Screenwriting : What does it take to sell a screenplay? by Victor Titimas

Write the next "Sharknado" franchise or the next "Clerks" set in your country and I will buy it from you.

A good script and connections. Low budget is a plus too, smaller producers are always looking for good low budget scripts. I think the indie market is really the place to be these days, but that's just my opinion of course.

Talent, consistent, great writing, tenacity, timing and incredible luck.

Short of making human sacrifices, your guess is as good as mine.

-G.R.B.

Boy we got trouble, right here in Stage32 city,

Trouble with a capital T,

and that rhymes with HC,

and that stands for high concept.

(Can you see it? You betcha I can see it!)

Yes we got trouble, right here in Stage32 city,

Trouble with a capital T,

and that rhymes with B,

and that stands for buyer.

(Wanna buy it? Of course I wanna buy it!)

Yes we got trouble, right here in Stage32 city,

Trouble with a capital T,

and that rhymes with P,

and that stands for profitable.

(How much money do you think it will make? A-LOT!)

Yes sir, it's high concept,

it's got a buyer,

and it's gonna make a lot of dough, to---day,

and that's all it takes to sell a screen--play!

I sold a few specs, right concept, right time. Not for WGA-money or to any Prod Company that the Big Players care about but a sale is a sale. All it does is give me a little confidence, that I could maybe play with the Big Boys, in the bigger game with bigger $$ and known Talent. But I had to go back to the wood shed, study, start from scratch and learn to crawl again.

Gotta have a realistic plan and goals. Look at your scripts and compare it to a produced movie. Is your writing as good/better than the pro's? If you had to risk your house money to make a movie, who would you hire to write? Yourself or Paul Haggis, Shane Black, Zak Penn, Billy Ray, John August, Terry Rossio, Chris Mcquarrie, Ava Duvernay, Issa Rae, Mindy Kaling? That is the competition. Fierce. One time, I interviewed with a lawyer who was involved in making Dolph Lundgren action movies for cable market. he told me before our meeting he was also speaking to Steven Souza (die hard, 48hrs). I gave up trying to pitch. No confidence. Hard to compete against mentors. The job eventually went to an unknown Writer. He was at right time, at right place. That unknown writer would go on to create John Wick.

I guess that's why Industry folks suggest to write low budget concepts and movies. Break in small, get into the game first before you try reinvent film narrative.

You have to get it in the hands of someone that needs something like it.

Geeze Bill - I got to agree with you again! (This has got to stop.) I always thought B stood for Bland, but you're dead-to-right - we got trouble here; trouble right here on Stage 32.

I found having a WGA Agent, adaptations and attaching directors to my scripts helped me sell some. Also getting to know people in the business.

Dan - absolutely correct. It all boils down connecting one's self with others. A rare skillset in these days of hiding somewhere in the dark recesses of this Ethernet fog.

Doug: I got the instruments, if you got the uniforms - we can work our way through Iowa by the end of August!

Sorry Bill; I've been in Iowa in August - I'm allergic to heat, humidity and corn - I ain't goin' back there.

Doug: I lived in Iowa for nine months - it was the longest 20 years of my life. Thank you, thank you very much.

But seriously....the people of Iowa who live and work in the farming communities and industries that service them are some of the most honest and hard-working people that I have ever met. I actually miss Iowa, just like I miss everywhere else that I have lived. I don't think any country in the world has as many different regions as the good ole U.S. of A. We probably have 10 or 12 very distinct and unique regions - maybe more - when you really think about it. Who can match that?

Bill C:

I spent a weekend in Winslow Arizona during an August heat wave reading Dante's Inferno. The motel AC went out and that was the longest 48 hours of my life. They did have continental breakfast though.

Phillip: I once saw a "Top Ten Things to Do in Winslow" list when I was in WInslow....the first said "get out fast", and the other nine were different ways to commit suicide. Thank you, thank you very much.

But seriously.....I love the people of Winslow, and that red sky region of the U.S. Those are probably my most favorite sunsets across the entire country. They swallow me whole, and I feel like I'm floating in them, and my mind gets this great sense of clarity. That could be from the peyote, too, though....I don't know, Phillip E. Castaneda.

I even have around 200 pounds of the red dirt from Sedona in my back yard. The sky doesn't turn red, but ever since I got it....the little girl from The Ring started appearing whenever the moon is full. At least she scares off the coyotes and big cats, but she's almost eaten all of the pomegranates. I might be in trouble soon....there are only four left on the tree.

Yeah Bill, you're right. Those corn fed folk are some of the hardest working & honest people around - they're terribly unsuited to be politicians. My best view of Iowa was in my rear view mirror.

Hey Uncle Phil - did you notice a girl in a flat bed Ford slow down to check you out?

Doug:

I did and actually jumped in the back and stayed at her mother's fleabag motel. Paid my bill with sweat equity, heh, heh.

She didn't happen to be a petite, cute Navajo girl named Sparrow that used to be a stock rider on the Rodeo circuit did she? Those were fun times.