Like many others here I have read screenwriting manuals. So a few questions.
To start a screenwriter career, first write at least 3 screenplays which the studio bosses in Hollywood consider great. In order to have a meeting with one single studio boss. But the studio boss doesn't buy. Instead the studio boss answers "write a new screenplay based on my idea, but fast."
1. How fast must the new screenwriter write that new screenplay?
2. What is the probability that the studio boss will be enough satisfied to pay for an option?
Yes, option, not purchase. Unless I have misunderstood, the probability is 5 % that an option results in a finished movie. Finished after so many other screenwriters have rewritten the original screenplay that the original screenwriter is horrified.
I don't understand the logic in this system. Would be simpler to contact people who have written the screenplay for some movie which became popular (even though the budget was minimal), and ask that person.
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Göran Johansson
First of note: 90%-95% of screenwriter income is from assignment work. So, it's important to learn the process and learn how to take notes. How to get assignment work? Usually from producers reading your spec script and relationship building.
General expectations for a assignment turnaround for a draft is 6-8 weeks. A little less for an outline or a treatment. They probably will give notes with expected draft rewrites (should be ironed out upfront).
If this is a contractual assignment, the contract will dictate the number of expected rewrites. If it's not on a contract, rewrites could go on forever (which is a bad situation if the writer isn't being paid. But, the goal is to get the script made).
What happens once everyone is happy with the script depends on why they had the writer work on the assignment. Could be just a test of the writer's skills - then, nothing might happen if the producer doesn't like the results. If they like the results, they might option it and then try to shop it around. If the assignment is on contract, it could be they have sets and actors available and want a quick turnaround to start shooting.
If the relationship is good, even if the script isn't made, the writer can hopefully get another assignment and/or pitch ideas to the producer.
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If you want a career as a screenwriter it will probably take a lot more than three screenplays. Hollywood Studios usually won’t even read a screenplay unless it is submitted via an agent, a manager or an attorney they know unless they already know the screenwriter.
So most people who write studio-size screenplays option the screenplay to a production company that makes them. Even they usually need some bankable talent attached to the project first.
If you write a screenplay on an assignment you’d normally have 90 days to complete a First Draft and another two to four weeks to do a rewrite. However, that could vary. However, that could vary depending on the project and the producer.
A screenwriter without a track record would be better off writing lower-budget screenplays. The people who make them are easier to approach and are more likely to read a screenplay written by someone without a track.
Ninety percent of the screenplays that go into development die in development hell. Almost all screenplays get rewritten and the original screenwriter isn’t always happy with the results. I worked on both sides and most of the screenplays that I rewrote needed to be re-written.
Most aspiring screenwriters start out thinking that they need to sell their screenplays to break in. The odds of that happening are very slim. It is better to think of them as a calling card and use them to show people in the business that you know the business and how to write for it. That is how most people break in.
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Dear friends, I hope I understand what you mean. Fortunately, I have no plans to sell to Hollywood. But I want to know.
I apologize that I forgot to mention that I know how important literary agents are.
About writing for lower budget. That is exactly what I do.
More people who want to add something?
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6-8 weeks.
Get notes.
2-4 more weeks for rewrite.
2. What is the probability that the studio boss will be enough satisfied to pay for an option?
30%. If the script is actually really good, it probably comes down to timing and circumstances around the studio needs. Some assignments at the bottom of the pile have been there for months, maybe even years, and the trends just aren't as trendy so time may have passed the window of opportunity for that story by (for now).
and just to clarify: i would never do this process for free. there should be an upfront fee. then an option agreement should they like your script enough to want to make or shop it.
The whole idea of this makes me throw up. Soulless Capitalists who would kill their Mother for lunch money, want talented creatives to write entire films for them based on a simple 7-word premise for FREE and for the chance to be forgotten as soon as the 12th Writer is brought on board to change the whole thing again, all so that money hungry Exec can get a writer/creator/producer credit on something he spent 18 seconds on.
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“Write something based on my idea” Outstanding, that is a pay day. They will be a signatory, which means they cannot ask for free work.
Yes you need great work. That will take more than three screenplays. I write a lot. I am far from great, I don’t even share a suburb with great..
Being great is the bare minimum, everything else is conjecture.
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Wait. Stop. Please stop.
Where on Earth is this strategy coming from? The manuals? Which manuals, written by whom?
The amateur screenwriting scene is full to the brim with people who talk about how to break in and build a sustainable career despite never even managing to option a short script to a student in their entire time trying, and they give that advice dogmatically.
Those people write career advice books too, and you have to keep in mind that the meagre accolades they allude to (typically "working within a studio") are leveraged to their max.
I have made three low budget features, two as a producing partner, know some big names that have been around a long time and I haven't got a freaking clue how to move forward. I had no freaking clue it would be blogging that effectively broke me in.
I rant because it's so oddly normalised for people to make statements about this topic, very specific statements, with absolutely zero factual basis behind them. They just feel right.
It is entirely possible to write a first screenplay, an objectively bad one at that, and have one of the biggest producers in history want to make it. I've literally seen that happen. Some of the most piss-poor writing I have witnessed has come from within the industry, via people you'd think would know better.
There is no being "great", writing something "good", churning out x number of scripts before some magical mechanism starts to operate, or statistical percentages at work.
The logic makes no sense because there is no logic to make sense of. This is the most haunting truth about wanting a career in the creative arts; you are at the complete mercy of chance. It's not only possible to pour your heart and soul into this for decades and receive zero compensation, it's typical. Finding peace with that is an essential rite of passage for all of us, because it leads us toward producing art for our own fulfilment above all else.
For what it's worth, I turned around both Double Threat and Night Train within two weeks. When I heard a script I was working on was going to be read by a former studio head, I burned midnight oil and finished it within a week.
The first script I wrote on assignment took me six weeks.
The best advice I can give you is to just write, love the process, and put yourself out there so people on the same wavelength can connect with you. People who like you will want to work with you at a pace that suits you, and should they have the funds, will want to make sure you can put food on the table. That's all there really is to it. I'm sorry if that's vague, but it's reality.
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CJ Walley I love it when the truth can't take another minute hiding in the shadows and busts out like the phoenix for all to see. Bravo.
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Dear friends, it has been most interesting to read your further comments. I hope you don't feel that I wasted your time.
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Never feel that way, Göran Johansson. This community is always here to help. Can't get answers if you don't ask questions.
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Göran Johansson I don’t know where you came up with the idea that they want screenwriters to write entire films for free. I don’t see that happening very often. When it does it is usually some lowlife producer trying to get a newer screenwriter to write a screenplay they probably would never be able to produce.
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No time wasted at all, Göran Johansson. I love a good rant. I'm more concerned about you wasting your own trying to rationalise the irrational. Pour that energy into writing and networking, my friend.
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Dear C J. It is kind of you to bother about me. I collect information in order to avoid wasting my time. And yes, I spend time on my screenwriting. A week ago I made a printout after the latest revisions. Then I resumed proofreading. By the way, during the latest weeks I have gone through 3 long lists with film companies in USA. Of 2,000 companies now only 200 remain, for potential contact.
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I agree with CJ Walley. Most of those self-proclaimed experts weren't successful and they are charging screenwriters to tell them what they need to do to be successful. It is a bullshit business so they seem to fit right in.