For representation

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NoTalentAssClown

Member
I hear it's necessary to have 2 screenplays when looking for rep.

I have one that I've just completed. It took me FOREVER!

Do I really need to write another one? I do have other ideas but I really want to look for rep now. It takes me awhile to write.

Any past experiences? Advice?
 
NoTalentAssClown said:
I hear it's necessary to have 2 screenplays when looking for rep.
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There is no "set" number you have to have. The proper number of scripts needed for a rep or agent to take you seriously can be anywhere from 1-10. Some people in the industry will tell you that you need a lot, while others will say you don't.

Bottom line is you need at least 1 really good, or even better yet, 1 great script. If you think your script is ready, then you can always start looking for representation while you work on the next script.

I have one that I've just completed. It took me FOREVER!

Do I really need to write another one? I do have other ideas but I really want to look for rep now. It takes me awhile to write.
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The thing that you probably don't want to do is after sending this script out, to just then wait for the phone to ring. The larger number of well written and commercially viable scripts you have, the better off you'll be when that call does come. You can always be writing another one while you have another script out there in the world.
 
Two or more is good simply because if they like your first one (even if they don't want to buy it), their next question will be 'so, what else have you got?'
 
Here's the thing - an agent or manager is going to want a great script to send out to introduce you to the world. After that, you will need to keep sending out great scripts - new ones - until you get an assignment or sell something. The more frequently you can send out great scripts, the better they remember you and can see that *you have talent* rather than *you just got lucky and wrote one great script*. Though it is possible you can blow their socks off with one script, these days they are picky as hell and want to make sure if they pay you to write something you wil do a great job and get it done on a deadline. Recent article in the trades about Warner Bros insisting writers actually make their deadlines.

And that gets into the "took you forever" part - if you intend on selling scripts that puts you in the screenwriting *business* and there are deadlines and you must meet them. You must deliver quality work on time. I have mostly written MOWs and cable films (*many* HBO World Premiere Movies), and they had short deadlines - 4 weeks for a filmable first draft that would go out to Oscar nominated actors... and on a USA Net movie I had *2 weeks* to turn in the feature draft that went out to an Oscar nominee. Most studios will give you a few months - usually 4. So one of the things you will need to learn how to do is work with speed *and* accuracy.

The difficult part is getting those great scripts that are your bait - as Paul Schrader once told me (don't you hate name droppers?) they can't all be winners. You may write several scripts that are okay... or even bad. There is also a learning curve in screenwriting, and the average pro screenwriter wrote 9 scripts before they ever earned a cent... so if you only have one script, the odds are it is not good enough. Hey, you may be the one who breaks the odds, and I always hope that *somebody* is... because it took me 9 scripts before I made a cent, and then a pile more before I made another cent. (though I made more than one cent on those scripts).

The main thing is - you have to love writing scripts, because you will write a whole stack of them in order to see a few end up on screen.

- Bill
 
Bill's discussing the other element that is rarely mentioned in these discussions (speed and quality). Its a little comparable to a bar band spending ten years slogging it out night and day writing and performing and finally getting signed and making an album that's great. Now they have weeks to write a followup to the great album that took them ten years or the label will drop them. I've seen discussions that quality screenplays can't be written fast but that's the standard in many cases for getting paid or getting it done or getting hired a second time. I think "Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia" was written in maybe ten days? I'd have to check. One of David Rabe's great plays was written in a couple of four hour sessions.

"you have to love writing scripts," Yes yes yes!
I've had many nights I couldn't sleep because I knew I was going to get to spend the next twelve hours writing something really cool with a writer I respected for an actor I held in equally high regard. I'd spend half those nights writing in the dark on legal pads. If you don't love and enjoy doing it don't.
 
Bill and lambert both make some good points.

One thing to also consider is that if this is one of your first scripts, that you will most likely get faster as you write more screenplays. I used to take forever plus some, but as I got more comfortable with the craft/format and just the plain old act of writing I became faster at cranking things out. Now, I haven't sold anything, not yet at least, but the more I write the more I feel like I'm getting closer to that goal. Basically it is that you build up stronger writing skills which reinforce your confidence, which in turn motivates you to write more and broaden your writing horizons.

Actually, some of the best scenes or scripts I've written (my favorites at least) were written in a rapid fire fury either because of my own motivation, or for looming contest deadlines. Sometimes the pressure cooker mentality can force you to write good stuff quickly. Of course, there are those occasional scripts that are just a bear to get through. But I'm sure even the A-list scribes have those projects from time to time. Either way you gotta write your ass off (I've heard that writing does indeed burn calories).
 
As they have stated already if your first script is great then go for it. If you want to increase your odds then write another and have a few more ideas ready to discuss in outline type detail. It's sort of like opening up a restaurant with only one item on the menu versus having many. You are simply increasing your odds for success if you have more to offer.
 
Hmm

Hmm

Writing a quality screenplay fast isn't difficult, for me at least, it's editing the thing to a really great version that is difficult and takes the time. I wrote my first script in less than two weeks, I think it was 12 days, and that got me in the door with some pretty big producers, got some talent on board, and great product placement from companies that wouldn't usually even bother with a film our budget level except that our product specialist loved the script and the people he sent it to loved it as well.

While I wrote the script in two weeks, that script didn't become a movie for about 10 months and during that time I honed it over about 20 drafts I believe. And even so the film we shot is quite different in some regards from the film on the page. I mean, it's the same scenes mostly (I think one phone call was cut), the same essence, but if you read the script and see the finished film they aren't the same at all especially as far as dialogue, which I'm pretty loose with when I'm directing. I like to play. Start on book and then work my way out to better and funnier material that seems to come organically from good actors.

My second script, I spent three hard weeks full-time outlining it and doing some preliminary research I needed to write the script. I would say I did about 50% of the research (unknowingly; as i wrote it I realized I needed to do more). I wrote the script in 22.5 hours. Less than one day. Just straight on through, loads of caffeine, everything I could throw at my body to keep me awake, and it was completely exhilarating -- I loved it! Since then I've completed 3 more drafts on that and each rewrite took longer than writing the script itself. It's hard to describe why or how that works, but I had to do a lot more research and e-mail a bunch of experts in a few fields, then go back and forth about whether it would be realistic if this, if that, etc. That led to a number of rewrites and reworkings of scenes, dropping other scenes, etc. The script is still rough in its current form and probably needs a minimum of 7-10 more drafts before I show it to anyone.

I'm really proud of it, though, I think it's going to be an amazing film if I can get it launched. You can definitely write a script fast, but for me it's more about the outlining process. That's what is very difficult. If I give it a ton of thought exactly how it is all laid out, and every scene is outlined, including what happens in those scenes, than turning that outline into a script is not a very time-consuming process.

I think it's great advice to keep writing and writing and be prolific and turn out as much work as you can. But I think it's awful advice any time someone tells you what you can't do. You should always assume the rules don't apply to you, until you realize they do. I would have probably embarked on this feature film journey earlier if I hadn't been full of self-doubt from people (mainly online, like here) saying how bad of an investment indie films are and how they all stink and you can't do this, you can't do that, nobody writes a good first screenplay, blah blah, etc. That negativity got me nowhere. When I realized that everyone was talking about their own lack of talent and understanding of the industry, that made it a lot easier. I guess it's just a matter of being honest with yourself, not to sound cocky, but are you most people? Most people can't even drive properly. Most people have an IQ of 100. Most people are basically idiots. I've never been in that boat so whenever a sentence starts with, "Well the odds are..." I just think of Han, "Never tell me the odds!" But if you know you have the talent and you know you're good at what you do, then truly, the rules don't apply to you, nor do the odds. You make your own luck and you forge your own destiny. Nobody can tell you what you can or cannot do, because you're doing it.

But that requires a great deal of honesty from yourself, which most people don't have. You have to be completely honest about your own abilities and drive. People are often honest about things they don't care about, like, "Oh haha I suck at baseball" or "I suck at bowling," but when it comes to their dreams they don't want to admit they don't measure up. If that's the case, all you can do is work really hard and hope that over time you improve. In my opinion everyone sucks at first, even if they have some talent. When I wrote a partial screenplay in a screenwriting class, it sucked, and I knew it sucked (part of it was because the teacher forced me into his ideas, but part of it was just because it didn't work, it wasn't a good idea), but I kept reading and learning and growing. Same is true with filmmaking. You don't start out knowing it all but you can keep learning until you are good at it.

Always be honest with yourself, but never let someone tell you what you can't do based on what they can't do. That's their problem, don't make it yours.
 
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