The Demand For Scripts Is Out There
September 24, 2007 by clive
Lots of people have ideas for films. In fact, tell anyone you’re a screen writer and they’ll be only too happy to tell you about THEIR fantastic idea. It’s also true that more people than ever are writing screenplays. Skim the net and you’ll find a massive number of writers and film makers all trying to make it; uploading their scripts; subscribing to script selling services and sharing their own takes on how to write a great script.
Yet, when I talk to producers, script editors and agents I still hear the same thing I’ve been hearing for the past eleven years: there is still a massive shortage of good scripts.
So, despite the fact that there are more scripts in circulation than ever before and more people trying to make films than ever before, there is still a baseline shortage of high quality scripts for producers to make films from.
There’s also another factor in play: more and more writers are taking their script to the market, sure that they’ve got that killer idea, but with absolutely no idea about what the industry is looking for or the skills involved in writing a script. I have it on very good authority from a Hollywood producer friend of mine that 98% of the screenplays being submitted at present are UNREADABLE!
Not just un-makable, or even in need of some work, they fail to meet even the baseline requirements of competence.
For anyone thinking about getting into screen writing, this is all great news.
It’s great news, because it means 98% of the competition is hopeless. It means that a well executed script, with a strong idea can still propel you into the industry faster than the proverbial bullet.
However, it also means you have to make sure that your script falls into that magic 2%.
I’ve some experience of dealing with wannabee screen writers and there are a lot of reasons why they tend to fall into the 98% as opposed to the 2%.
Of these reason, there are two factors that crop up time and time again:
1) The vast majority of screen writers have no experience what so ever of seeing their script efforts turned into actual films and therefore don’t develop the ability to see what works and what doesn’t.
This tends to show up both in the way they describe action (or in many cases don’t describe action at all) and it also shows up in poorly written dialogue.
It doesn’t matter where in the world you live, or how disconnected you are from the industry, there isn’t anyone who couldn’t pull together a read through of their script if they put a little effort in. All you need to do is find a local drama school or amateur drama group and put a notice up asking for volunteers.
The first time I did this, I’d been writing professionally for radio for about ten years and I was pretty confident in my writing abilities. However, I wasn’t at all prepared for just how badly my dialogue sucked at that point. Early in my screen writing career, I had a tendency to overly complicate my dialogue; it was too wordy; it all sounded like me speaking (no character differentiation) and, all the lines that looked clever on the page sounded crass when spoken by real people.
Painful as it is to listen to how bad your dialogue is, it’s got to be done.
These days I’ve made enough films to be able to look at a page of dialogue and see where it works and where it sucks — and, guess what, so do most of the script readers out there.
Saying that, even though I now don’t need read throughs for my scripts, I still do them. Even though dialogue is one of the things I do well, one of the reasons for that is I subject my writing to the bear pit that is the read through.
Perhaps even better than a read through, is getting your script into the hands of a director who actually makes your film.
I can’t recommend too highly the idea that wannabee screen writers should find local wannabee film makers and then should give away a couple of scripts (either shorts or features) in the hope that the script will become a finished film.
One of the reasons I’m such an advocate of $1000 film making is exactly to give screen writers this chance to make their mistakes on micro budget projects.
The truth is I learned more about screen writing making my last two feature films, despite their lack of commercial success, than I did anywhere else.
The other factor that ensures most screen writers stay in the 98% is this:
2) It’s not possible to write a decent movie in a single draft, if your only experience of the industry is sitting on the couch watching movies
A script should only go out to pitch when it’s ready.
I can’t tell you when it is ready, without reading it (which I won’t)… but, I can guarantee it’s isn’t ready on your first draft.
I can also guarantee it isn’t ready if you don’t know the difference between an INTERCUT and a FLASHBACK… or if you don’t know why we almost never use the expression “we see” … or, if your screen play is 136 pages long, 94% of which is dialogue.
There is a certain level of industry knowledge you HAVE to acquire if you want your script to achieve a baseline of competence. There is also no shortage of places you can get that information for free. At the very least download a few screenplays written by Charlie Kaufman or Shane Black or someone who writes the kind of movies you like to watch.
Just one point of caution though… a lot of the uploaded scripts are shooting scripts, not reading scripts … er, and if you don’t know the difference between the two, then that also means your script isn’t ready.
Here Here!!!
The hardest part about screenwriting is investing the sheer AMOUNT of time into one thing and plugging through to the end, man. Anyone who invests that much time into something without learning “the rules” (and how to break them) is amazing, because I hate intelligent competition.
Balls to the wall, Clivarino.
Strange you should mention that. James and I were having EXACTLY the same conversation yesterday.
It takes bloody ages to write a script, good or bad.
Bill Martell reckons it takes fifteen screenplays to figure out how to do it well. I don’t think he’s far wrong. Even if you go at it flat out, I reckon that’s got to be a four or five year investment.
Me, I’m a bit dim, it’s taken me the best part of ten years to get to the point where I’m competent.
It isn’t easy to get into that top 2%. But it is possible.
Excellent post. I have noticed this very thing in all of the places where people post scripts. I thnk this is one of those “either you have it or you don’t” careers.
And of course the glamor of the other parts( actors, directors) has everyone and their brother trying it without realizing that no one will know your name anyway.
Some places I’ve been actually have people wanting what is really someone else to write the script. I guess if you asked who Trottier is, you would find that most screenwriting wannabes don’t know.
Of course, I have yet to sell anything but then I don’t really want to. I would rather get someone to believe that I could write a 30 min episode of some relatively unknown TV show. That way, more people will think of you later for something similar.
I am working on shorts with a few different people but I actually story board in my head so I can see for example, that the camera has to move for this second shot or that a crane may work better than a dolly for another shot.
I guess I’m a lucky one that way. Trining your mind’s eye is something I learned, or at least found important, from Elliott and Rossio.
My first script already has a one sheet and I don’t even have the actors….yet.
So to all who try, please think of it like a job interview. If you can’t answer simple questions regarding techniques, you won’t get the job. And yes it is a job, meaning you can get fired. That’s the key. This isn’t SLACKER’S PARADISE, it’s the most thankless, underrated job in the history of the world and you have to want to work harder than you can imagine.
Myself, I got really serious about this in Feb07, though I wrote a script some years ago. Before I wrote one word, I read about a year’s worth of articles, books, blogs, scripts, forums, etc. In three months I have written a feature script, two shorts, am adapting a play and have inciting incidents for three other features and full maps for four others.
I even managed to find an inside track for submitting directly to prodcos. So like I said, IT’S MORE WORK THAN GLAMOR. ( or GLAMOUR for those across the pond)
And welcome back. This is the first new one in a while. Oh and
Keep writing as writing is the revealing of the Soul.
I just found your blog via the Blogrush widget. Great information. Very helpful. I’ve bookmarked it. Thanks
Christian
I know what you mean and it sounds like you’re really going for it big style.
Actually, I’ve never read Trottier’s Screenwriters Bible, I’d be interested in your take on it. Did you find it useful?
I was working with some student film makers yesterday and they asked for recommendations of books on screen writing and I’ll admit I struggled to say hand-on-heart “you should read this book.”
I’ve found most of what I know about screen writing from sharing info with other writers I’ve networked with online, in particular the mighty Unk at Unknown Screenwriter… and from writing scripts and then shooting them.
Millar - thanks and welcome, hope you find what we’re doing here interesting and useful. And, we really welcome healthy debate and sharing of information… so feel free to pitch in.
It’s great for newbies. It really gets into to formatting better than anything else. true if you really read a lot of scripts you will find everything he says, but it’s a great reference.
It’s the first book I’d recommend. The second is the Gotham Writers “Writing Movies” book. Both are available at The Writer’s Store or Amazon.
For more advanced stuff I’d recommend Linda Seger’s “Advanced Screenwriting.”
I’ve learned a lot from this site as well in terms of budgeting, equipment and the like. I’m almost ready to shoot a short.
Why so much pontificating on the science of screenwriting?
The books might help with the mechanics but it
really boils down to how much you believe in your
story and how good it really is. And who you know.
Luck can always help and connections too. But nothing
can stop a truly good story. If you really want to see your
story on the big screen- write it. I think you just know if you have it based on your belief in your story and your determination. You just know. If a story keeps haunting you even after you’re sick of it, you might have something.
Ideas come and go but practice makes perfect.
Zig, I agree nothing can stop a good story… but, the reason I bang on about screen writing techniques is because 98% of the people writing specs are getting it wrong. Not a little bit wrong, but tragically wrong.
Also as a highly experienced indie film maker, I’m also very aware that exactly the same mistakes made by novice script writers are made by indie film makers… often with dire consequences (bankruptcy, broken marriages, or even worse quitting film making)
The other thing that’s really been banged home to me over the last couple of months, is even when you’re both passionate and sure about your story, the hardest part is getting that vision onto the page.
Even when you think you’ve nailed the story, the second someone else picks up the page and starts to read, that’s when you discover whether your vision has made it onto the page. I had an experience recently where in one scene a key piece of information about the layout of the room has a radical impact on the interaction of the characters. I’d put that information into the scene… but about half a page away from the dialogue… when my script editor read the scene, she’d completely forgotten the set layout by the time it came to the dialogue and therefore the scene read “wrong” to her. It was such a small thing and so easy to over look when writing.
Luck and connections are pretty much irrelevant, in my opinion. It’s all about story. But, despite the commonly held belief that story telling is both easy and natural, the truth is screen writing is a technically precise and challenging art-form.
Where I totally agree is that practice is where it happens. I also happen to think 90% of the screen writing books out there are hopeless. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t useful strategies and techniques to apply to the writing process…
All I’m doing here is sharing how I do things… and if you can’t pontificate on your own blog, where can you?
Dear Dive:
I’d like to offer some critique concerning your comments regarding Film Industry readers (in L.A.) You point out that the script has to move out in the first pages and that it should be based upon a highly commercial, strong, creative premise, or the typical industry reader will put it down, like right away. I have a real problem with that. I wrote a real imaginative, hysterical, captivating script called “Jerry for President.” It’s about a very irreverent chicken who is lost in life, but ultimately finds his way and successfully runs for President. We did a reading with very talented experienced actors in Chicago. For the first ten minutes, the actors were puzzled, confused. They didn’t know whether they were reading a puppet story or not. But by the end of the screenplay, they were laughing and rooting for poor Jerry who had experienced so much hardship in life and was now running for President, against the Republicans, and beating their asses. Before we ran out of money, we produced 22 scenes of this hilarious screenplay with state-of-the-art cameras. IN HOLLYWOOD, this screenplay would be rejected within 5 minutes!! So Hollywood and the nation lose out on truly creative entertainment, because “professional L.A.” readers are too lazy to read the entire script. And that’s what is is: laziness.
Secondly, when a Hollywood “reader” reads a comedy script, they are most often looking for mindless crap, like your typical Rob Schneider movie, devoid of human emotions and content and normally with a story that excites noone except the formula driven executives. Let’s get it all into the open. As for comedies, Hollywood specializes in mindless, formula crap with lackluster content. And they complain that movie grosses are down? Duh! I would truly love to start a film industry in or from Chicago, totally divorced from the L.A. studios that have run the business into the ground.
Danny,
So what you’re saying is, because it took more than ten minutes for people to get into your script… then any script reader who put your script to one side before getting to the “good” bits is automatically wrong.
Well, there is another way of looking at this… maybe the reactions to your script reading was telling you the first ten pages need rewriting.
That’s the way I’d view it, if it was my script.
The other thing I really reject is the idea that Producers only buy crap… especially when it comes to comedy.
I think “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Sideways” are both recent examples of intelligent comedies. They got optioned, produced and distributed by the very people you’re slating.
Now, the one thing I agree with in your post, is that Hollywood doesn’t have to have the monopoly on film production… that’s what this site is all about.
12 HOURS LATER:
OK I’ve had some sleep and coffee and I’ve just re-read your comment.
The truth of the matter is … I agree with you, I think Hollywood does miss a lot of opportunities to do more interesting projects, which is the main reason I encourage screenwriters to make their own films.
However, the difficult thing in indie film making, is recognizing the difference between a script that’s just too risky for Hollywood, but should be made… and, a script that either isn’t quite there yet, or which isn’t going to play out commercially.
As I said in the post 98% of submitted scripts fail to meet the baseline levels for competence… and yet, every single one of those people thought they were writing a sure fire hit.
One of the things I’ve been told over and over and over by various screen writing mates, producers and agents is… from a selling POV, the first ten pages are most important.
As an experienced film maker, I’d also be remiss if I didn’t ask whether you had enough footage from your 22 scenes to cut a trailer… if the material is as good as you say it is, I’d be tempted to take a trailer to one of the major selling festivals and see if I could hook up with a producer.
… and, I really, really, really would take another look at your first ten pages. It would be a pity to see a good project bomb simply for the lack of a ten page rewrite.
The other thing I recommend is you read through this post Script Reader’s Checklist
This will give you a pretty good idea of how readers break down your script to see if it’s worth passing onto a producer.
My final thought is this… don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger
I provide information here so people know what they’re dealing with when they take either a script or a film into the market… I don’t make the rules, I merely point out their existence. I think it’s useful… and personally I’ve been on the wrong end of the stick many, many times. In fact I just lost out on $10,000 script development money in circumstances where I was 95% sure I’d get funded… simply because my treatment wasn’t laid out the way this particular organisation wanted it. You have to believe I was furious… but, that’s the business, and I now know a good deal more about treatment writing as a result.
Dive:
Wrong. The producers of “Sunshine” were rejected by almost every studio in Hollywood. This went on for years, until they had to produce it themselves, which proves my point. I think the producing team said they were rejected for 6 or 7 years by Hollywood. I am right on. Secondly, ever see, “The Man who shot Liberty Valence?” or “Gone with the Wind,” or Martin Scorcesse’s epic on Viet Nam? (Can’t remember the name of that one) All start slowly, and all are epics. Those who think every screenplay has to shoot out like a cannon are amateur writers and readers. I am also right on re Hollywood’s dismal track record on comedies. They’re success rate is so low that investors and stock holders should demand performance. Case in point: The budget of a simple comedy like “Heartbreak Kid” ballooned to 40 Mil. Many of the people in Hollywood are so out of touch with modern film technique that they are still using the old analog film cameras when a movie can be done with a Varicam or a HPX 500 at a fraction of the cost. Think of it: No huge cranes dollies, power trucks, tracks, photo labs, etc. DANNY
Danny,
A lot of TV is shot on 35mm as well… and a lot of indie film makers spend every waking hour trying to emulate the look of film on sub $5K camcorders… go figure, it’s a strange world out there.
Regardless of who financed production… they’re both movies that were distributed by Fox Searchlight and both movies that did good box office… and both movies that follow conventional screenplay structure.
One of the problems with indie filmmakers is they get into this mind-set where production is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… but it isn’t… distribution is.
I mention this because once you understand how distribution acquisition works, then you understand why you can’t have a flaccid first ten minutes anymore.
Let’s use the Cannes Film Festival as a template… distributors and sales agents arrive at Cannes. Each of them brings half a dozen assistants. The distributor has flagged up certain movies during production, because of their trade press coverage and wants to see them. For everything else the assistants troll around the festival and catch about ten minutes of each film… reporting back to the decision maker on any films that are worth watching.
The mistake you’re making here Danny, is to assume that I don’t personally like slow start movies… but the truth is my favorite film of all time is Tarkovsky’s “Stalker” which is two and a half hours of Russian Sci-fi with no discernible plot and in which nothing happens. Everything you quoted is positively formulaic in comparison.
All I’m saying is, the mainstream industry, both in the spec script market and in distribution is biased against films that don’t sparkle in the first ten minutes… especially if the film maker is an unknown quantity at the box office.
You can rail against the fact that the readers don’t read whole scripts and the buyers don’t watch whole films as much as you like… but it won’t change the buying patterns of the industry.
Now, where I agree with you whole heartedly is independent digital production is the road forwards to more innovative movies. However, anyone who also plans to circumvent conventional distribution as well is treading a hard road… there’s a very fine line between self distribution and vanity film making.
My brother didn’t say the first ten minutes of our script were boring; he just said the performers didn’t understand the “animal” they were experiencing. It just was not obvious, and this is a good thing. It demonstrates deeper content, an idea working on several levels. A screenplay that is so totally obvious in the first 5 pages may look good to a tired reader, but I’d rather expereince one that hides its thunder a little while. The approach may be slower out of the gate, but the finish is stronger. His complaint about “Hollywood” comedies failing due to
formula writing is correct, and the result at the box office proves it. So I’m not to keen on the Hollywood approach to the making of most comedies. This is not to say that all of them are bad. Some do use a smarter approach
and have done well. That’s my opinin. Mike D
Guys, I’ve never seen your script… so I’ve no idea about whether it works or not.
All I know about is how script readers read, how distributors buy and how I use read throughs with actors to gauge my scripts.
As someone who has done a lot of read throughs, my experience tells me to pay particular attention to any part of the read through where it’s not running smoothly.
So, all I can say is… well, you may be right… you may have nailed your opening. But, because I know how the market operates, if I was you I’d farm the script out to a professional script editor… and see what they say.
But, I already know you won’t do that… even though it’s a small investment, there is the possibility that he or she will pick holes in your script. And you guys are just too convinced that you’re right, for you to act professionally.
The reason I know this… is because I’ve been there… I’ve done what you’re doing… and I can tell you this for nothing, there is no feeling in this world quite as bad as watching a film that’s had $700,000 invested in it… and knowing that it’s not going to sell because you didn’t have the humility to take professional advice on the script.
But, there are some things we can be told…and some we have to learn the hard way.
I hope it works out for you.
Thanks for your wisdom on scripts. It hits home with a project I have working on for 5 years.