Selling Words and Other Magic Tricks

Collaboration Station

2008-12-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't been around for some time now but now I'm back. My blog has suffered from me being wrapped up in a number of collaborations that I entered in to. Recently, I've become a big fan of collaborating on screenplay projects and now that I have worked for some time in these types of partnerships, I have to say that I may never write solo again.

More often than not, I see sales from first time writers come from writing teams as opposed to solo artists. It's only logical... I mean, if one good writer can create a decent script, then two good writers can create a great one... right?

The collaborative process gives the writer the freedom to "step-away" from their baby, but the forward development of the project never halts because it's in the hands of your writing partner. I was able to devise a concept, write out a treatment/first draft and then hand it off. That's it, my co-writers handled adding depth to characters, re-working stale plot points, sharpening dialogue and honing the execution of the concept. When the drafts came back it was just a series of mutual tweakings and twistings to put polish on the work.

Now I'm on the think-train because if two writers can create a great screenplay, how about three, four or five writers? A team of writers? How well could they do? Well, the concept is applied to real life as television shows are often created by a team of writers. I believe the big animation studios, like Pixar, also employ teams of writers. Have you ever seen a Pixar film that was terrible? Has one ever totally bombed at the box office? I can't say for sure, but probably not.

Now my idea... how about a writer's coop? A team of spec writers who all collaborate on single projects to make them great. Collect a team of people with different strengths, conceptualizing, dialogue, story, character... put them all together and bang out great specs in quantity as well as quality.

Is this idea so far off? Could screenwriters forgo their individual screen credits and give them over to the company (coop) they write for? Is there something inherently wrong with a corporation whose sole purpose is to produce creative works, in this place spec and assignment screenplays, and sell them as a product? That's my idea, at least.

Contest Campaign Update

2008-06-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

And on and on we roll...

As our wonderful screenwriting contests begin to release their results I find myself becoming more impatient - a watched pot never boils and a screenwriting contest never meets their announcements deadline... especially when you are in it!

STORY PROS
Actually, this contest was very punctual. Never missed an announcements deadline. Beer Pong made it to the finalist's list being one of 10 comedies in the final round. Unfortunately I didn't make the winner's circle and considering that the Grand Prize winner was a comedy and three others took 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the genre... I had to finish in at least 5th. Not what I was hoping for, but a good showing nonetheless.

FADE IN AWARDS
Beer Pong and In Between Days are still on the semifinals list and I should hear something by July10th on whether or not either one had the chops to make a finalist placement.

No other contests have released ant results just yet.

Nuts & Bolts – Edition One

2008-05-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Having reads hundreds of spec scripts over the years, I often try to focus on not only the story elements, but also the formatting – the nuts and bolts of a body of work.

People often argue that a good story trumps crappy formatting. In theory, it definitely does. If you wrote Casablanca, Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan or The Godfather, you’d have one hell of a story and anyone who read one of these stories would be completely engrossed in a layered and exciting plot. Who cares about the format of the screenplay when the story is this good? Well, the answer would be no one. That’s right – if your story was that good, formatting wouldn’t matter.

Here’s the argument though: “Who WOULD get that far into the script if the format was atrocious?” Same answer folks… no one. It would never get read and that is the importance of format. Great format gets eyes on the page – once you do that, your story is all that matters.

The most common issues I see in formatting are with slug lines. I’m going to talk just about slugs for now. Slugline problems almost always scream “amateur” when I see them.

TIME NOTATION: Let’s get fancy. My scene takes place at sunset – it sets the mood so I’m going to write:

EXT. BEACH – SUNSET

(okay, just imagine the big red X from the old Family Feud game show popping up on your computer screen)

In reality, there are only two time notations DAY and NIGHT.

DAY = Afternoon, morning, sunset, sunrise, dusk, 1:00 pm, lunchtime, brunch, an early dinner… it’s all DAY people.

NIGHT = Midnight, after the sun has set, no natural light, closing time… all NIGHT!

Are there exceptions? Sure. Again, I’ve argued over these because some feel it is camera direction [another issue altogether], but sometimes you can use the following instead of DAY or NIGHT:

SAME – If two scenes are happening at the same time:
INT. HOUSE – DAY
John waits impatiently with a phone to his ear.

EXT. PARK – SAME
Mary flips open her cell phone.

CONTINUOUS – This means that you are going from one location to another but the camera isn’t cutting away – it’s a continuous shot. Use this sparingly and only when it is necessary.
INT. HOUSE – DAY
John rushes toward the front door. Mary holds his lunch box out. He grabs it as he reaches the open door.

JOHN
Is the bus here?

MARY
Just pulled up!

EXT. YARD – CONTINUOUS
John barrels out of the house and leaps a skateboard on the walkway. The bus pulls away as he streaks across the lawn.

JOHN
Wait!

LATER – This is almost never used in a master scene heading but I decided to include it anyway. Later notes a change in time but not location:

INT. HOUSE – DAY
John drops down on the sofa and cracks open a beer.

LATER
Sever empty beers litter the coffee table. John snoozes on the couch.

There you have it. Some worth exceptions to DAY and NIGHT.

The next thing I see quite a bit is what I refer to as “blank slugs.” I’m not sure if that is a technical term or not, but I’m calling it my own for now. A blank slug is when a writer slugs a scene, but skips the set up and goes right into dialogue. You always need to set up your scenes with some action text so we all know what is going on. It doesn’t matter if we were just in that location or not. Scenes are always shot out of order, so your spec chronology almost never is the shooting chronology of the film.

INT. HOUSE – DAY
JOHN
Hey! Where’s the scene set-up?

(Here comes that red “X” again!)

INT. HOUSE – DAY
John opens the refrigerator and looks inside.
JOHN
Much better… but who drank all my beer?

So, what does this have to do with marketing? Well, let’s put it this way. In order to sell a script, someone other than your mother has to read it. In order to get the script read, it has to look professional. How’s that for an indirect line to financial security through screenwriting?

Contest Campaign Update

2008-05-05T06:09:00.001-07:00

As I've noted before, I have entered a number of contests this year. The contests that I'm in include BlueCat, StoryPros, Austin Film Festival, Page International, Fade In Awards, Scriptapalooza, Script Pimp, and Final Draft (Big Break).

This year I entered my Comedy titled "Beer Pong" which is a story about an untalented student athlete who, in order to obtain an athletic scholarship, must win a beer pong tournament against a superstar team handpicked by a sadistic Athletic Director who is trying to stop him.

The early results are beginning to trickle in and I have made the Quarterfinals in both the Fade In Awards and StoryPros Awards. (Actually, I entered a low-budget indie feature titled "In Between Days" into the FIA along with Beer Pong - both have qualified). So I'm off to a good start so far.

As I said before, for those of us who are geographically separated from the epicenter of film production (L.A.) - contests are always worth the gamble. Drawing attention to yourself is always a good idea and high contest placements will do just that.

More to come...

Going... Short

2008-04-07T09:59:00.000-07:00

I've decided to take on a new project recently - writing a short script.

I'm currently collaborating with a short story writer on a short script, but this project is completely separate from that. What I did was take a feature-length screenplay of mine and wrote a 12 page mockumentary based on the subject matter.

The word on the street is that short films are the way to go for budding screenwriters looking for production credits. Again, this would tie in to your marketing efforts, but this time you aren't aimed at marketing your work as much as you are marketing yourself - which is just as important.

Short films are cheap to produce and this makes finding a producer much easier. Another added benefit is that InkTip, which we've discussed before, allow you to post short scripts in their database for free (from what I understand, at least). Shorts are also quick to write. I had the added benefit of already having the subject matter fleshed out in a feature that I wrote, so I was able to crank out a first draft in a matter of hours, but I would peg the writing process for a short to be less than a week.

I'm passing the script around to a few close writer friends of mine at the moment (for feedback), but stayed tuned and I'll let you in on the success (or lack thereof) at InkTip.

Operation: Atomic Blitz

2008-04-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

If you’ve been reading any of my posts, you know that I had recently teamed up with a writer to create the next big thing in Hollywood… well, we just want to finish a script an I’ll leave it at that.

Mickey is this co-writer and I wanted to publish this post in his honor. You see, he just completed a major accomplishment over at Triggerstreet. Each month on TS, writers with the best screenplays are chosen as Screenplay of the Month nominees. Three nominees are chosen and the screenplays are sent off to Script Shark for professional coverage. Only one can win and for February, that was Mickey.

Winning Screenplay of the Month is certainly no small accomplishment, but what really makes this a special occasion is the results of the coverage. Script Shark can be quite brutal when tearing your baby apart. I’ve seen smack-down notes from these guys (In fact, I’ve been on the receiving end) and I’ve seen positive coverage as well. What I’ve never seen is a glowing review of a TS writer’s work. And that’s just what Mickey’s work (titled Operation: Atomic Blitz) got. It was honestly the best coverage I’ve seen in a long time and he earned a CONSIDER from the Shark. His CONSIDER now gives him the opportunity to have Script Shark do some marketing on his behalf.

Operation: Atomic Blitz is the story of a British commando who must rescue a beautiful atomic physicist in order to stop a rogue German general from creating a superweapon. If anything is right in the land of Holly, this should be then next great franchise and the best thing to hit the silver screen since we were introduced to a man they called Indiana.

Read the coverage here.

Answering Questions - Edition One

2008-04-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

I really love it when folks who read my blog ask me questions... especially if I know the answers! So if you have any, let me know.

I received a comment on one of my previous posts from Rick:

How did you find the producer to whom you submitted your script? I'm thinking of buying into Hollywood Creative Directory or Script Pimp. Would you have a recommendation in this area? And do you have a point of view on InkTip?

All good questions, Rick. Most unrepresented screenwriters want to know how to find that elusive producer who will pay them for the work they pour so much time, blood, sweat and so often, tears into.

Unfortunately, there isn’t one answer I can give. I’ve used a ton of different methods to try and get my work out there. After all, if you work isn’t on the desk of a producer or their assistant, then you have no chance of getting a sale.

First off, let me say that I haven’t used the services of ScriptPimp, so I can’t really comment on how effective they are.

When I optioned my Romantic Comedy, I actually found the producer through Triggerstreet.com. For those who are unfamiliar, this is a peer review community for filmmakers, screenwriters, play writers, novelists and short story writers. It’s a fantastic resource for any writer out there looking for feedback on their work. A producer had posted a call for entries on their message boards which I responded to. It just so happens that my script was chosen out of the submissions received.

My previous post centered around a relationship that I developed with a producer that sort of evolved into an open door situation. What I mean by that is that I can email this individual with any new screenplays I have and almost certainly get a read. So, the question is how did I get into this type of situation. I found this producer by using an email query service run by SoYouWannaSellAScript.com. These types of services will take your query letter and email it out to all their producer contacts in their database. This database usually consists of several hundred producers, managers and agents. SYWSAS also has tools to help manage your query campaign and your subscription lasts about 6 months, I believe.

I’ve never used the Hollywood Creative Directory, but I know what sort of information it contains. I decided to use the email service over this because it does all the work for you. If you are looking for a very specific and target query campaign, then I believe the HCD is the tool for you. I should tell you that paper-based queries generally bring back a low response. I’ve found that email queries are much more effective.

InkTip is another animal all together and I’ve heard some wonderful success stories from writers who have used it. I have posted some of my work on InkTip but had very little success with it. I think if you are writing in the low budget range with a limited cast and locations, you may find success here. I felt that their leads newsletter was a much better resource than actually posting a script on the site. This newsletter provides you with leads to producers who subscribe to InkTip one a week. These are call for entries from various filmmakers looking for stories to produce. If you have a script that matches what someone is looking for, then you are free to query them through the InkTip site.

Hope that helps to answer some of your questions.

Hollywood Myths Busted #1 & #2

2008-03-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of advice floating around the outer-circle of Hollywood. Mostly offered by would-be and never will-be screenwriters and players. How much of it is true? From my experience, very little.

Myth #1: All Hollywood players are out to chew up the hopeful screenwriter and spit them out. They long to trample on the hopes and dreams of all of us with a rudeness not seen by 1,000 telephone debt collectors.

Busted: Well, this may be true, but from my experience... not so much. Granted I haven't mingled with the Hollywood elite, but I've been in contact with quite a few directors and producers. All of them... I repeat: ALL OF THEM, have been nothing but respectful. Honest, but personable, matter-of-fact, yet diplomatic. I just didn't get the sense that they were looking for a reason to toss my work, but rather trying to give me a reason to accept it. We sell a product, mind you, and those folks want that product. It has to be top-notch, but anything that has promise - even if it's just the writing style and not the story - will surely return a conversation. And if that is not enough, some folks have even offered feedback to me to get me pointed in the right direction.

Myth #2: There are no second chances with a Hollywood producer. Submit a script-recieve a PASS and that producer's door shuts forever.

Busted: Before I continue - I am NOT suggesting that you submit a crappy script to a producer. In fact, this probably is a good way to NOT get another chance. What I'm talking about is the common misconception that a screenplay only get's one chance with a producer. You need to get that script SOLD on your first try. A few months back, I submitted a script called "Beer Pong" to a company in Hollywood. It received a PASS and the producer gave me a little feedback as to why (see Myth #1). So, I figured that was it, because everybody tell me that there is no second chances. A few weeks ago, I said "What the Hell?" I'm going to ask this guy of he wants to read a revised version. I received a reply and fully expected it to read "Go to Hell, Loser!" (See Myth #1). And what do I see? "Sure, send it in, I'll give it another read." Whaaaa? Second chances do exist people - don't believe the hype. Does this mean I got an option in the bag? Certainly not, but that's not the point. Treat your potential buyers with respect, give them a well-written script, and you just may get another shot at redemption.

Stay tuned for more busted myths.

Contests and Hollywood Trips

2008-03-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

So, as a screenwriter of 32 years-old, I should have been to Hollywood a number of times. Unfortunately, until March 14th, I had never been there. What's that say about my devotion to the craft? Not much, I presume. But now I've been there and I really can't wait to go back. Most of my east-coast buddies swore I would hate it out there, but that just wasn't the case at all.

As a member of the Triggerstreet.com writer's community, I was invited to the member-driven Bowl-A-Palooza get-together. This is a gathering of any writer on Triggerstreet.com who wishes to attend. We talk shop in a casual, and usually alcohal saturated, atmosphere. It's much more social than professional, but there were some interesting folks there.

Take Dana Brunetti, the president and founder of Triggerstreet.com and producer for Triggerstreet Productions. I was able to shake hands with the guy and talk a little with him. Very nice dude, in my opinion.

Also, Gordy Hoffman, founder of the Blucat Screenplay Competition and brother of Phillip Seymore Hoffman. I was able to attend a movie with this guy - Horton Hears a Who"

I was also able to meet, in-person, my co-writer on my upcoming project. At a glace we are polar opposites, but we share the same writing values, talent, and (thank God) humor.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience and I can't wait to get back there.

NEXT UP: Contest Update
As my readers know, I am in the midst of a contest blitz this year. Any serious (but undiscovered) writer should be doing the same. I've said it before and I'll say it again, a contest win or high placement can put you on the map - so so open the purse and shell out the cash to enter a few.

Anyway, the first results are coming in now and I've placed two screenplays (one drama, one comedy) in the Quarterfinals of the Fade In Awards. So we are looking good so far.

If anyone wants to share their experiences with contests, please shoot me an email and we'll get it posted. Let's talk marketing or lack thereof for the next mailbag.

An Experiment in Collaboration

2008-02-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

First things first, I've officially began a contest blitz for my comedy screenplay titled "Beer Pong." Although winning a contest is a shot in the dark in my opinion, contests shold be a cornerstone of any marketing efforts. I say shot in the dark because winning a contest is about 25% talent and about 75% luck in my opinion. I don't say this because I've never won one, but I've read contest winners and I've read entries that didn't even make it past the first round - and there's not much difference. A good script is a good script regardless of how it does in a contest.

Anyway, I've recently entered into a collaoration with a writer friend of mine. I skecthed out the entire first draft of the manuscript and turned it over to be ripped up and put back together again. This is a big step for me because I, as I assume with most writers, have this pride about not needing any "help" to get a screenplay finished. Well, I say get over that... silly, silly, pride. I'm the type of person who posts my work in various online forums such as Triggerstreet in order to get feedback on what types of things need work in my scripts. I came to the conclusion that if I could workshop one on one prior to that, I (now we) may be able to turn out a more polished work in less time. From my initial brainstorm sessions, I have a feeling that this will be the case.

Another interesting facet to this story is that I've never actually me my writing partner in person. Just an online acquaintence who I've come to respect as a writer of screenplays and coverage. In fact, our first contact outside of the internet was just last week when we spent about two hours on the phone discussing the project. An here is where I plug the importance of online writer's communities. If you're not a member of one, join today. Zoetrope, Triggerstreet, whatever. They are free to join and open you up to a world of opportunity.

Stay tuned...

Intro Post

2008-01-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is my first post and I am just testing things out. I guess I should explain the purpose of my blog, huh?

I'm here to talk about all things screenwriting.

I want to talk about the craft itself, because it is important to constantly try to improve your writing, but I also want to discuss marketing your work as well. Believe it or not, if you have the best script in the world and you don't know how to market it, no one will ever know how good it is. I think a lot of aspiring screenwriters fail to realize this. They jump in and learn the craft and they write great stories, but then most assume that since they have a good story, they should just wait by the phone for Speilberg to call with an offer. Wouldn't that be nice - maybe we should write a story about that, because it's total fiction.

Anyway, since I am a Philadelphia-based writer, I'll try to talk about how those of us outside LA manage to get their stuff in the hands of people who can make their writing into film. Outsiders have a bigger hill to climb and believe me, the hill is big enough as it is.

I look forward to posting more here, but this should be okay for now.