Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

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  • #16
    Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

    Originally posted by Bono View Post
    I actually clicked on the interview and he said he read the top 10 scripts in like 7 contests... so he's talking out of both sides of his mouth FYI because he's pro contest more than other mangers are.

    Nicholls
    Script Pipeline
    Stage32
    Austin
    BlueCat
    Launch Pad (Tracking Board)
    Page

    Just saying, like most people, he doesn't even know what he wants.

    And I don't even know what Script Pipeline is...
    the three i've heard mention consistently in all interviews... Nicholl, Austin, and The Black List. few have signed a contest top 10 in those two contests. many have never signed anyone from any of these three. but they look, they watch, the read.

    i mean, think about it, each year there is ONE winner-- that's TWO writers. top 10? so what, you got TWENTY writers and how many managers in the industry?

    Tracking Board's Launch Pad and TrackingB have followings, too.

    it's primarily a referral business. but, companies like Circle of Confusion signed the Wachowskis off a query, so they always take queries. it's smart for them.

    and probably the biggest problem is that sometimes the winning script or even the top ten are not commercial enough for someone to sell. no one said it was easy.

    and no one wants a $5 million movie. no one makes money that way. a VP of Acquisitions said to me once-- it takes the same amount of time to write a $40 million film as it does a $5 million film, why wouldn't you write the $40 million spec?

    impossible?

    no.

    probable?

    no.

    but you can't win if you don't play.
    "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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    • #17
      Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

      Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
      but multiple QF and SF in a bunch of no-name film festival or scammy-type contests feels amateurish to me. not going to move the needle with a rep and just more evidence that the writer isn't ready yet anyway
      This is the truth under the surface of the original quote. There are too many contests now and too many really bad scripts make the semis and quarters. I read for one of the better ones a couple of years ago. We couldn't find 10 scripts good enough for the finals. The winner was a script no one would make from a writer no one would hire. Reps know this. Nothing but the Nicholl, semis and finalists, is significant, unless you include a win at Austin.

      Contests quarterfinals or semis for the 100 or so screenwriting contests out there that mean nothing? A red flag for reps. Why? Because the really do mean nothing. Used to. Not any more.

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      • #18
        Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

        Originally posted by Bono View Post
        Yes, this. That is what my other thread was about "formerly repped..." Basically how do I sell myself as "new" and do/I ever mention old success or that I've done this before or wait until years from now...

        This is advice I kept giving friends and foes and lovers and ex lovers and pandas and girls and boys on this board. That less is more. 1 script at a time. Some things help, but most of the town does not care about the black list scores or Nicholl placement. Or that you wrote 4 other scripts... sometimes it can hurt you. So pretend you're new and they are discovering you. It almost makes sense.

        They want a virgin writer to be sacrificed to the Hollywood writing gods, not a day time hooker.
        Yup... pretty much.

        I think the barometer is this: ARE YOU HOT RIGHT NOW? Cool, mention it. Or... you know... they'll hunt you down and you won't need to mention it.

        No...? Probably best to not mention that other companies/producers/agents broke up with you. Just tell me what THIS script is.
        Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

          Originally posted by EdFury View Post
          This is the truth under the surface of the original quote. There are too many contests now and too many really bad scripts make the semis and quarters. I read for one of the better ones a couple of years ago. We couldn't find 10 scripts good enough for the finals. The winner was a script no one would make from a writer no one would hire. Reps know this. Nothing but the Nicholl, semis and finalists, is significant, unless you include a win at Austin.

          Contests quarterfinals or semis for the 100 or so screenwriting contests out there that mean nothing? A red flag for reps. Why? Because the really do mean nothing. Used to. Not any more.
          Agreed.
          Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

            As someone who was briefly (thank God it was so brief) with JW, I can tell you he is a condescending prick. There's no magical formula. Some people break-in on their first script, some their 40th. **** anyone who hocks that metric/formula bullshit. There's so many variables in this industry you can't waste time trying to make sense of it. Keep in mind, this is the same guy (JW) who told me 7 years ago that there was no point in writing Pilots.

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            • #21
              Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

              Originally posted by CthulhuRises View Post
              As someone who was briefly (thank God it was so brief) with JW, I can tell you he is a condescending prick. There's no magical formula. Some people break-in on their first script, some their 40th. **** anyone who hocks that metric/formula bullshit. There's so many variables in this industry you can't waste time trying to make sense of it. Keep in mind, this is the same guy (JW) who told me 7 years ago that there was no point in writing Pilots.
              Interesting.

              I dig "real sh!t, bruh" posts like this.

              Agreed, this town is too goofy to try to make sense of it. You'll go fukkin insane if you try to.

              No point in writing pilots? HUH?? I can think of a few. 1) Sell it. 2) Staffing sample. 3) Generals.
              Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                Originally posted by CthulhuRises View Post
                As someone who was briefly (thank God it was so brief) with JW, I can tell you he is a condescending prick. There's no magical formula. Some people break-in on their first script, some their 40th. **** anyone who hocks that metric/formula bullshit. There's so many variables in this industry you can't waste time trying to make sense of it. Keep in mind, this is the same guy (JW) who told me 7 years ago that there was no point in writing Pilots.
                I know how he feels about 10 scripts and contests -- but what if i only have 9? Is that cool now? Please email JW and ask for us...

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                  Wow. I can't believe how many people here either don't understand what Jake meant, or are pretending they don't understand as an excuse to bash reps, bash contests, or both.

                  If you have been a Nichols quarter finalist 10 years in a row and never made the semis, you're simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

                  If you've made the top 10 in ANY major contest more than 3 times, you've most likely been contacted by multiple reps multiple times for a phone meeting and or in person meeting.

                  The fact that none of them signed you means there is something off-putting about you (and that's the nicest way I can say it).

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                    Originally posted by kintnerboy View Post
                    If you have been a Nichols quarter finalist 10 years in a row and never made the semis, you're simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
                    No offense. Gotta disagree with that.

                    Speaking for myself only, I don't think any of my scripts would place high (or at all) at Nicholl. None. Yet, how've I been repped at a bunch'a different places, sold ****, developed with fancy producers, if Nicholl placement is the barometer as to whether or not you're READY? How does a script that does zero at Nicholl land with a bunch'a tastemakers and land me an agent and job if that's true?

                    I believe it's ONLY about letting the town decide. That's the only REAL barometer IMO.

                    In fact, I'd say the opposite: 10 years in a row as a quarter finalist says to me that every year Nicholl judges thought you were pretty damn close to brilliance (so long as we're talking different scripts every year... that'd be a pretty high success rate with readers IMO). However, I wouldn't mention that in an email to a rep as a selling point. I'd just drop the script and split.
                    Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                      Originally posted by kintnerboy View Post
                      Wow. I can't believe how many people here either don't understand what Jake meant, or are pretending they don't understand as an excuse to bash reps, bash contests, or both.

                      If you have been a Nichols quarter finalist 10 years in a row and never made the semis, you're simply NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

                      If you've made the top 10 in ANY major contest more than 3 times, you've most likely been contacted by multiple reps multiple times for a phone meeting and or in person meeting.

                      The fact that none of them signed you means there is something off-putting about you (and that's the nicest way I can say it).
                      Just let me know if i'm one of the people you're talking about. i want to put it in my day planner.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                        The thing is, if someone asks "What else ya got?" then pitch them ONE completed script. Two max.

                        Then talk about the list of ideas you have that are so great that it's gonna blow the sample that they love outta the f-ing water!

                        What you don't want to do is start listing off script after script after script that didn't go anywhere. Fair or not, if a writer pitched me ten "IT WAS A SEMIFINALIST!" scripts, it would make me question whether this writer is truly growing and improving, or if they've reached that "good in competition" level of performance and plateaued. If the writer seems to believe that their script from eight years ago is as good as (or better than) their script from yesterday, then I would seriously doubt that writer's career trajectory.

                        Hell, I have a Nicholl semifinalist script that my reps don't even know exists. I never mention it. Because that script doesn't represent me anymore.

                        It's all in how you present yourself. There's no reason to lie and pretend that you haven't been struggling and learning for a decade at this craft. But keep the conversation looking forward instead of backwards.

                        People in this town want to believe that your best writing is still ahead of you. That's what they'll hire you for. Nobody wants a writer who has already peaked or stagnated.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                          Originally posted by CthulhuRises View Post
                          As someone who was briefly (thank God it was so brief) with JW, I can tell you he is a condescending prick. There's no magical formula. Some people break-in on their first script, some their 40th. **** anyone who hocks that metric/formula bullshit. There's so many variables in this industry you can't waste time trying to make sense of it. Keep in mind, this is the same guy (JW) who told me 7 years ago that there was no point in writing Pilots.
                          Yep, same boat. Only I was with him for two years. He didn't give two f*cks when we parted ways. At least bullsh!t me a little and tell me we gave it a shot.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                            But how can that be? He's a big manager? How did it not work out for the both of you perfectly? Did you not follow unwritten screenwriting rules????

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                              1) Agreed, keep it moving forward as a general rule. For clarity, I'm not saying placing 10 years in a row is something to mention to a rep (I wouldn't), just that it might be proof to yourself that you should say fukk it and jump in the water to learn how you'll do in the REAL world. I wouldn't wait around to WIN Nicholl before I sent a script to anyone real. Don't they get 7,000 scripts? That's probably more than Hollywood gets in a year.

                              2) Yeah that's pretty shitty to part ways like that. In all my parting ways stories no one has ever said "thanks... we tried." Instead... GHOSTED. Strange town.
                              Bruh, fukkin *smooches*! Feel me? Ha!

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Doing well in too many contests is a red flag for reps?

                                Originally posted by GucciGhostXXX View Post
                                No offense. Gotta disagree with that.

                                Speaking for myself only, I don't think any of my scripts would place high (or at all) at Nicholl. None. Yet, how've I been repped at a bunch'a different places, sold ****, developed with fancy producers, if Nicholl placement is the barometer as to whether or not you're READY? How does a script that does zero at Nicholl land with a bunch'a tastemakers and land me an agent and job if that's true?

                                Since you haven't entered and don't know for sure how your scripts would do, this is all speculation anyway.

                                But I would say the writer whose scripts NEVER place has a better chance than the one who quarters every year but never finals.

                                History is written by the outliers.

                                Keep in mind that the readers who judge these things will tell you that the overwhelming majority of scripts are TERRIBLE, and the fact that Nichol readers actually have to come up with 350 'finalists' out of that pool of terrible scripts must be a mission impossible.

                                But if you are one of those people who are good at writing scripts that readers respond to, and you can't make the jump from the top 350 to the top 50 in 10 years, you are like a career minor league baseball player.

                                Nothing wrong with that. It beats working in a hardware store, but you'll never be a pro.

                                For the record, I don't care about contests, and I've never entered the Nichol. My scripts would not do well there.

                                I was just putting Jake Wagner's comments into context. And he is bit of a dick, as I assume 90% of people in Hollywood are.

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