I was at a cousin's wedding last month. There was a major film producer there from the other side. I'm talking MAJOR producer. I was introduced to him and we talked. First of all, I didn't want to seem pushy at that setting and ask him to read a screenplay, but hopefully we'll now stay in touch and I will ask him in the future.
One thing he did tell me that I thought was interesting was that "branding" is more important to producers and studios than ever -- because the financial risks are so great today. He defined a brand as a tie-in to anything with an already-established name: from a toy or old TV series, to an adaptation of novel or comic book, remake from a foreign film, sequel, etc. According to him, original specs are really, really hard to sell right now to a large producer/studio -- unless you're lucky to have talent attached. And we know how hard that it. A big part of the reason for this emphasis on branding is advertising/marketing. He said that advertising is so expensive that an already established brand may cost less to promote and give the studios bigger bang for their buck because they are at least starting out with a name/title some people recognize. But an original spec (film), no matter how good it is, starts out from scratch and must build interest based on the story, stars, elements, etc. He said studios are wrong a lot of the time in picking old movies or TV shows (or toys, comic books, etc.) to develop, but the perception is that they're still less risky than original specs.
By the way, he said that branding is even more important in certain genres. He said big budget action films definitely rely on branding (pretty obvious). Also, most studio-produced family films today are based on branding. In other words, it's the bigger budget studio type projects that this affects the most -- not the indie type films.
His recommendation to screenwriters trying to break in: write fantastic spec scripts and network as much as humanly possible. He said there's always the chance of an assignment -- although he did admit that they usually go to established writers. The other option is to set your sites on the indie world instead of studios and major producers. Right from a horse's mouth.
One thing he did tell me that I thought was interesting was that "branding" is more important to producers and studios than ever -- because the financial risks are so great today. He defined a brand as a tie-in to anything with an already-established name: from a toy or old TV series, to an adaptation of novel or comic book, remake from a foreign film, sequel, etc. According to him, original specs are really, really hard to sell right now to a large producer/studio -- unless you're lucky to have talent attached. And we know how hard that it. A big part of the reason for this emphasis on branding is advertising/marketing. He said that advertising is so expensive that an already established brand may cost less to promote and give the studios bigger bang for their buck because they are at least starting out with a name/title some people recognize. But an original spec (film), no matter how good it is, starts out from scratch and must build interest based on the story, stars, elements, etc. He said studios are wrong a lot of the time in picking old movies or TV shows (or toys, comic books, etc.) to develop, but the perception is that they're still less risky than original specs.
By the way, he said that branding is even more important in certain genres. He said big budget action films definitely rely on branding (pretty obvious). Also, most studio-produced family films today are based on branding. In other words, it's the bigger budget studio type projects that this affects the most -- not the indie type films.
His recommendation to screenwriters trying to break in: write fantastic spec scripts and network as much as humanly possible. He said there's always the chance of an assignment -- although he did admit that they usually go to established writers. The other option is to set your sites on the indie world instead of studios and major producers. Right from a horse's mouth.
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