Best spec agent

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  • #91
    Re: Best spec agent

    Originally posted by Craig Mazin View Post
    However, you can also sell a pitch, which is not a spec (no literary material), and then get paid money to write the screenplay. That's still considered an "original" for the purposes of the guild contract and all that goes along with it, but it's not a spec as we use the term.
    After you finish a screenplay off a pitch, the person paid you owns it? Or is it kind of like an option and they just own the rights for a certain time? I ask, because what if they don't like it after it's finished. Do the rights go back to writer, to do with it what they please? How's this work, exactly?

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    • #92
      Re: Best spec agent

      They own it, but after a certain period of inactivity (four or five years, I think), the writer can reacquire it by paying back everything they were paid.

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      • #93
        Re: Best spec agent

        Thanks, Jeff.

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        • #94
          Re: Best spec agent

          The blacklist education section "Go Into the Story" has also broken down the spec sales of 2012 in a very similar way over the past week. For those interested in doing some homework pre-podcast.

          Look forward to the podcast Craig. Thanks for all you and John both do, have done and will do. It. Is. Awesome.

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          • #95
            Re: Best spec agent

            I'll be interested to see how Craig and John define "sale," because for the most part, the sales reported at places like Go Into The Story and Tracking-Board are in fact options, and for far far less money than is suggested by the phrase "spec sale."

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            • #96
              Re: Best spec agent

              Originally posted by jcgary View Post
              I'll be interested to see how Craig and John define "sale," because for the most part, the sales reported at places like Go Into The Story and Tracking-Board are in fact options, and for far far less money than is suggested by the phrase "spec sale."

              I would really like this to be addressed as well. The boards and internet exaggerate script sales because a "million dollars" gets eyeballs on their sites. The reality is that most of these writers get a 10K option that never escalates to the big money payoff.

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              • #97
                Re: Best spec agent

                Originally posted by magnet360 View Post
                I would really like this to be addressed as well. The boards and internet exaggerate script sales because a "million dollars" gets eyeballs on their sites. The reality is that most of these writers get a 10K option that never escalates to the big money payoff.

                A sale is a sale, and an option is an option. No?

                Anyway, I'm 0-3 on Esola queries since Sept.

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                • #98
                  Re: Best spec agent

                  Originally posted by C.C.Baxter View Post
                  There's also a career path writing specs for modest budget films ($500,000-$2 million budget movies). Can make $10,000-40,000 per script. Non-guild so no residuals unless they actually pay on the couple of points you'll get offered.

                  Know several writers doing 2 or 3 of these a year.
                  How did your friends get these gigs? I've gotten a handful of small paid gigs in the past year or two -- rewrites, shorts, notes, and most recently a feature -- off sites like Craigs, Mandy, and here on DD. Are there better ways to find out about these?
                  "People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan

                  Please visit my website and blog: www.lauridonahue.com.

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                  • #99
                    Re: Best spec agent

                    Originally posted by LauriD View Post
                    Not ICM?

                    And can we please get some more details on that "parlaying" part?

                    (For those who don't know, Gary made a TON of $$ on Amazon Studios -- roughly the equivalent of 6 years of income for a WGA member.)
                    I too would like some more information on that "Parlaying" part. I only won about half as much money from Amazon Studios as GDM, but I'm curious to know how that plays with the mainstream? Is that worth noting, or is the phrase "Amazon Studios" a turn off? Has the general opinion of Amazon changed with their higher-profile projects in active development?

                    Or does it matter at all?

                    Gary: Any news on the BL scores yet? And write whatever you want. If you don't want to do assignments, that's great. Less competition.

                    Sincerely,
                    The Amazon Studios artist formerly known as Christian Davis

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                    • Re: Best spec agent

                      Originally posted by Condog View Post
                      I too would like some more information on that "Parlaying" part. I only won about half as much money from Amazon Studios as GDM, but I'm curious to know how that plays with the mainstream? Is that worth noting, or is the phrase "Amazon Studios" a turn off? Has the general opinion of Amazon changed with their higher-profile projects in active development?

                      Or does it matter at all?

                      Gary: Any news on the BL scores yet? And write whatever you want. If you don't want to do assignments, that's great. Less competition.

                      Sincerely,
                      The Amazon Studios artist formerly known as Christian Davis

                      Hey Chris!

                      So, here's the low down: I got back all six of my reviews (3 each from BL3 and SpecScout) and the scores were all over the place. On the high end I got one recommend from a SS reader, and on the low end a 5/10 from a BL reader. And everything in between.

                      But there was a strong consensus with regards to what needed fixing, so I'm currently working on an extensive rewrite that I will resubmit when complete.

                      Now, as for Amazon Studios, I wasn't sure if my success there would help me with my new script, so I sent out a handful of queries just to test the water. And to my surprise, the response was surprisingly positive. And I now have people at 7 major companies awaiting my new draft.

                      Now, I don't know if these people already knew about the AS competition, or whether they just checked out the site after they got my query, but they seemed impressed by my accomplishments and genuinely excited to read my script.

                      Also, I made the choice of specifically targeting assistants at big companies and I think this was the main reason my approach worked so well. I think the younger up-and-comers are more aware of what's happening on the fringes, like the Amazon Studios competition.

                      So I definitely suggest you tout your Amazon Studios successes. Especially if you're targeting assistants. It will definitely help.

                      And for the record, only a single test movie was able to beat one of mine during Amazon Studios monthly competitions. And that test movie was Chris'.

                      So feel free to use that fact in your query letters!

                      And best of luck!

                      Gary

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                      • Re: Best spec agent

                        Gary, what was your experience at spec scout? Did the recommend lead to anything? What does a recommend mean, exactly?

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                        • Re: Best spec agent

                          Originally posted by Mossbraker View Post
                          Gary, what was your experience at spec scout? Did the recommend lead to anything? What does a recommend mean, exactly?
                          The SpecScout scoring system is completely different from BL3.

                          You get 3 sets of scores from 3 different readers. There's 10 catagories, each rated 1-5. And from all this they calculate a final score out of 100 using a special algorythm that assigns different weights to the different catagories. So that more important catagories get more weight.

                          They estimate that the average score of pro scripts being put on the market is about 60. So they make 68 the cutoff score for an amateur script to be promoted on their site.

                          I ended up getting two considers and a recommend from their readers, but one of the considers, while aknowledging the commercial potential of my script, felt it needed a lot of fixing up, so scored me quite low in some catagories. And this seriously pulled down my average, so I ended up getting a final score of 67.36!

                          Normally I'm be banging my head on the wall for missing the cutoff by just a fraction of a point, but the comments convinced me that I could take my script to a whole new level by fixing up a few key areas.

                          And ultimately, having one recommend out of 6 reviews isn't going to set the town on fire. All it does is show there's promise in my script. But the other five reviews show that there's still work that needs to be done.

                          Ironically, if I would've gotten that highly rated review on BL3 it would've scored me a lot of attention. But you know, it's probably for the best that it didn't. I got enough feedback on this script. I don't want anyone else in the Industry to read it. I'd rather show them the new draft. That's going to be a huge improvement!

                          But I really do like the way they score on SS. Every script gets 3 reviews. And they don't mix paid and free reviews. That way you're comparing apples to apples when you look at two scripts scores.

                          This is an approach that I think would be good for BL3 as well.

                          Have two ratings. One for paid readers. And one for Industry members. Sort of how they have two ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. One from film reviewers. And one from RT members. People can then choose to list scripts according to the metric of their choice. And I think having a standard number of paid reviews is a good idea. And 3 is a good number for that. $150 for 3 reviews in not a huge investment if you're serious about your writing.
                          Last edited by Gary Dragan Milin; 02-05-2013, 06:41 PM.

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                          • Re: Best spec agent

                            Thanks for the info!

                            I'm considering it. I have two scripts on the blacklist now. My first got a 7 then 4 then 8. They were kind enough to give me a discount read on the last one, due to the huge disparity. I took the time to rework some suggestions and got an 8 and some exposure. woo.

                            The second (which I just completed) I just put up and got an 8. Waiting on the second read. I would like to explore as many avenues as I can, however. An 8, or 9, or even 10 doesn't guarantee anything. The spec scout threads seemed all over the place, plenty of people chiming in that it was a joke, but I'm thinking about making a go. Haven't made up my mind yet.

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