Screenwriting : Who has screenplays and has (basically) given up trying to get discovered? by Nate Covell

Nate, kudos but nothing new here...there's a whole movement called Lessenarios in the past decades where writers offer scripts to be read rather than produced. I have filmmaker blood. Spent too much my life time into it to just let it be. Met with director Tom DiCillo in Munich back in 2011, the guy who gave Brad Pitt his first chance in "Johnny Suede". His words still stick around - nothing sadder in the film world than an unproduced script forgotten in some drawer out there...

Hi Nate, what is DM? Its meaning..

DM = direct message. Sorry!

Nate, I agree with you that the system is broken. I gathered the courage to call (and paid for ImdbPro to get his contact) the management agent of Richard Gere but the guy said "Thank you for calling but we do not receive the unsolicited call." The reason I need Gere is my script is about Buddhism and he's the Buddhist actor. What do you think I should do next?

Actually before I asked you I already moved forward. Haha. I hired a detective....Yes, I'm fighting beside you.

Just to confirm; there's a $200 upload fee to add a pre-recorded reading of a screenplay to your database or, for $4.90 a page, you're willing to narrate a script and add it that way. However, the first hundred pre-recorded uploads go free with a discount code. Is that correct?

If you have a recording and use the discount code '100', you can upload your audio screenplay for free!

You have it all correct, CJ Walley!

Sorry, Nate Covell, the system isn't broken. It's purposely obtuse and difficult to manage - I'm not saying that's right or wrong, just that it's operating the way it's supposed to. Gatekeepers are there for one purpose: to say no.

Those who persevere, who get past the gatekeepers, who find ways to get noticed (sorry, another website/app for "exposure" won't work because you'll never get the right eyeballs on it), are the ones who prove to the industry that they have the endurance and patience to make it (not to mention the writing chops).

In this era, the best way to get noticed is to go make stuff. Write a killer script, gather a team of other hungry creatives, shoot it and put it out there. Film festivals, YT, etc. If it's truly great (not just because you think so, but others, too), it will get noticed. Eventually. Meanwhile, make more stuff.

Making it in this business is a marathon, not a sprint.

IMO

Thanks for the reply, John Ellis. IMO, any system that excludes because a great, but introverted writer, isn't also a salesperson or tech-savvy, etc. is at least a tad dysfunctional. I am just hoping to give some people a better shot!

Nate - I can see potential here. It will prevent a "reader" from skimming the script.

I must say the need to shill your own work continually is a turn-off at times. I personally prefer to direct my energy to creating things. But, with two novels out, I better get back up on the soapbox. And then there's them screenplays a-lurking in the file drawers... Sigh!

Thanks for the comments, guys and gals. There are other intangibles ... others being able to hear your produced audio screenplay and love it, the affirmation of up-votes on the mobile app, a medium for our screenplays where there was none before .... Anyway, just an idea .... not for everyone. :)

Great work will always get noticed. Keep writing, keep improving, keep pitching. Don't give up.

John Ellis, I was one of those dreaded 'gatekeepers' at one time. It was NOT my job to always say 'no'; it was my job to uncover that rare gem among the overburden which I could 'recommend' - that is to say 'yes'. I'm sure that you can't fathom just how much absolute junk is floating around. It's overwhelming and it makes finding a worthy script nearly impossible.

Well, a new writer sold a script yesterday, so I don't think anything is broken...

It's just that the level of difficulty is more than most people planned on. It's much easier to complain, than to improve your skills.

According to an old WGA survey of members - the average professional screenwriter wrote 9 screenplays before making a cent, yet there are people who think about quitting after 5 scripts. There are also people who fight against notes, or aren't spending any time on the business side, or aren't working to improve themselves. You need to know how high the bar is, and then get yourself in shape to jump over it.

Shit, you lost me at, this "isn't great". If you don't think so, why should I? I don't put out anything unless I think it is great, I mean really great, in my opinion at least. I have to start there or I dump the whole script.

John Ellis and William Martell Thanks for the replies, guys. All I want to do is make things better for the screenwriters, so I hope something good can come from a screenwriter finally being able to share an audio creation with others. I had mine done in audio and I am getting great feedback. Cheers!

WL Wright Lol, I was being humble. 'I' think they're great. Sorry, didn't realize that would throw someone!

Replace the word screenplay with sausage and you see how unrealistic this is. You cannot find a way to force people to buy your sausages unless they want to buy your sausages.

The problem isn’t being discovered. The problem is being unique enough to trigger a purchase. Believing that you must rely on someone to discover you put all the power in their hands.

Did you have a plan? Mine was to find a market segment under served by single location low budget screenplays. I then started raising my overall profile, I blog, I have some books, I launched a podcasts (that needs relaunching to be fair). I also host my scripts where I could direct people (Scriptrevolution.com). I took control of the situation.

From there I got a few sales. Not big. Remember Low Budget stuff. One of the producers has picked up a deal with a distributor who is guaranteeing a channel which apparently makes raising fund easier. So I have been asked for two more screenplay and a six part web series.

This has cost me pocket change. Libsyn hosting of a podcast $5 a month, Amazon for the books (free), this money pays for the podcast and website hosting. So I break even (or beer money profit) on my marketing efforts. Taking control of your own career takes a lot of effort. It is not for everyone.

To make things better for screenwriters the first thing to do is to be honest with them about the level of difficulty involved. Then to shift them from thinking that their problem is access to the real problem - which is that they still have things that they need to learn. They may think that they have written the greatest script in the world, their mom may think that they have written the greatest script in the world - but that doesn't matter. Out of the one million screenplays floating around town in any given year - is this the best one? If it isn't, how can they improve their skills? <br>

If you have that script that is the best of the million in circulation (even in the Top 100 - since that's about how many scripts sell every year) you don't have to worry about access.

Hey, Gary Floyd, thanks for the reply. Well, I adapted one of my screenplays into a novel and it won an award, so I will go with 'Not a lousy writer' :) What if I am just good at recognizing an unfair playing field? I am just trying to help. It's not for everyone. Good luck in all you do!

From what I've seen, a lot of writers who haven't broken in like to say the system is broken/rigged and a lot of writers who have broken in like to say the system is a robust meritocracy.

Often, it's actually the same person at different points in their career. Victim complex and survivorship bias in full effect.

My own experience, which is limited only to low budget indie stuff, is that it's almost complete chaos. Trying to make sense of it will only drive you to madness. Anyone that does claim to know the answers needs to be prepared to back it up with proof their strategy is working for them.

Something I know for sure is that the bar is as low as you want to set it. When a lot of people talk about breaking in being impossible, it's clear they really mean selling specs to big studios for six figures or being gilded into a high profile writers room with hardly any craft skills and a mediocre portfolio is impossible. Few are prepared to work right from the bottom and take the long hard road. I remember writers here scoffing at me getting short scripts optioned for free in 2014 and then complete silence when I moved onto feature assignments in 2018.

What's weird is how the elements that are genuinely broken/rigged exist mainly within the cottage industry targeting aspiring screenwriters. The number of writers who put all their chips into the very predatory low-rent casinos they've been warned about in the hope they strike it rich and then go onto claim the "industry" or "Hollywood" is unfair when their fantasy doesn't materialise is nothing short of insane.

CJ Walley Yes, I could not discern a pattern for success. I consumed voluminous material on the industry and spent thousands of dollars for years. But I am not telling people to give up, just offering a new tool to help them succeed ... that they can take or leave, of course.

My apologies Doug Nelson! You're absolutely right about readers really wanting to find that pearl in the pig sty. It was my poor shorthand. @CJ Walley (why the hell isn't the tagger working all of a sudden!?) put it more eloquently than I could.

Very eloquent CJ Walley. I look at writing like being an athlete. You have to hone your skills. You don't become a great athlete without working hard and practicing. There are no shortcuts.

Nah, the system ain't busted - it's working and doing what it's supposed to do. I recognize that may not sit well with the vast horde of whining dreamers - but it is what it is.

FB&BC

Hi Nate,

Nice teaser line. You sure know how to sell the dream.

And just to add, since you said your two scripts are "good, but not great." It's my experience that a writer has to aim for "great", since unknown writers - and all writers - are usually competing against the best of the best of the best. Some/most writers don't really understand that until they have experienced it. So I'd aim for becoming the best writer that I can be, and anyone who is realistically trying to break into or be in the business should be aiming for that, too.

But nice teaser line, though. Heh-heh.

It is very frustrating, for sure. And there are many days I feel quite hopeless. 'But I keep writing. And I suggest you do the same. I once heard 10 screenplays is the number to start with....

I liken this to entrepreneurship. Ideation is step one. Execution and Transformation is step two. Selling is step three.... which I personally believe is the most difficult. Ideas are a dime a dozen.

Thanks for the replies, guys and gals. Craig Parsons This company has already launched and people are listening to audio screenplays.

Hmmm. Here is an idea. Libsyn is $5 a month. Having your story appear on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other services is free. They already have a built in listenership in the millions. So I need a recording device (iPhone). I need audio editing software (Audacity is free and great).

This takes some time and effort. This is why most people will not do it. We all bitch that they only want existing IP. That is what a narrative podcast would be - IP. Plus it is easier to get a good deal when you can point to your download numbers from Libsyn and say “20,000 downloads and episode”.