at the beginning of every single one of those journeys you will probably find a writer who self-published or made their first film without the help of a large studio -- most every author I read and scriptwriter I admire and respect started out this way. All of the hacks go around bending over and begging studios to please thrust, so long as they're making some cash.

I suppose we can argue whether or not Rush Hour 3 is quality cinema, but the facts are pretty clear regarding the best writers in the entertainment industry. Nearly all of them began their careers without the assistance of a major studio.

So if the BEST writers in Hollywood started out their careers on their own and CREATED their popularity which then demanded that a studio take notice, who then are all these people who are just randomly selling their scripts in LA? We've already established that they're not the best (or at least who I'd consider the best) writers in Hollywood. So they then must occupy that OTHER aspect: the mediocre, the just plain bad.

Go to any blog or forum page anywhere right now and ask who the best living comic book writer is and I'm betting you'll come back with a resounding 80% saying Brian Michael Bendis, a self-published independent writer who now writes 30% of every single comic book Marvel puts out.

You know who got his start while working at Marvel? Larry Hama.

Have fun reading his G.I. Joe comics.

MY favorite writers in film started out by MAKING SOMETHING (of themselves). Then the studios followed. Because that's what big corporations do -- they follow, especially in the entertainment industry. They will ALWAYS be behind the curve waiting until the next Pulp Fiction is safe ground to tread on. You will never, ever be able to write anything of any merit if you're writing to what a studio is requiring of you. It is absolutely against everything that a large studio exists for and how it thrives to produce anything that veers from what is known and has already been accepted on a mass scale. Writing FOR a studio is artistic death. Just death.

You guys can keep arguing this, but I can't understand what, as writers, you're defending.

 

[HomerS3]

What age are you living in? There most certainly are programs that will provide character name, conflict, scene and story with just the press of a few buttons. And chances are it will churn out a screenplay on par with pretty much everything that is being sold to studios today.

And on that awe inspiring note, I plan to leave this little asylum of a debate.

 

[Ted Spencer]

An individual participating in this thread who I shall from here on out leave nameless is either an ignoramus of almost unimaginable proportions or a troll.

And I'm honestly not sure which...

 

[ChipG]

Yea, I've put my 2 cents in these threads before. Never worked out very well but they are fun to read like the tabloids!

 

[Lt_Col_Wade]

I' ve watched this thread develop, and while I don't want to prolong this particular part of the discussion, I feel that I have to point a few specific things out.

Most of what you are saying (at least what is claimed as fact) is still patently untrue. Of course, even if you write the absolute magnum opus of screenplays, nothings ever going to come from it if you stay in your log cabin in Montana and do nothing about it, don't send it out, etc.. But if you do send it out, tell people about it, submit it to contests, even from Montana, you sure as heck have a chance of seeing it made. A small chance? Perhaps, but you do have a chance.

I absolutely don't understand why you think that a dog groomers lawn man has a better shot at getting a script made. In what world would a multi-million dollar exec blindly stake their name on that person's work? Speaking as someone who has worked and read for LA production companies, that simply isn't the case. Sure, every once in awhile a submission comes in from someone like this (friend of a friend of a producer), but its almost always crap (and usually gets made fun of) and even on those very rare occaisions when its not absolute crap, it still almost never gets made.

You can claim the contrary for whatever reasoning you have, but let me say this: talent does matter in Hollywood. Whether you're a dog groomers lawn man or a blind submission, talent matters in Hollywood. Want to know why? Because when both of those submissions come in (an unknown, or a friend of a friend), they are going to be read by the same person - an assistant or intern who knows nothing about the background of how that script got on their desk. They only know that they have to read it, and they do. And how does it get off their desk? If it's good. Only way.

That's the way it is for almost any submission that isn't specifically written under assignment, and trust me, a dog groomer's lawn man with no track record is not getting any jobs on assignment. Do some people work through the ranks of the industry and eventually get writing credits even though they aren't the worlds strongest writers? Sure, but thats not what were talking about here. We're talking about spec scripts.

You guys can keep arguing this, but I can't understand what, as writers, you're defending.

Specifically, what I'm defending is this: Of course you're entitled to which writers you admire, and to advocate and emulate their paths. You're even entitled to lump every single movie studio into one pile you call evil. That's all opinion and we can argue about the merits of art vs. commerce until we're blue in the face.

What you cannot (or should not) do is make claims about what is selling and what is not selling to studios in LA, or whether or not talent matters, as fact because you are obviously not informed on the matter. What you're saying here, other than being flat out wrong, is damaging misinformation that isn't helpful at all to other writers, especially writers still struggling to make it.

From Montana, or LA, you may make it, you may not make it. While knowing people does matter (show me a profession where networking isn't a part of success), it's not the end all and be all. Giving up your current lot to invest in (to the best of my knowledge) non-existant script generating software and become a lawn mower in Hollywood in the hopes of meeting a dog groomer that can pass your pre-canned script on to a client of theirs that happens to be a movie executive doesn't bring you any closer to making a movie. But writing your ass off in Montana and sending that script out to agents, contests, managers does. I'm not saying it's all sunshine and rainbows, but that's that, for better or worse.

 

[ChipG]

How about cutting the OP a break and let him come back for his thoughts?

I really don't care if someone is rude, big deal, the education we all get is worth more than a few egos.

It's like watching porn then complaining about it, fast forward it.