My Script's Ready. Now What?

by Craig Kellem

MY SCRIPT'S READY. NOW WHAT?

By Craig Kellem

Finishing a script can be both a thrilling and terrifying time. After all those months of being on the mission, brainstorming, obsessing, getting blocked, breaking through, endless hours--the party's over. Now the fun begins. It's end-game time.

At this point, many up and coming writers believe with all their hearts that if they were ONLY able to find the right agent or producer they'd be set. Hollywood would discover what you already know. You've got a winner!

The last thing you want is to find out that there's more work to be done. In my experience --there usually is. And it's CRITICAL WORK!

So there's one more thing to do BEFORE YOU SHOP IT. Find out what you've really got. Hire a pro. Honest professional feedback without risk is essential.

Why?

Better that YOU learn there's a needed rewrite/polish than to find out via a rejection. Or worse, rejectionS (and wasted contacts).

Remember--agents and producers are important only AFTER the material is READY.

I understand, it's hard to postpone the momentum of the hunt. You're pumped. Besides, your friends told you the script was great.

Well, in all honesty, opinions from friends are okay, but the truth is that few non-professionals really know how to evaluate and materially improve a script. They think they do, but they don't.

Friends will usually end up telling you what you want to hear. Or worse, give broad sweeping comments with no palpable solutions (" I loved this. I hated that. Why? I don't know, just cause" type "feedback").

A pro's job is to read the material with an eye on technique, attention to structure, mood, tone, character, plot development, believability and cinematic resonance, to name but a few of the components under exam. Knowledgeable pro's try to take their x-ray read and give solid, concrete insight as to why something does and doesn't work and technical ways to fix problems, where to start honing each scene, moment, page.

Slow down. Life will not pass you by. "It will be there when you get there."

Here's my top ten list for why you should consider working with a pro:

1. Risk free feedback.
2. A fresh objective eye.
3. Support.
4. Knowledge of the market place.
5. Deep interactive notes.
6. Attention to detail.
7. Someone to bounce things off.
8. Majority of friends haven't a clue.
9. You'll go nuts talking to yourself.
10. It's tough out there.

I recommend you find someone who offers, (besides written notes), a frank open-ended discussion on the phone. Verbal notes are paramount AND the predominant method that's used in the industry. It allows you to hash out what you did/did not intend in the writing, how you've been conceiving of the project, and a dynamic forum to brainstorm what may or not be the best strategy in revising.

Such conversation provides an arena to banter and toss around ideas, possible changes and suggestions that are not mandated but provoke constructive, "creative negotiation." You might need to be convinced that suggestion "A" (which may be absolutely critical in the consultant's mind) is the right way to go. She/he makes her/his best argument. You may defend what you already have or suggest an alternative. Or you may tell him/her about an old draft where you did "X" and want to know if that might work instead. You kick it around. Etc, etc. You interact and, when it's over, I assure you that you've benefited greatly from a healthy and productive creative exploration that can only improve your script.

Some may think, "c'mon. If my script isn't perfect, surely the industry bigwigs will see the potential. Whatever's wrong can be fixed in the rewrite AFTER the big sale."

Wrong!

The notion that if your material is "almost" there, surely smart professionals will recognize the potential just doesn't happen. Material must be HOT and READY or you're wasting your time!

Who wants to buy a new Mercedes with a dent? You pay full price when the car is a beaut, and not before. Same thing applies to material for sale.

Look at it this way. "Success is when you trade in one set of problems for a better set of problems." You're a total success for finishing your script. But your new problem is to make sure that it's all it can be. In my book, this is a problem of abundance. Thus, "a better problem."

Now, let's imagine you've taken the advice.

Hard as it was, you swam against a mighty tide--the need for instant gratification. You've gone to the trouble (and expense) of hiring a good script consultant who (hopefully) made excellent suggestions for improvements and mistakes you didn't see. The script is materially improved and you've silently thanked God that you took this step before foolishly distributing it to everyone in the 90210 area code and beyond. And what was funny about the consultation experience was that many of the notes that you received, you ALREADY KNEW or suspected in your heart. You were thankful that the places you fudged and/or hurried in the writing/planning were discovered. You've learned that ALL SCRIPT FLAWS ARE REALIZED one way or the other, always to the writers ultimate detriment. You've awakened to the fact that you're now playing in the big leagues where they don't mark on the curve.

"Ok, ok, enough" you say. "I got it! Shut up already. My script is now hot to trot. I've past the litmus test. What do I do now? And please don't tell me to write a query letter."

Write a query letter.

But I've been told:

*No one reads query letters.

*Query letters are for losers.

*Companies don't read query letters because they don't read unsolicited material.

All of the above can be true.

But material and writers are still discovered via query letters. Often!

Listen up--people read their mail. Try as they might to ignore a communication, they always peek and if it catches their interest, they'll react. After all, even though they don't act like it, their business depends upon finding material with potential...and they are also human. Even people in Hollywood can fall in love. A smashing communication is something that few can ignore. But the smashing query is the exception to the rule.

You need to become that exception!

So it's your job to hit a home run. . . in one page. Where to start?

Describe your project in such a way that the reader is seduced and captivated and now wants to go to the next step and read your script. Avoid generalizations. Don't be coy-- be specific. Give them a real sense of the CENTER of your idea.

The movie BIG was about a kid who makes a wish to be big. It happens and now he's a kid in an adult body, free and with adult privileges. Pretty clear, now elaborate a bit. Weave in some juicy illustrations. E.T. is about an extraterrestrial who lands on Earth, drifts away from his spaceship and is found by kids who hide him. The gov is after his butt. Pretty clear. Now elaborate.

These letters are meant to hook them, but good. You need to knock their socks off. Strut your stuff. Your communication needs to be right on target just like a good COMMERCIAL or an effective movie TRAILER.

Criteria: What actually happens? What are a couple of the more tantalizing twist and turns? Any good surprises? What's the spark that makes it so special? And, be sure to leave them curious and wanting.

Describe it the way you would if it were playing at a theater down the street and you were trying to get an apathetic friend to come see it with you. What would you say about the movie that would make your friend change his/her mind?

Now, my advice is to send your query letter EVERYWHERE. Producers, agents, managers, entertainment attorneys, whomever. Blitz it. And bask in the security that when you receive some inevitable bites, YOU HAVE THE MATERIAL TO BACK IT UP. This is a strong position to be in. You're now thriving in the preparation stages of "making it."

Here are a couple of samples of texts from these "pitches" (one long, one a bit shorter. They may give you a sense of how they are approached by others.

"THE ICE STORM is set in November 1973. It is a time when the US remains in limbo and when couples like Ben and Elena Wood are feeling the destabilizing winds of change from the 60s blowing through their lives and their wealthy suburb. Worried about his chances of promotion, which are receding faster than his hairline, Ben has difficulty in reaching out to Elena for comfort. She herself is clinging onto the last vestiges of the 'American Housewife' and trying her hand at every popular self-help fad that passes her way in an effort to understand the games people play.

Ben is trying to bed his mistress, next-door neighbor Janey Carver. Elena is reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull and losing patience with her husband's clumsy lies. All the while, their daughter Wendy is finding new games to play with the boy next door and his little brother. In the meantime, her own brother chooses to escape the city to pursue an alluring rich girl from his prep school.

Night falls and the family set sail on their separate odysseys. An ice storm hits, the worst in 30 years. By the time it has blown over, a family will stand face to face with one another for the very first time."

"MIDNIGHT RUN--Jack Walsh accepts one last job before he gets
out of the business, and his assignment is to find 'the Duke' an accountant who has embezzled $15million from the Mob and given it to charity, and bring him from New York to Los Angeles. What sounds like an easy job turns into five days of hell as the pair come into conflict with the Mob, the FBI and a rival bounty hunter - not to mention each other."

Another thing you can do is "customize" some of your letters. Write to a director and/or a star whom you'd like to see participate in your movie. If they are up and coming, that makes it even better (no one's sending them much material ...yet). Make it like a fan letter. Offer a convincing creative argument as to why your script is right for THEM. Draw analogies with work they've done. Often these artists have offices on the various "lots." You may be able to find their studio addresses through the various guilds (DGA: Directors Guild of America; SAG: the Screen Actors Guild; WGA: Writer's Guild of America). Consider the whole effort like good detective work. Pursue the hell out of it!

By the way, don't pitch two or more projects in a query. Producers and agents want the writer to be obsessed with one project and, when more are offered, they can get cynical about a possible preoccupation with marketing. Also, if you're pitching a TV series idea here's what to send beyond a simple cover letter:

1. A page or 2 describing the format/concept itself (in a way like a long query).

2. A page or 2 delineating the main characters.

3. A page or 2 with 4 or 5 TV Guide type blurbs/thumbnails of proposed episodes.

4. A page or so describing the proposed pilot episode which should be either

a. A typical episode of the proposed series, OR:

b. The very first episode setting up the series (ie: if it were Gilligan's Island, it would be when the boat sinks and they find land. Conflict between characters begins etc).

Here's another idea to support your script: Hire someone to create "COVERAGE" for you. "Coverage" is an industry staple, a document whose major function is to describe your project and offer a short review. Agents and producers are used to coverage since it's impossible for them to read the inevitable slew of incoming material themselves. They generally rely on people to read it for them and provide a report, a/k/a "coverage." It also provides a grid that evaluates your mastery of things like plot, dialogue, character, etc. You can check out the following for an example of real coverage (http://www.hollywoodscript.com/Merchant.html).

Though coverage from a hungry writer may be suspect, if it's accompanied by a note explaining that its been written by a legitimate practitioner (to whom you sent the script) and this is what you got back, it may have impact. You might tap into their Pavlovian response to a familiar and comfortable format. What the heck, it's worth a shot.

There are lots of other ways to get read. Sometimes a writer knows someone who knows someone. Who do you know? Rack your brains. Sometimes the writer takes a course or a seminar and the teacher is "connected." Getting this instructor to read your script is the first step. Or, call the various agencies (and studios) and try to get the names of the newer agents/recently promoted young Turks--people starting out who may be "hungry" for new blood. Schmooze with receptionists for a name. Scan the "trades" (ie: Daily variety, The Hollywood Reporter) for announcements of these kinds of promotions.

There are also CONTESTS one can enter. Hollywood is always impressed with contest recognition. Check out various screenwriting websites concerning these contests. Pick up some writing magazines as well for this info.

In these same magazines there are often articles where Hollywood pros are interviewed. You can find out what's on their mind. Then you can write to them personally and refer to what they said in the article. Get back issues of these magazines as well. Make contact.

PITCH sessions (advertised everywhere) can also be useful. These opportunities to pitch your project in front of industry honchos are proliferating. You don't have to be a great salesperson, you just need to concisely (and passionately) describe your project and above all have the material to back it up.

Selling a script is a magical experience but the route to success can be unpredictable, mercurial, often maddening and it usually doesn't happen on your timetable. Thus, in this effort, attitude is paramount. Writers are often made or broken in how they handle this effort!

If your expectations are too high and your timetable is too ambitious, you're probably going to derail yourself

You need to chill out and understand the nature of the beast. It takes time, patience and faith. You need to spend a percentage of your time pushing the material and the majority of the time working on your NEXT SCRIPT. Taking all that wanting and energy and projecting it into the next project is a lot healthier than agonizing over the inevitable frustration of wanting and waiting. If you cheerfully get in the groove of sending out the next twenty letters, entering that next contest, writing the custom letter to the up and coming series star (who you're sure is about to make the big crossover into films) it will give you a healthy routine to follow. Under these conditions, time is on your side. You're dug in for the long haul, the battle will be on your terms. The next right move is the name of the game.

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