How to sell script
3 Best Ways To Sell A Screenplay by Peter Russell
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what can you tell screenwriters about
selling their screenplay
that it's hard that to do to sell your
screenplay
today the the easiest way to do it is to
well there's three ways one is to make a
short from your movie shorts are sort of
becoming the most powerful calling card
to get financing to get seen and they're
almost free if you can make a short and
I have a how movies work I have a class
on how to make a short and there's a lot
of rhythms in a short movie that you
don't have anywhere else you got to be
able to make a short from your script
from your feature script to do it but if
you can if you can do a 10-minute short
of your script you can put it up on a
website like Thunder shorts there's
there's several of them and this is
where sales agents today go I was on a
panel with sales agents the other day
all they do now - they don't even go to
film Feltham or they just go onto these
websites for shorts and they troll them
and they look for really great short
movies that often come from
feature-length scripts and that's how
they often buy a story so that's one
great way to sell your script make a
short from it if you can't make a short
story from it chances are your script
itself isn't going to be very good
that's one way the other way is just to
work this circuit which is to send this
to the agents to send this to and don't
worry anybody's going to steal your idea
that's a beginners worry as well
nobody's going to steal your idea
chances are very unlikely because ideas
are a dime a dozen it is your execution
of them that makes the story valuable
not the fact you've come up with this
amazing high concept it's generally
that's that's not the important part of
your story it's how the story plays out
is executed so you send them to you send
you send your scripts to agents you send
your scripts to produce you to send your
script to the studios you do it that way
getting an agent it's it's really
important
look there were more features made last
year than ever there were 600 features
made last year that's more than has ever
been made more than everyone released in
Hollywood so it's a myth that the
feature world is dying but it is
increasingly difficult to get a
independent type movie like a drama or a
small movie financed by the studios or
even by the independence they buy them
at Sundance or now they buy them from
websites so you have to work around the
fact that the traditional ways in which
independents were bought you know it
doesn't happen that much anymore
but you still need to send them out you
still need to email your script you need
still need to get it patented with the
library Congress or through the writers
guild and just send it out send it the
more you send it out the better chances
you are someone's going to see it the
last way to do it is to interest a star
especially if you're making a smaller
movie a movie a lot of the people that
probably are coming to these conferences
want to make a personal movie a cool
movie about real life a drama
stars get these made you know I I was
involved in the development of a book
that was um was never going to make a
movie until Brad Pitt it was a very
unusual story and it wasn't even very
good but it had a great premise when
Brad Pitt got interested in it because
he was sent this story then for the next
three years he just saw it through
several directors a couple of produced
funds Scott Rudin cooked it and they
made a fantastic movie of it so getting
a star interested in your your quirky
story is a great way do you and how do
you do that you just send it to the to
the stars agent go to IMDB Pro you'll
see a general email for most of these
production companies it's a myth by the
way that Hollywood doesn't read stuff
that they get over the transom and knots
like it's a myth because you know who
gets that script when at the company
this board in turn chained to their desk
for nine hours a day and wanting nothing
more than to get away from that day
by finding the next school project
chances are if you send that script and
even if they go way to never read them
well we just turn them right around it's
our it's litigation we can't read them
I'm telling you because I had a lot of
those people at UC extension than they
do read those scripts so and what do you
have to lose by sending them into those
production companies nothing so what
they say they turn them around a lot of
times they read them anyway that's
that's just the truth
you
