moviebytes or donedealpro ?

I use to moderate for donedealpro and I know the owner Will works hard on his site. I don't know about moviebytes.

You say you want to market yourself in a year. How many scripts have you written? The average is 9 scripts before 1 is sold. Not saying it's true for everyone. I believe "Going the Distance" was the screenwriter's 3rd or 4th script.

Have you had your latest script analyzed by a company? I recommend Julie Gray's company http://www.justeffing.com/consultation/ for script consultation. Once you put yourself out there, then if the script is not up to par to good storytelling/writing techniques, you'll get branded. So it's best to know where you are now through an unbiased 3rd party to help you get there.
 
Charli said:
I use to moderate for donedealpro and I know the owner Will works hard on his site. I don't know about moviebytes.

You say you want to market yourself in a year. How many scripts have you written? The average is 9 scripts before 1 is sold. Not saying it's true for everyone. I believe "Going the Distance" was the screenwriter's 3rd or 4th script.

Have you had your latest script analyzed by a company? I recommend Julie Gray's company http://www.justeffing.com/consultation/ for script consultation. Once you put yourself out there, then if the script is not up to par to good storytelling/writing techniques, you'll get branded. So it's best to know where you are now through an unbiased 3rd party to help you get there.
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All good advice Charli. I had heard the average was 8. But that is just an average of course. Some sell their first, some take 20+ to sell. And of course besides selling, having a few very good screenplays with an agent can get a writer assignments until one sells. I should have 8 feature specs polished and ready within a year. I believe as Terry Rosseo states that one can shave that number 8 down by several notches by being smart about writing, using mentors[√], courses[√], books[√], forums [√], and most importantly by going for high concept stories that have a 'special attractor'[√] (Rossio's term). i actually have worked with consultants (Scott Myers, 'Scott the Reader', Michael Hauge, Tom Lazarus, Maggie Prescott) and taken UCLA screenwriting courses and have a couple of sold writers as great mentors, and of course I have all the great folks[√] here on dvxuser.com to tap into! So as I said, I want to start the process of finding an agent in about a year, get some writing samples out there as specs and to find writing assignments.
:)
 
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Get your latest script analyzed. Julie will help on the pricing. The reason I state this is to take this script to someone you don't know, haven't worked with, isn't mentoring you, but has experience working as a script consultant for movie studios. She does Hugh Jackman's overflow from time to time.

I also would recommend you start writing short film script and have them produced here by DVXusers for their fests. What this does is help you understand the process in a small forum. It's really all the same. You work with a director. You write what he wants. He makes changes as he goes. It's filmed. It's a way of not being put off by the process in the big arena.

Good luck to you just the same.
 
Thanks but no thanks Charli. I am sticking with several writer-friends now as my 'consultants', that have written, sold and will not charge me for help.
If we could get back to the original thread topic comparing the two sites rather than discuss consulting, that would be greatly appreciated,
thank you.
R

ps:
Best of luck to you in your writing Charli. By the way, how many feature length screenplays did you write Charli before you sold your first spec?
 
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Randall - I haven't sold my first spec because I haven't marketed myself (got thyroid disorder after I wrote my 3rd script).

I have 3 scripts: "Keys of Caesar" and "Left Field" both made the quarterfinal of Austin Film Festival. "To Catch a Thief" I pitched at Pitch Fest and was awarded best pitch of day. I haven't written a full-feature since 2007, got sick in 2008.

So in between as I'm recovering I write short film scripts for hire. Produced in Utah, New York, LA and Iowa. I've learned to co-produce, work with composers, FX, actors, etc. It's really a mini-movie set on short films, this is why I encourage people to experience the process.

It's okay to stick with those you are comfortable with on your script. That's up to you. If you have such great mentoring and schooling, why wait? What's holding you back?
 
Charli said:
... If you have such great mentoring and schooling, why wait? What's holding you back?
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As this thread indicates, I am now initiating the process, looking to sign up at donedealpro or moviebytes, possibly imdbpro, start the process of researching prodcos, agents, managers, while I keep tweaking and polishing my feature specs. I may be marketing with queries and such earlier rather than later, just at the point of starting the process. And I will be ending my day job next summer, so a perfect time to crossover to screenwriting full time.

But if we can let's get this thread back on moviebytes v. donedealpro-- economic times are hard, i need to figure out the best of the two sites to fork over my hard earned coin!
r
 
If you have the money, I say go with imdbpro. You get the specs on where a film was made, loads of information. I had it for a year, loved it.
 
Charli said:
If you have the money, I say go with imdbpro. You get the specs on where a film was made, loads of information. I had it for a year, loved it.
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Yes, my plan is to get imdbpro, and in addition to that moviebytes or donedealpro, and I think I am leaning to donedealpro as look at some of the screenshots of their search features. Thank you for confirming imdbpro as useful, as they charge quite a bit more than mb/ddp. But I actually think I might start the marketing process in the next few months, join up on imdbpro and ddp in January, get things rolling.
 
Sounds like a plan. Set up yourself on LinkedIN and start inviting producers, directors, actors, screenwriters as part of your connection. The name of the game is networking. Same on Facebook. Almost my entire FB friends are in the business of some sort. One connection leads to another.
 
Charli said:
Sounds like a plan. Set up yourself on LinkedIN and start inviting producers, directors, actors, screenwriters as part of your connection. The name of the game is networking. Same on Facebook. Almost my entire FB friends are in the business of some sort. One connection leads to another.
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Yup. I have quite an extensive social network set up actually, on google+, lots of actors / directors / producers / screenwriters.
i quite FB, don't care for it.
 
Too bad you quit FB. I have Christopher Nolan, Mike Chiklas and Christopher Lockhart (talent agent with William and Morrison) on there. Also part of the screenwriter's group, screenwriting LA and something else, forget. I hate what the programmers did with FB but it's a great forum to collaborate and to get connected. LinkedIN some pros won't let you connect with them, but they are more open on FB. Just something for your to consider.
 
Charli said:
Too bad you quit FB. I have Christopher Nolan, Mike Chiklas and Christopher Lockhart (talent agent with William and Morrison) on there. Also part of the screenwriter's group, screenwriting LA and something else, forget. I hate what the programmers did with FB but it's a great forum to collaborate and to get connected. LinkedIN some pros won't let you connect with them, but they are more open on FB. Just something for your to consider.
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I actually have Christopher Nolan, Mike Chiklas in my g+ circles. You might be surprised who is on g+ these days. I currently have 600+ screenwriters, producers, actors (including A list actors), directors, filmmakers, etc. in my g+ circles. g+ rocks. I am liking g+ far more than fb.
 
I agree that FB sucks. I gave up my google+ so I did the opposite of you and built and building my FB. Good luck to you this coming year!
 
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