Idea VS Spec Script

[fatzky]

This weekend I will have the chance to pitch a few ideas to a pretty well known Hollywood producer. I guess what I'm trying to say is ,wouldn't be much easier to write a script that someone is interested in, than banging away for months and months only to find out the idea you had for the screenplay pretty much sucks? I'm a novice so please go easy on me. For some reason I think this would make sense.

[Strange Mind]

you can't tell who might be interested in what. your idea might sound wonderful to the producer -- and then 4 months later he could change his mind. or he got another script with a similar idea and went with that. or maybe he didn't like your execution.

the months of banging away, is an important process. there's no way around it. and most reputable producers want to see good, previous writing before you pitch.

however, if this producer likes what you have to say, and wants to see your work then i guess you can work with them. can't tell you how involved they want to be in the process. and don't know how good a writer you are, so i can't comment on that, either.

just curious, how did you get this pitch meeting?

[RatWriter]

Let's say I'm a producer with an idea. So, do I give you a synopsis and offer you a bunch of my money to write a screenplay for a particular actor? Hmmm, I think I'd like to read some of your work before I sign on the dotted line.

Let's say I'm a producer and you give me a synopsis of an idea you have. So, do I you offer you a bunch of my money to write a screenplay for a particular actor? Hmmm, I think I'd like to read some of your work before I sign on the dotted line.

It's my understanding most produced screenplays are pitched; or should I say, pitched by or for established screenplay writers. Sure you're better off getting a thumbs up, and a check, on a story before you dive in, but dues have to be paid first.

Conclusion: Until you establish yourself as a know commodity and can sell unwritten scripts (pitches), you need to write screenplays you believe are desirable.

[RyRy]

Well put, Rat.

[fatzky]

Thanks for responding,Strange all it takes is a little $$
and a polite E-Mail. That's what I don't understand when some
people on this board bellyache about not getting anywhere,
for god sakes I live probably 2500 miles from L.A. and have gotten a actor and actress interested in some of my ideas for a screenplay that would suit them. @HIT i cant wait to move to Hollywood and pound the pavement and make more
contacts.I wish everyone on this board the very best and some of you are very talented writers for which i envy. So as a novice writer who's only training is reading two screenwriting books my journey is just beginning.

[Goreomedy]

All it takes is a polite email and a little $$? Can you ellaborate?

I once sent Dennis Hopper a very polite email, and attached a Paypal bribe for his time. He never replied, yet the cash mysteriously disappeared.

Fatzky, got any home remedies for bellyache?

[wcmartell]

Does this producer think you're pitching scripts or pitching ideas?

Most of the time when I pitch a producer who hasn't bought one of my scripts in the past, I'm pitching completed screenplays. If the producer likes the pitch, the next thing he wants to do is read the script. It's nice to be able to messenger it to him the next day - while he still remembers who the hell I am.

I pitch ideas when producers who know me call me in to come up with some project for them. Basically they are hiring me to write a script, and I'm going to pitch ideas until they find one they like. There's an unspoken agreement when I come in that they'll pay my rate (contracts usually come later - by the time our lawyers are done fighting, I'm often done writing!) and that I already have the job... we just aren't sure what that job is.

- Bill

PS to Gore: I was supposed to write a Dennis Hopper movie a while back, but things didn't go as planned. The director, line producer, distrib, and co-producer all independently picked my writing sample as the best submitted. They all liked my take on their idea best of all they heard... but the producer had instant chemistry with another writer (with a not-so-good sample) and hireds him instead. The director and line producer walked after reading the guys script... but the producer replaced them and made the film. Hasn't been released yet. Dennis got paid pretty well, so I have no idea why he pocketed your cash...

[Muckraker]

Regardless of outcome, sounds to me like you should go forward with the meeting. Any contact is a good contact, in my eyes. Even if nothing comes of it, when you DO have a script, it'll be much easier to get it read when you can say "Remember me?"

BTW, Sherry Lansing sure kept the big box of candy I sent her, but my script was returned along with a nasty letter from her lawyers. :)

[fatzky]

Thank you for the response, Goreomedy- $$= a few pops at the local bar and maybe a bite to eat. MR.Martell- I will
be pitching just ideas as to get some feedback. If I get some positive feedback from a idea then that will be the screenplay I will write. MR.Martell I have to say I love your writing style, man does it ever flow beautifully and so vivid.I hope someday to have just a little bit of your talent.

[Bill Marquardt]

My suggestion would be to at least have a finished screenplay available, even if not one of the ideas you are pitching, as a writing sample.

[Goreomedy]

Bill, it was in jest.

I actually have respect for Hopper, even though I just saw his directoral trip-up "The Chasers" on late night cable. But now and then, he'll do something that, while flawed, retains his Easy Rider quirkiness. The Hot Spot, for example.

What film is this for which you were overlooked? Might it be The Knockaround Guys? I'd appreciate the heads up, so that it can be avoided once it graces theatres.

[wcmartell]

Gore,

It was a silly teen horror flick (actually on a college campus). I had a totally cool idea that would be the ULTIMATE reality game show (you lose your life) and the contestants that were bright enough to stay alive had to find out who the quizmaster-killer was before their friends got snuffed. They ended up with a FRIDAY THE 13th-type thing where kids get nekkid then get dead for no real reason.

- Bill

[ksk2]

Grrrrrrrrr..... That would have been hilarious in its original form, WCM.

Sigh. So much for High Concept.

I'm just gonna have to write a schlock script involving demon/zombie-babies protecting ancient Central American Gold in a zigurat from escaped convicts, starring Tracy Lords.

No, seriously.

I mean it.

Just give me the address of the right Direct to Video producer.

I'll give you 15% of whatever I get.

Plus I'll write you in as a "hero".

It'll sell like gangbusters, and then we can hawk it to the Japanese to get it on "Toonami".

Judy Tenuta voice: "It can Happen!"

[Goreomedy]

Bill, interesting. It sounds very much like a video game currently in development, called Illbleed. Maybe they got a hold of your treatment?

Contestants from a high school have to spend a single night in a Disneyland type park with a horror theme. Those remaining come dawn split a cool million.

The interesting slant with the game, is instead of having to worry about a health meter to determine when you die, you also have to control your heart rate and avoid, literally, being scared to death.

You gotta respect a video game with the tag line "You'll SHlT in fear!".