Screenwriting : Write it or suggest it? by Shira Greenshpon

Hi, Shira Greenshpon. "Is it better to write a pitch document and apply for the development and support of a production company" To do that (get a series picked up by a producer, production company, etc. by just pitching a series), a writer usually needs to have a successful writing track record.

I suggest writing the series (a series bible and the pilot) first because if you pitch a series and the producer, exec, production company, etc. likes the pitch and wants to see the series bible or pilot, you won't have them, which will mean a missed opportunity.

Maurice Vaughan there goes the old equity card conundrum again, Maurice. In the UK the sigh of irony was usually exhaled by talent, with the sentence. “You can’t get an Equity Card without a job and you can’t get a job without an Equity Card.” Catch 22.

I always sigh when I’m told that I need a successful track record.It just excludes new talent. I would like to think that if I write a good pitch and that is followed by a good story bible and is further supported with a great spec script, that there is someone out there who will think that I ‘have something’, I have a voice that they want to hear from. Please let it be so.

If you want a tv career, follow the path of just about Everyone doing this for a living: they write solid samples, show employers and they get hired to be staff first, learning tv production, and more importantly- work with fellow peers and Network suits.

Here is a must read. This writer had to work retail and tutor after he "broke in." And there are thousands of tv writers with amazing track records currently unemployed.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tv-writer-the-office-selling-shirts-macy...

I am working on a series now and have followed what Maurice Vaughan has suggested.

When you said you have submitted suggestions and wait to see who sees the potential.. what does this mean? So you have an agent or a producer that has submitted to production companies or investors? I’m a little confused.

TV is very hard to get into. Anyone trying to get into the door of Tv and you haven’t wrote a feature script that’s picking up traction FIRST I say you’re really making things harder for yourself.

Oh, I wasn't saying you need a track record to sell a series, Geoff Hall. I was saying to sell a series by just pitching it (the pitch alone, without a series bible and pilot), a writer usually needs a successful track record (writing successful movies or shows).

What does "equity" stand for in movie industry, what does it mean for any writer?

I see this as a process of finding my way to the top of a forest of trees where I can get a good view.

Niksa equity in the film industry can be private finance for your film. Equity for an actor. Well in the UK, there’s a Union for actors which must be pretty similar to SAG-AFTRA in the States.

Maurice Vaughan phew, Maurice, I thought you were condemning me to creative oblivion!

Geoff, okay, you gave me an answer to first part of my question. In second part I asked what does equity means for a writer but somehow you mentioned actors, SAG-AFTRA and again you are under the impression that I live in the US? Sorry, but I don't. The point I was trying to make was; You can not use word equity in the same sentence with writers, screenplay, actors...etc. Why? That word has a meaning and purpose and if you do use it in the same sentence with actors or screenplay, that sentence becomes a garbage. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?

@Geoff I remember the “sigh of irony” about Equity. Millions of talented actors in UK denied birthright to apply for work qualified for cos to apply as a graduate impossible. Equity made rule you already had to be in their union to apply for work. I left top drama schools, Golds stage craft, public speaking & acting but when applying for a job they stopped my progress cos I wasn’t in union. I applied to join, they said “But you already have to be working in theatre.” My obvious answer was “But you won’t let me get a job.” Times have moved on, artists no longer at mercy of closed cronyism but I’ll never forget day I was the back end of a camel in some seedy pantomime just to get a “provisional” entry card. @Maurice I think same, produce whole script bible etc NOT cos I believe in prior track record but in this game artists need all the aces already up their sleeve.

I agree with you, Debbie ("in this game artists need all the aces already up their sleeve"). That's why I make pitch decks for my feature scripts and shows.

Niksa erm, no I have read your bio, I know you are from Croatia. I gave you the answers where I know Equity exists. I’ve never heard of it in the context of a writer. Where did you come across this notion?

There's a screenwriting practice called, sweat equity. Basically "spec labor" (free).

This dude made a funny explantation on various ways legit companies solicit writers.

https://youtu.be/limBZrFwxRQ

You definitely need a pilot script. It is the first thing they will ask for, if they like the pitch.