It is frustrating that I can't convince producers of how willing to work with them I am. I mean, I'm not married to my scripts. I am more than willing to change them as needed in order to get them approved.
Screenwriting : Convincing producers to work with you by William St Romain
Convincing producers to work with you
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Most often when a writer bends over backwards to let a producer know that, they come off as horribly desperate. And that's something producers don't want to deal with. And what it comes down to is - if the producers say it needs a total rewrite, it's usually not worth rewriting because they are looking for projects and scripts that are ALREADY 80% there. If they wanted to change your story, they'd just write their own. What do they need you for? So, stop trying to convince them you are willing to change your scripts and just take their comments and go change it yourself.
Where are you in the process: Have you been hired by the producer or are you trying to get hired? If you are trying to get hired, the only thing that matters is what is on the page. Singing them all of the lyrics to Paperback Writer doesn't matter if they don't like what is on the page in the first place.
I'm pitching right now. I'm trying to get feedback. This is proving harder than I thought. Most people won't read your stuff if you don't pay them, so I'm not getting much feedback. I know full well they want it mostly done, but how am I to find that out if I can't get any feedback?
If you are pitching your scripts and no one wants to read the scripts, what you have learned is that your ideas are not interesting enough... so start there.
William, producers are not the ones you want reading your material to get feedback!!! they are the ones you send material to AFTER you've gotten real feedback from others - which yes, may cost you money - and you know the project is READY to be submitted to producers.
It might be worth entering your scripts in several screenwriting competitions -- even placing in the semifinals of those can encourage a producer or agent to look at a script. The gold standard of these is the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship competition: http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/ For the Nicholl, the site gives info on the finalists with titles and loglines. Placing in the Nicholl finals will in most cases guarantee you agent representation and get you lots of contacts; semifinals will make agents at least take you seriously. Unfortunately spec screenplays are often looked at as land mines by Hollywood folks, given the tendency of unproduced screenwriters to bring legal action for story theft -- even though story theft seldom happens in Lotusland.
Well, too late on that point. I jumped into this very impulsively. Right now I'm working on trying to make a proper script from scratch. I'm thinking if I make a saleble script it would give my previous efforts greater consideration.
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William, It sounds like you're doing this backwards a bit. Screenwriting is not something you can do impulsively - it takes YEARS! And by sending out pitches or trying to contact producers on something that isn't even written or written well yet, you've ruined your chances with those producers. You only get one. If you're still working on a script from scratch, you're probably about 6-12 months from being ready to approach producers.
Thanks Alle. If I had studied the industry before trying I would have waited. Unfortunately that never occured to me. Still, I have to do the best I can or give up and I'm not about to do that.
I think a big part of my problem was that I was over ambitious. The story I've tried to sell to start with was a fantasy series. People love sword fighting after all. The problem is it is a complex series with a lot of complex characters. I ended up making two pilots for it. If you read them both, I've posted them both on Stage32, then you get a clear idea of the show and what it's about I think. But together they are 3 hours long and I am trying to write a script for a 1 hour show. That appears to be the biggest stumbling block for most of the producers I have pitched to. How do you pact so much material into 1 hour?
Have you ever shot anything that someone could reference? Do you have an IMDB page? And how are you getting to these producers? Is your agent setting up your pitch meetings, and are these people you really want to deal with if the proper channels aren't being used. You just need to slow down, breathe, begin to put together a body of work. Network and build a solid foundation. How many scripts do you have or have you written? A great place to get information is Stephanie Palmer, she's phenomenal. Here's a link to her website. Download her ebook Good in a room. If you're not doing these things you need to start. Good luck. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&...