Everybody wants to sell their script, but how are you supposed to know what makes a movie commercial? And how can you sell your screenplay without selling your soul?
In this video, I discuss the question of why producers choose some scripts and not others, and an organic approach to writing a script that sells, by following your own creative impulses.
If you’re a screenwriter, you’ve probably experienced the feeling of desperation that comes with trying to sell your script. In this new video, I discuss how you can find the confidence to pitch to the right people, in the right ways, and give both your script, and potential producers, the respect they deserve.
(Source: addtoany.com)
What’s interesting (and horrifying) about this text is that this doesn’t come from the sales side of the website-it comes from a FAQ on the recruitment side, hiring readers to provide these coverage services to writers.
Q: Can I really be successful as a script consultant if I’m not a screenwriter – or not a very good one?
A: Absolutely. Most of the top consultants are not writers. [The person], considered the ‘mother of script consulting’ has never written a script-but has consulted on over 2,000 screenplays and commands several thousand dollars per script. Even if you don’t have a unique background… all certified script consultants, who have fulfilled an internship, are eligible to become part of our paid staff…
It’s nice to think of your enraptured audience, hanging on your every word, lingering on your thematic motifs, and preparing treatises on the finer points of your arguments.
But the truth of the matter is that movie dialogue, just like real life conversation, usually happens way too quickly for that.
Every screenwriter is obsessed with structure. And if you’re a writer, then you’ve probably had the frustrating experience of trying to make sense of at least a dozen conflicting terms and approaches, from Aristotle to Syd Field:
Three Act Structure, Hero’s Journey, Plot, Multiplot, Sequences, Formulas, Archetypes, Turns, Twists, Pinches, Plot Points, Act Breaks, Inciting Incidents, Crisis, Climax, Peripeteia, Denoument , Trick Endings, and so on…
Whether you’re brand new to writing or have been writing for years, there is a common fear you share with all writers: the fear of the blank page.
When we dream about writing, we can imagine the blank page as a place of possibility, excitement and inspiration. After all, something empty can be filled with anything you choose. And the desire to express our creativity without limits or barriers is why most of us became writers in the first place.
Q: Can I really be successful as a script consultant if I’m not a screenwriter – or not a very good one?
A: Absolutely
What this company is doing is finding inexperienced, non-writers looking to make an easy buck. Selling them 24 hours of “certification” training. Getting them to work for free as interns. And then hiring them to give notes to writers like you.
So how exactly is someone who has never even written a screenplay supposed to help you fix yours?
A producer’s desk generally has a stack of unread scripts about ten feet high, all of which they are supposed to read, and most of which they will never even find time to look at. Every night, before they go home, their guilt compels them to pick up a script to read that night, even knowing they most likely will not complete it.
You can imagine Goldilocks in the home of the three bears… looking for the script that’s not too short… not too long… but just right.
Imagine you’re about to interview for the job of a lifetime. If you get the job, you’ll potentially make hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, doing what you most love in the world.
How would you dress for that interview?
