The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

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  • The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

    ...is that they aren't excellent.
    That's all. And then all the chatter is just rationalizing. Note: I did not say they suck. Or even that they are bad. Some are quite good. But good is not good enough.
    Your screenplay has to be excellent. It has to have a story that's compelling, so compelling that the reader waits to eat dinner or turn on Howard Stern or go in the other room and have sex. It has to have dialog that actors will fight each other to say. It has to have a few moments that make someone want to email someone else to say: I just read this scene that's so twisted or funny or dark or sexy or insane or brutal or magical.
    It has to ****ing announce itself the way Obama with his 2004 convention speech.
    I can tell you why each and every one of my original screenplays that got made got made. And I can tell you why the ones that didn't, didn't.
    Just flipping write. And send em out.
    People, friends of mine, will say 'it's harder now' 'more difficult, fewer buyers.' All true.
    But it was always hard. I remember the year we sold our first spec a stat came out that 90 scripts had sold out of 100,000 submitted. And that out of those 13 were made. If I had known those odds, maybe I wouldn't have started. Now everyone knows those odds. And I understand that it's daunting. if you can be happy doing anything else, do it.
    But please, if you do this, stop trying to look for the Magic Formula.
    There is none. There is only your natural curiosity, enthusiasm, intellect, vocabulary, people skills, sense of humor, and critical thinking ability.
    And then, most importantly is the discipline to shut the world out--the 'rules' guidelines, advice, harsh realities--to sit down and write every single day.
    Guess what: you can sell your first screenplay. You can use voiceover. You can use We See. You can do whatever the **** you want to. If you do it so well that it is undeniable.
    Anything less and it probably won't happen.

  • #2
    Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

    Brian:

    Church.

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    • #3
      Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

      This is a well timed thread with people talking about Bechtel tests and nepotism and hot genres.

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      • #4
        Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

        yet, every year the industry spends mega millions on projects that are NOT excellent.

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        • #5
          Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

          I agree with most of what you're saying -- but I think it's untrue to suggest that scripts are sold based on whether they're excellent or not.

          Scripts are sold because studios believe they can turn them into profitable films. Just because you have an excellent script doesn't mean the studio will think they can turn it into a profitable film. And plenty of (maybe even most?) profitable films these days don't actually have excellent scripts.

          That doesn't mean writing an excellent script won't take you far. Or that you should be chasing the market instead of trying to produce an excellent script. But let's not pretend like great writing and the scripts that are getting sold/made are somehow synonymous.

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          • #6
            Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

            Originally posted by nvlawren View Post
            I agree with most of what you're saying -- but I think it's untrue to suggest that scripts are sold based on whether they're excellent or not.

            Scripts are sold because studios believe they can turn them into profitable films. Just because you have an excellent script doesn't mean the studio will think they can turn it into a profitable film. And plenty of (maybe even most?) profitable films these days don't actually have excellent scripts.

            That doesn't mean writing an excellent script won't take you far. Or that you should be chasing the market instead of trying to produce an excellent script. But let's not pretend like great writing and the scripts that are getting sold/made are somehow synonymous.
            If a screenplay has the potential to become a profitable film, by definition, it is excellent. A screenwriter's goal should be to see their work on the screen. If their work is on the screen and it makes a large amount of money, they've done an excellent job.

            Way too many people focus on the art aspect of the business and forget the business aspect of the business.

            And of course I'm sure someone can provide anecdotal evidence of movies that were made with "bad" scripts, but come on...
            Ring-a-ding-ding, baby.

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            • #7
              Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

              Originally posted by nvlawren View Post
              Scripts are sold because studios believe they can turn them into profitable films.
              That is an element of excellent.

              If you are an "excellent basketball player" but can't score, you are not an excellent basketball player. You may be doing everything else *perfectly*.

              - Bill
              Free Script Tips:
              http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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              • #8
                Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                Originally posted by NoirDigits View Post
                If a screenplay has the potential to become a profitable film, by definition, it is excellent. A screenwriter's goal should be to see their work on the screen. If their work is on the screen and it makes a large amount of money, they've done an excellent job.

                Way too many people focus on the art aspect of the business and forget the business aspect of the business.

                And of course I'm sure someone can provide anecdotal evidence of movies that were made with "bad" scripts, but come on...
                Yes, some films are made from screenplays that no one would describe as excellent. But you can't game out how to do one of those. They happen by accident. Or because of time deadlines and open slots and all sorts of other things.

                If you love big popcorn movies, write them.
                If you love small art house movies, write them.
                Not for some romantic reason.
                But because the reader feels that passion. Somehow it translates.

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                • #9
                  Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                  Originally posted by NikeeGoddess View Post
                  yet, every year the industry spends mega millions on projects that are NOT excellent.
                  If I could strike one trait from humanity, it would be the belief that there is objective truth about art.

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                  • #10
                    Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                    Originally posted by Brian Koppelman View Post
                    Yes, some films are made from screenplays that no one would describe as excellent. But you can't game out how to do one of those. They happen by accident. Or because of time deadlines and open slots and all sorts of other things.

                    If you love big popcorn movies, write them.
                    If you love small art house movies, write them.
                    Not for some romantic reason.
                    But because the reader feels that passion. Somehow it translates.
                    I don't think they happen by accident. I think they come from the "calculate more" school.

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                    • #11
                      Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                      Originally posted by iggy View Post
                      I don't think they happen by accident. I think they come from the "calculate more" school.
                      Yeah, but not from the writers calculating more. From execs who buy underlying IP. And if you are a working writer competing for the next board game adaptation, then my premise is immaterial.
                      But those writers--the way they got noticed, almost all the time, is by doing what I am talking about.

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                      • #12
                        Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                        Here's a counter argument to the op's original post from Chris Lockhart.

                        It all comes down to having the “right script”. This goes against modern wisdom that preaches “write a great script.”

                        “Great” scripts do sell, but so do bad scripts. So, one could just as easily suggest “write a bad script.”

                        "Great" is a buzz word.

                        "How can I make it in Hollywood?"

                        "Write a great script."

                        Teachers and purveyors of HOW TO books use "great" every chance they get. What else can someone say? "Great" makes everyone look smart. Writers are writing great scripts, and Hollywood is selling/buying great scripts.

                        And, in such a tough, puzzling business, "great" allows the writer to actively strive for something specific (so he thinks). He enthusiastically tells himself, "All I have to do is write a great script and Hollywood's doors will open for me!"

                        But anyone who works in the business knows this is not entirely true.

                        I suggest writers write the “right” script.


                        Read the rest here.

                        http://twoadverbs.blogspot.com/searc...e+right+script

                        Not to suggest one point is right or wrong, but I'm slanting more towards this one. I just think great, or excellent, is one of the words that can be too easily thrown around, skewed, molested, whatever. It's like someone telling you your script is "just not cool" and then saying their rapping granny script is.
                        It's the eye of the Tiger, it's the thrill of the fight

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                        • #13
                          Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                          guys, don't stress on the word excellent.
                          maybe a better word choice would have been undeniable.

                          I'm not some script reader. Or exec. Or writing guru.
                          I am, like Lowell, a guy who has made his living writing, producing and directing movies (and some television) for 16 years.
                          You may not like all of them. Or any of them. But put that aside and understand that I am responding here to the glut of misinformation you are all being dealt.
                          And what I am trying to convey to you is: stop worrying about all the other bullshit.
                          Tell a compelling story in a compelling manner. Make it undeniable. And then send it out to the world.
                          That's the whole thing.

                          The rest is just colored bubbles.

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                          • #14
                            Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                            What percentage of excellent screenplays go unsold/unmade?

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                            • #15
                              Re: The problem with 99% of all unsold/unmade screenplays

                              Tons of them. But something really special can lead to other work.

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