Screenwriting : Great start to my morning! by Anthony Cawood

Woo Hoo. Great news, Anthony

Great stuff, Anthony! And certainly well deserved :)

Hot Diggity Dawg! Congrats, Anthony! Way to go!

Congratualtions!

Sweet. Double congrats.

Very sweet! Congrats, AC!

Congrats man.

Thank you all!

Wow congrats! Happy Friday!

Congrats on the option agreement ! By the way, how does one look like ? Are there certain mentions that should be on it and others one definitely wants to avoid at all cost ?

OUTSTANDING

@Arnaud... in my experience they are all different but the things that are important in my opinion are: Option length (6 month, 2 yrs etc), Upfront payment (if any), Backend Payment (if any), Payment when it goes into production (if any), what rights you are granting - so is it worldwide, USA only etc, what Credit you will receive on the film and IMDb etc, how many re-writes you're prepared to do, and personally on the shorts I try and retain rights to sequel, remakes, TV, animated and expansion from a short to a feature.

These points are really interesting. So much actually that I just had a Déja Vu.. How crazy, right ? :))

(I should say Déja Lu, actually ;-))

Anthony, let me guess...the European € 90.000.000,00 Jackpot? Already have my ticket for that. :))

So, just to ellaborate on your answer... I guess a screenwriter would want the option time to be as short as possible. Would you agree ? ? There's just so many stories about scripts having been droped after a long option time, and it feels like most of the time, the project gets stalled and the screenwriter bitter. So much so, that it seems quite counter-productive to me to let your scripts being optioned in the end. Am I totally off ? Would you advice any newcomer to grab any chance they have to get their script optioned or would say "wait for the right offer to actually make the movie happen and sit on your own script" ? Is it a game of grab any money or appreciation you can and fuel your screenwriting muse with those success bites along the way ? Or are there out there screenwriters who just hold on on their script betting on the real thing to happen ?

Don't accept just ANY option offer... there are companies out there that will offer you a zero-dollar option for eighteen months and are extremely unlikely to actually make your movie. Vet the company carefully, talk to the principals, and run it all through a lawyer.

@Arnaud... I guess it depends really, you have to give the film maker long enough to try and pull the project together, I'd suggest between 6-12 months with option to negotiate an extension. My purely personal opinion, and this applies to my shorts, is that as long as the film maker seems genuine and has a passion for the project then I'll look to try and do some form of deal. There's no significant money in short scripts but I always ask 'is there a budget for purchasing the script?' and go from there, again each is a different deal. Not sure what the 'rigtht offer' or 'real thing' would look like and you could end up waiting forever and not getting your script made. All just imho ;-)

Thanks Kerry and thanks again Anthony. Being cautious with whom you marry makes sense, even if you know the wedding contract looks like a lease. I'm not all that sold on the concept of optioning. I recently had a guy asking me to act as a producer on my project. So I waited for him to show how much motivation he had in going out and knock on doors. Well, I'm glad I didn't option anything to him, 'cause there was not much knocking I could hear. If someone is as motivated as (s)he says (s)he is, then it should be a boost to know that the project is still available for other parties. Or is it not?

By the way Anthony, thanks so much for putting your series of articles on one page ! Do you think it would be possible to organize them with the first article on top of the page and the last at the end ? Would make the whole thing flow. Apart from that, I really can't thank you enough, I'm very happy you made your thought process available to other newbies!

Indeed, Arnaud, though options are still usually the way it's done, so don't assume every option is a bad deal. I've had success optioning for very little money upfront then having it pay off later. There is, alas, no simple formula for deciding which deals to take and which to accept. You just have to make a decision and hope it's the right one. Like so much in life. :)

@Arnaud - what Kerry said! Regarding the articles... unfortunately I don't control the SimplyScripts site but you can find direct links to articles on my site and you can check them out from there... www.anthonycawood.co.uk/articles

Options are usually great for the one offering the Option - not the writer. It holds up work on projects that are not funded properly - period. That said there are exceptions such as not caring about the money and wanting to take a chance on someone actually makings the film. Getting that attention can be uplifting, but personally I think it's a mistake in terms of any business. If you're just starting out - well, maybe. Depending on how great or not great the script is. A famous writer told me "Great opportunities come with large paychecks." The reason I say this is that the FIRST job of a producer is to raise money to actually be able to produce the work. Poor producers usually have poor networks and no real investment backing which means they have not done that legwork. They rather hold up someone script for a year or longer, while they seek someone else to fund it - and, this is not necessarily a bad way to work for some projects such as hard to sell, off the main stream kind of script that has little chance of being picked up - unless you are a famous writer or have a famous actor involved. No money means they are not producers as far as I'm concerned - they're speculators trying to get people to work for nothing so they can pitch and use that script while the writer eats beans. However, someone who says they want to find an name actor or director and needs to know their work will not go out the window either is not always a bad thing. They want to know their work is secure so if they find someone, they at least have a shot at producing the film. 2- 3 months would be max to make an exclusive option - and renew again giving them first chance with a specific deal in place - such as after 3 months you get $______ ... to renew for another 3 months. etc. But I would never give them an exclusive contract for a year or two without serious money paid, unless all you want is to see your script done and you don't care about the money. For actors, writers, cartoonists, musicians there are a million true stories of work ending up shelved due to bad options, and people who just want to have control of work for ridiculous lengths of time, without really placing any burden on their shoulders. Any deal, despite what phase in your career you are in, has to be a Win/Win with equal balances of power to make it something real. Anything less, you're being taken advantage of, holding up a script that might be great and found by a serious, real producer with networking and money.

Nice, Anthony!

Tx Becca

Way to go Anthony!

@Fiona - really glad they were useful. @Tom - many thanks