I've got this screenplay

[Carl Brennan]

I'm working on covering the WWI--WWII era centered on the pro-fascist movement. Is there anybody here who had taken a screenplay to production? Any suggestions on who to take this to the production level?

[VeniceBeat]

1. Tough Task

Of course, an excellent screenplay will always find a buyer.

But first, I believe, you have to have an agent to sell it for you.

Very interesting period of American history you've chosen as your setting. Do you have a Silver Shirt rally scene?

Finish it and get it out there!

You could always produce it yourself, though. Right?

[Emboldened Chimp]

2. First of all, don't worry about getting it into production...

Get the script finished. And by finished I mean write several drafts until it's professional. If you want to know what it takes to write a professional script, read scripts (particularly specs) that have been made. Go to http://www.script-o-rama.com/ and read.

The other post mentioned getting an agent to sell it. Wrong. Agents do nothing but collect their ten percent. Unless you're established, you'll need to hustle on your own and get a deal--or at least the beginnings of a deal, which, if lucrative enough, any agent worth his salt will swoop in and negotiate the rest. Even if you are established, writers still have to hustle on their own. You can conceivably have a Hollywood career without having an agent--just get a lawyer to negotiate contracts (I think Wolfgang Peterson does this.)

But the point is to concentrate on getting your script finished. Dialogue, characterization, plot, and theme should be your major concerns right now. Worry about the other stuff later.

[Carl Brennan]

3. Thanks for the tips and link.

There seem to be alot of ways of doing this. The script is coming along good.

I bought "The Screenwriter's Problem Solver" by Syd Field. This guy knows what he is talking about. Great book.

[Emboldened Chimp]

4. Hmm...Syd Field...

I've read "Screenplay", and though it might seem helpful to the novice, it can be detrimental to writing because you're thinking more about structure than you are about character, dialogue, story. And Syd Field has never sold a screenplay, so I don't know how he suddenly became the authority.

Here are two books that are more worthy of your time: "Story" by Robert McKee (If you've seen "Adaptation", he's the guru played by Brian Cox that Nick Cage goes to see...in fact, rent that movie if you've never seen it) and "Alternative Screenwriting" by Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush. These books are better because they make you think about what you're doing, rather than shove some rigid dogma down your throat.

[Carl Brennan]

5. Syd Field's problem solver book

goes into all aspects of the screenplay: Plot, Character, and Structure. I've learned alot about how they all interrelate, how to build character into an otherwise "thin" scene, how to identify problems,etc. He's very analytical, which is what I like.




I'm going to check out your suggestions.

Thanks again.

[PATRICK]

8. Be careful

The industry almost expects the rigid script format so they can literally turn to pabge so and so and find the same item as in all other scripts. Much of mainstream Hollywood has accepted the package of success. However if you are working for a small film company startup or college kids looking for an inexpensive breakthrough your main constraint is budget and length. Innovation and standout quality should be an easier sell and you can cruise among the small film festival producers and directors a lot easier than even getting your script in a big timer's mailbox or even some agent's slush pile.

The other trouble with scripts is that it a highly competitve field that creates an enormous logjam few producers will have patience for. So again, as with wriiting formula, they rely on established writers.

Try theater writing and you will automatically realize it is colleges and small theater that offer real chances. You can win the lottery with enormous luck. To break through the Hollywood wall involves a lot more than that kind of luck.

I have a niece that writes and produces small films with her independent company. Come to think of it I have another niece on one of those TV series. Find a group of your own or at least make connections.

[Carl Brennan]

9. Thanks for the input.

:toast:

[Carl Brennan]

6. "Adaptation" is great. I was rolling on the floor

Thanks alot.

My problem is characterization. I don't know enough about some of the characters in the story to do a good job of it. I guess I can fictionalize these parts as neccessary.

[Emboldened Chimp]

7. The key part to writing is knowing all about your characters...

before you write actual drafts of the scrip. I usually do extensive bios on my characters, usually in stream-of-consciousness fashion, before I write a word of the script. Once I get to the point where I think I should begin writing, then I do.