Movies that Move You

So the other day I drove past the Hollywood Universalist Church on Franklin Blvd. in Hollywood and saw a sign describing upcoming sermons based on movies. I wish I could have slowed down to write down all the titles but we like me alive and with all limbs, right? The only one I remember is THE VISITOR. What a wonderful, appropriate idea.

I have read before that there are some therapists who use films as a form of therapy - an add-on if you will. A way for viewers/patients to connect with their deepest feelings through the emotionally and sensually immersive, transformative medium of film.

Recently, I (re)watched NORMA RAE and sure enough found myself reveling in the feeling that I was watching something important, something substantial, something that made me feel like a better person for having experienced it. I wanted to retroactively thank the DP, the writers and the director (Martin Ritt, who directed another favorite film of mine, THE FRONT, about the blacklist).

And Sally Field. I like her, I really like her. Jokes aside. It's a great performance. When the petite spitfire wrenches herself from the grasp of her burly escorts marching her out of the textile factory and instead climbs up on a machine and holds up the famous UNION sign, eyes round with determination, fear and an elegant sort of hopeful defeat...well...that's a movie moment you want to see, Wavers. It's transformative and beautiful and wrenching and glorious. And it makes you wish you had that much courage. And it reminds you that you do.

Not all movies hit that deep vein of emotion and catharsis for us and thank god, right? That would be a bit exhausting. Recently, I watched CLOVERFIELD and was thoroughly entertained (engrossed, really) and then promptly forgot about it until someone told me about the mysterious splash in the end. Movies are populist entertainment and the impact of film on a viewer can be anything from enormously cathartic to simple, gut-busting entertainment. But once in awhile, you see a movie that taps into that part of yourself that forgets anybody else is in the theater. Movies in which the main character is the person you wish you could be or someone you once were. Movies that tighten our throats with joy and appreciation and impact.

So I'm curious - what movies have you seen, Wavers, which left you flat on the seat, a puddle of cinemagasm and filmic adoration, wanting to write fan letters to every single name that flies by in the credits? What movie do you wish you had written that gave an audience member that same feeling?

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50 Greatest Trailers of All Time

Hey Wavers! You know what you need today? A massively entertaining distraction. That's right, so put down that dusting spray, kick off your fuzzy slippers and check out the 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time. What do they have in common? What surprises you on this list? What do you totally disagree with?

My two cents: GARDEN STATE - I really enjoyed the movie, actually, but this trailer doesn't really do it justice. I don't think I'd decide to see the film based on this trailer. BLAIR WITCH, on the other hand - genius. The CLOVERFIELD trailer - great stuff.

Each trailer has a great explanation of why it works and let me tell you, Wavers - it is just fascinating.

Now we know that trailers are edited and produced by companies hired to do just that. Or did you know that? I found that out awhile back. These trailer houses are given the footage and they go about fashioning the most powerful trailer possible. So after you've enjoyed the heck out of these trailers, ask yourself - what are the trailer moments in your script? Do you have them? Make that your one writing question today - where are your trailer moments?

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Hear That?

...that's the sound of judges judging. Sorry it's been so quiet on the Rouge Wave lately, Wavers. We have been keeping our heads down at The Script Department, as we judge hundreds and hundreds of scripts for The Silver Screenwriting Competition (a wholly owned subsidiary). We aim to be done sorting through them to see who rises to the quarterfinal round by the end of July, if all goes well. This is the second year I have administrated and judged this competition and let me tell you my resume will be bulging with experience for the rest of my life. Handling all of those submissions, writers, payments, judges, organization. Lemme tell ya, Wavers, this is NOT an easy yob.

I'm giving my judges IVs of Red Bull and weekly shoulder massages. So far we've come across a few gems so I think the next rounds should be interesting. I haven't been judging this round, just administrating it, which, as above, is a herculean job. But the next round, when we have approximately 50 quarterfinalists, I shall be jumping in and doing some reading.

I can tell you first hand that the economy might be slow but writers are keeping busy generating material and getting feedback on it. The Script Department is bulging with orders every single day. My readers are working full time.

At the Great American Pitch Fest on June 13th and 14th, the Marriott was packed with writers from all over the world. Last evening, I joined Gary Goldstein in a teleclass with over 50 screenwriters on the line and the passion of the writers was obvious. So eff the economy, Wavers, keep your head down and write write write. Because when the wet blanket lifts new material is going to be in demand like never before. Sometimes I take for granted the immersion I have had for the past few years and how much I have learned about writers, writing and the industry. Last night Gary and I were talking about the industry and how they want "butts in seats." A caller finally got her turn and asked about two technical terms Gary and I had been using: "first look deal" and "button seats."

In other news, I will be attending a luncheon at Warner Brothers, speaking to a group called WOW - Women of Warners - in early August. What an honor that invitation is! And Wavers know me by now - I still get very excited to have lunch on a lot. Even though I work on a lot. You can take the girl out of the country but you cannot take the country out of the girl.

The Mini-W and I have been engaged in our summer tradition of Movie Marathon Summer, though we've gotten off to a slow start. The Mini-W will be recapping our summer movie bacchanal before she returns to school this fall. While I write this the Mini-W is in a digital filmmaking camp on the UCLA campus. This very afternoon the students will be debuting their finished films at a theater on campus. Very exciting. Of course, it really struck the Mini-W that yesterday she was a scant quarter mile from where Michael Jackson died. Is his death akin to the death of John Lennon in 1980? I remember that very vividly and how sad and upsetting that was.

All right, Wavers, you guys have a great weekend and I promise that I'll try to post more frequently than I have been and keep you posted on the judging.

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Set Your Course By the Stars

Hello, Wavers! Gosh, it feels like I've been away for awhile! It's a rare thing when I don't post on TRW for an entire week. Last week I had a milestone birthday, spent three days in Berkeley, taught a class at the Great American Pitch Fest and was on a panel with Laura Shapiro at the Broad Humor Film Festival. A tortoise named Echo also moved into the house for the summer but that's another story.

I realized, after the Top 10 Things Studio Readers Hate class at the Great American Pitch Fest that I said "shoot me in the face" at minimum twice during class, and maybe three times, giving people a violent and disturbing impression of sweet lil' ol' me. I just mean like, when scripts are so tough to read that one wants to...to um...to take a break for a few minutes.

I did receive a good question in The Rouge Wave mailbag while I was away:

First, let me say, I love your blog! I'm making my way through the archives, and it's worth more than many of my screenwriting classes!

Second, I was wondering if you could share (on your blog) what studios/producers are looking for right now. For example, I've heard comedies are currently more popular than dramas because people want to laugh in the current economic climate.

If someone was looking to break in, what type of script would be more commercially viable? Or is the important thing to tell an interesting story well, no matter what it's about?

Thanks for taking the time to read my question, and I look forward to your response (when you have time)!

-Popular in Poughkeepsie

Dear Pop:

Your question is a good one and when you find out the answer, let me know. I kid. Sort of. Everybody would love to have the answer to this question, most notably every single executive, producer and agent in Hollywood and their brother. Yes, I have also heard that during these tough times, audiences do gravitate toward comedy, but I wouldn't use that as a strategy for my writing. Your second sentiment is correct: An interesting story, well told is the brass ring. As Omar Khayyam said: “The moving finger writes; and having writ, moves on..." - wait, no, Omar Bradley: "Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."

That about sums it up, Pop. If anyone in Hollywood knew what would make a hit movie, all movies would be hits. Nobody knows. Write what you love to write. If you love comedy, write that. Write the best, most unique, hilarious comedy you can. But if you really love thriller or sci-fi or action - write that. Writers looking to break in simply need to have VOICE and TALENT evident on the page. Easy, right? Wrong. But that's not the point I'm trying to make. You just cannot chase what you think might be popular as a way to break in. You'll chase your own tail like a cheeky monkey and eventually collapse in exhaustion and disillusionment. Write what YOU love - that is really, truly, madly, deeply the best advice I could give any writer, anywhere, writing anything. Otherwise, what's the point? Write because you love to write. And if you play your cards right, you might just make a career out of it. But stay true to yourself and to your writing first and foremost. You can sell out to the wiley, witchy bitch we call Hollywood later on, when you're established and can afford therapy, a masseuse and expensive Kentucky bourbon in which to drown your existential sorrows.

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Spec Market Round Up

While generally The Rouge Wave is more ruminative, reflective, instructive and wrist-slappy rather than industry-newsy, today I am blatantly cutting and pasting from a blog that you should absolutely be reading, Wavers, called Life On The Bubble. Jason is a friend of a friend (how Hollywood is that?) and hereby receives my "I'm not worthy" genuflection.

This is information that applies directly to you, Wavers. The spec market is where you want to be, right? Well, read this carefully because doing so will disabuse you of any pie-in-the-sky fantasies that selling a script is a cake walk. And I just have to take a moment to high-five myself for mixing my pastry metaphors. Wow. Monday morning, too. Ahhh-booyah!

Sorry. Back to Serious Things. I know this is a bit of a depressing read but you need to be aware of this stuff. While it may feel like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic to even bother sending a script to rep in hopes of hitting the spec market, you have to remember that the market will not always be this flat and that he who was busy building more, newer, better deck chairs is the one who'll be on top when the market does open up. And it will. At some point. Who knows, is it possible that there will be a gold rush of crazy spec sales in a year or two? Will you be ready for that possibility?

Anyway, many thanks to Jason Scoggins for such a terrific, informative blog. It's the sour to go with the sweet of The Rouge Wave. It's the salt to the pepper. It's the cinnamon on top of the...all right, anyway, you get my point. It's not pretty but you need to have an awareness of the realities of the market:

****

Spec Market Roundup: May 2009
by Jason Scoggins
June 1, 2009

Thanks to the feedback we received from last month's Spec Market Roundup, we refined our methodology in a couple of ways this month:

* We're now differentiating between sales of specs that went out widely and those that did not appear in the marketplace prior to selling. Not only does this provide another lens through which to view the state of the marketplace, it keeps those hand-sold projects from skewing the data for the scripts that go out wide (since we're not in a position to know about every script that gets slipped to just a couple of buyers).
* We've broken Buyers into two categories: "Studios" (for lack of a better term), which we think of as the Majors, Mini-Majors and their various studio labels; and "Other," for everyone else.
* We've also broken Sellers into two categories as well: "Agents," and "Managers" (for obvious reasons).

Together, we think these refinements help provide a clearer picture of the spec marketplace as a whole.

At first glance, May's spec script sales numbers seem to be yet another month-over-month improvement: 10 out of 39 specs sold in May, compared to 9 in April and 8 each in February and March, for a sales percentage of 26%. That's the highest number of monthly sales so far this year, and easily the highest percentage.

However, 9 out of May's 10 sales were scripts that went directly to buyers, as opposed to going out wide to producers in the usual spec fashion. In other words, just 1 of the 30 spec scripts that went out wide in May sold ("The Gunslinger," out from UTA & Benderspink, which sold to Warner Bros. for Andrew Lazar's Mad Chance). That's a shockingly low sales rate of 3%. In this month's Spec Market Scorecard we'll be breaking out the numbers for previous months and rolling them up for the year-to-date figures. Suffice it to say here, though, that the state of the marketplace is not pretty: Just 6% of specs that have gone out wide this year have sold. We wish we had access to the total number of scripts that went out narrowly last month for comparison.

Here are May's raw numbers:

* 30 specs went out wide;
* 1 of those sold; and
* 9 additional spec sales were reported


Weekly Breakdown:
Week of May 4:

* 8 specs went wide, 1 of which sold
* 3 additional sales were reported

Week of May 11:

* 10 specs went wide, none sold
* 1 additional sale was reported

Week of May 18:

* 9 specs went wide, none sold
* 2 additional sales were reported

Week of May 25:

* 3 specs went wide, none sold
* 3 additional sales were reported

May 25 was Memorial Day, which helped make the last week in May the slowest of 2009 since Sundance. We'd bet the impending completion of the William Morris/Endeavor merger was a factor as well (see below). In any case, since that last week of May was such an outlier, the weekly average number of new scripts (7.5) is meaningless.


Genre Breakdown, Attachments, Etc.

Collectively, the Buyers seem to have bought their fill of Comedies over the past several months, since not one sold in May. Instead, they switched to Dramas, a genre in which not a single spec had sold in the first four months of the year. Here's the breakdown:
1 - Action
4 - Drama
2 - Sci-Fi/Fantasy (including one animation project)
3 - Thriller

On the attachment front, four of the 10 sales had significant filmmaker or actor elements attached. Two of those four had Hugh Jackman on board as producer and/or star, one had Jim Carrey as producer and star, and the fourth had John Lee Hancock writing and directing (plus Overbrook producing). None of this month's sales reported multiple bidders, and only one was a reported preemptive purchase (Intrepid's purchase of "Childhood Heroes" from Abstract Entertainment).


Buyers and Sellers

Warner Bros. was the big spender of the Studios in May, purchasing 3 of the month's 10 scripts. The other two studio buyers were Fox and Sony, with one each. Among the Other buyers, each of the following companies bought one script each: Beloved, Intrepid, Relativity, Reliance and Starz Media Animation.

Of the agencies, CAA had the best month, with 3 sales; the firm also took 2 scripts out wide, neither of which had sold as of this writing. UTA was in second position in May with two sales, one of which was the sole sale in May that went out wide, out of 3 wide attempts last month. Endeavor, Gersh and William Morris each sold a spec script as well, none of which went out wide.

Eight management companies were involved in the ten spec sales in May: Abstract Entertainment, Anonymous Content, Benderspink, Category 5, The Gotham Group, Kaplan/Perrone, The Radmin Co. and Marty Shapiro Management. Of those, two sold their projects without agency involvement: Abstract Entertainment ("Childhood Heroes," to Intrepid); and Marty Shapiro Management ("Umbra," to Relativity).

On a side note, neither WMA nor Endeavor sold a spec in May after the 5th, just as the rumors of WMA's layoffs began to mount in earnest. In fact, all of WMA's and Endeavor's sales from mid-April to the end of May fall into the "direct to buyers" category, where the scripts did not appear widely in the marketplace prior to the announcement of their sale. It's a safe bet that those sales got started well before the merger was confirmed and the writing was on the wall about which agents would be joining WME and which would not. Regardless, there's no doubt that the merger has been a distraction for both companies and an opportunity for their competitors. We wonder how badly the situation affected WMA's and Endeavor's TV Lit staffing efforts over the past few weeks as well.


About The Spec Market Roundup:
The Spec Market Roundup is a terribly unscientific analysis of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. It does not include pitch sales nor the film rights to underlying material. These are by no means official numbers, merely a fairly complete summary.

About Jason Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a manager and partner at Protocol, a Beverly Hills-adjacent literary management and production company. He represents writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol's founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland. After getting his start in the entertainment business as an assistant at ICM, Scoggins became a TV Literary Agent at The Gersh Agency, followed by a stint at Writers & Artists Agency and then several years in the wilderness. He returned to the business in 2007, just in time to be impacted by the run-up to the WGA strike.

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Support the Cinefamily

So I live about...I don't know...two blocks from the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax here in Los Angeles. Actually my neighborhood is weird - it's at the geographic crossroads of Hollywood, West Hollywood and the Fairfax neighborhood, one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in LA. So on a given day we have the hipsters, the Hasidim and gay couples walking their dogs all as they head toward Canter's Deli for mutually agreed upon goodness. But anyway. The Silent Movie Theatre.

"Built in 1942 by John and Dorothy Hampton, The Silent Movie Theatre ran for decades as the only fully functioning silent movie theatre in the country. It has been fully restored to its original, vintage 1940s art deco design, along with a brand new screen and sound system, to help a new generation enjoy the pleasures of cinema in a beautiful theatre."

So that's pretty cool, right? I get emails every week from Cinefamily, which is a sort of club that meets at the Silent Movie Theatre and I think oh, I should go see that movie, yeah, sure. And I never do.

Several friends of mine have plans to go see THE HANGOVER this weekend and I thought, well, sure, yeah, I love my friends very much. But - I'm not that excited to see THE HANGOVER, honestly. It's not really my cup of tea. Then I got this in my email inbox from the Cinefamily:

WINNEBAGO MAN, Sunday June 7th, 8pm

Jack Rebney, aka "the angriest RV salesman in the world," has delighted and fascinated millions of viewers with the hilariously foul-mouthed and ill-tempered outtakes from a Winnebago promotional video he made in the '80s - one of the first and best underground videos to be passed hand-to-hand, before the Internet turned him into a full-blown phenomena. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer takes on the seemingly impossible task of tracking down Jack, and his journey turns into a fascinating exploration of viral video culture, and what it means on a personal level to its sometimes unwilling subjects. When he finally tracks down Rebney, the real man is more savvy, irascible (of course), deep, weird, and cool than you could have possibly hoped for, and turns out to be more than able to hold his own in the modern media culture. In short, he is a star. A lovely and hilarious look at one man's response to Internet humiliation, and how that so-called "humiliation" can become a beacon of light to many. All hail Jack Rebney: the patron saint of our collective frustrations. Dir. Ben Steinbauer, 2009, HDCAM, 90 min.

- and I thought okay THAT I would see. That sounds fascinating. And I chide myself, momentarily, because I have not gotten out to support the Cinefamily and partaken of their impressively out-there play list and schedule. So for any Angelenos reading TRW today, please get out and support a theater that is off grid. Way off grid. A theater with a true love for the art and craft of cinema and the way in which the movies reflect just how odd we humans are. Step away from the megaplex once in awhile and see what else is out there.

***

The Cinefamily is an organization of movie lovers devoted to finding and presenting interesting and unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films. The Cinefamily’s goal is to foster a spirit of community and a sense of discovery, while reinvigorating the movie-going experience. Like campfires, sporting events and church services, we believe that movies work best as social experiences. They are more meaningful, funnier and scarier when shared with others. Our home is the Silent Movie Theatre, one of Hollywood’s most beloved and beautiful cultural landmarks. There, the Cinefamily will provide a destination spot for Los Angelenos and others to rediscover the pleasures of cinema.

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Dialing for Dollars

Hello, Wavers! You've by now noticed I've been posting less Wavy goodness lately. Mama has been very busy. Administrating and judging the Silver Screenwriting Competition, running The Script Department, working on my own writing and producing plans and projects, preparing for my class at the Great American Pitch Fest on June 13th and the panel I will be on at the Broad Comedy Film Festival in Venice the following day and (deep breath) writing a book based on The Rouge Wave and (deep breath) finding time to exercise, get enough sleep and eat well. Foof. It's a lot.

In addition, I feel as if I've said about everything I have to say on the topic of screenwriting here on The Rouge Wave so I'm posting less often and only when I really have something to say or a question to answer, rather than just warming over old topics just for the sake of posting. Hope that's okay with all of you wonderful, loyal Wavers. I love love love a good question or comment - that way I know I'm posting something that you wanted the answer to, not just postulating cutely on organic dialogue again.

Today I had to call 40 - 40 - agents, managers and production companies on behalf of a client with a script that I am in love with. Once in a blue moon, a script bubbles up to the surface that I just have to throw myself behind. And when I am a fan of a script, look out. My phone is smoking right now.

You know why calling a lot of people, some of which you know, some of which you don't is anxiety-inducing? Because some people are so short and rude on the phone. As I say, 40 calls, right? Of those 40, I would say I know or am acquainted with about 20 of those people. And those people are friendly. Hey Julie! Sure, what's the logline? Sure, send the script. Yay. Feels good. I know if the writer called on his own behalf, he'd be shut down just by dint of the We-Don't-Know-You Filter. So it's great to see those pay-it-forward/networking efforts cash out in getting reads when I want them.

Some of the companies I called - wow, dude. Take a coffee break. Breathe it out. Be nice. I can imagine being on the receiving end of query-type phone calls every single day must get really old and that the second you answer the phone, you're on defense but geezo, we're not curing cancer here, we're just talking about whether you'll read a story. Chillax.

Got some really, really interesting skinny from my old employer, Walden Media, about what's on the slate upcoming and what the new mandate is all about. Very different mandate, I'm surprised - moving closer to the Bristol Bay mandate of old. (Walden and Bristol are both owned by Anschutz. Well, they were. Til Bristol was shuttered a few years back). Cary Granat has formed his own prodco, continuing his interesting odyssey from Dimension to Walden to what amounts to Walden-II-Minus-Anschutz unless Anschutz is funding Granat which I seriously doubt. Phillip Anschutz is the man who signs the checks at Walden, incidentally, being the conservative Colorado billionaire who owns Narnia-land. I used to LOVE reading for Walden Media, let me tell you. That was a great gig. It's nice to continue to be in touch with creative executives there. Another reminder, Wavers - yesterday's assistant you were polite to is today's exec who gives you all the skinny.

It's very fun being just down the hall from Heroes and Villains; I just walked on down there all casual like with my coffee and leaned on the door frame and was all like, dudes, I have a rockin script that you need to read. Script in reading pile. YES.

All righty Wavers, more later, I will not abandon you, I'll just be posting a bit less and please, if you have suggestions or questions - send them my way and I'll be happy to answer them.

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Can Feedback Sabotage Your Story?

Rouge Waver Desiree wrote in and asked:

I've never had a pro to read any of my scripts, but various friends and fellow writers. It has its disadvantages, I know.

Several years ago I listened too much to the advice I got from a friend and one day I woke up and the story was no longer mine, it was his. Since then I have learned to trust my heart.

Would a situation like that ever appear with a pro reader? Would the reader see another potential than intended and give "wrong" advice and change the core of the story?

I have so many thoughts on these questions, Desiree, that it's gonna take me a moment to really get to the heart of it. First of all, this has happened to me, in the distant past. Asking for and receiving story advice that eventuated in my story changing altogether. But years and years and scripts later, I realize that the reason that happened to me is that I didn't know clearly what my story was anyway. So I cast about for opinions and suggestions to plug leaky holes in a weak story, didn't differentiate between the merits of this or that advice, and wound up cobbling it all together into a story that had no relationship to my original idea.

So yes, you will get advice from various people that could radically change your story - but the key is to develop the skill set to differentiate between what can add value to your story and what in fact degrades the central core of what turned you on about it in the first place. Additionally, writers should test changes and suggestions against the key components of the story: main character flaw, theme, the second act adventure (the meat of the premise) and the big battle scene in the end - the pivotal third act resolution. All of those particular components are actually hinged together quite neatly. Like a Rubik's Cube, the way they hinge can change - but they still have to click together and work. So if you change one thing, you affect the whole shape and mechanism of your script.

There is a right way and a wrong way to give feedback. Always be wary of someone who gives you numerous, specific ideas for changes without testing them against those key components. Not everybody is very well equipped to give feedback. But that's your responsibility when asking for it. I see that often on message boards - other screenwriters micromanage and give very specific advice to writers who have posted pages and then the script becomes a weird community project. Don't put yourself in that position.

Getting advice can be great; friends, colleagues or a pro reader might suggest something that opens up a whole new perspective. Just make sure you make it a collaborative experience and that ultimately you stay tethered to the fundamentals of your premise that got you excited in the first place. Test the suggestions against the components of your script, teasing out the outcome to see if it would alter your script in a desirable, surprising or value-added way.

Now: Would a pro reader give you story-changing advice? Maybe. Some. It depends. That goes beyond the scope of what readers get paid to do, generally speaking. At a company like mine, in which readers are paid to evaluate scripts but also to be encouraging and instructive, the readers will give examples and some suggestions, yes. But those readers will only give suggestions that still fit into the framework you came up with. Because when they give suggestions, they know the other key components of your script and they take into account the snowball affect.

I'm sure some pro readers or (not very good) consultants might try to more or less dictate what they would like your story to be - but if you feel those alarm bells going off, it's your responsibility to stop that flow and move on. Teasing great ideas out of a writer is much harder than just saying "look, I would do this." Teaching a writer to think critically and see opportunities instead of having the writer do what YOU think would work is where feedback and mentoring of writers becomes an art form. Anyone can dictate what THEY think YOU should do. But that's not their job. And you do not have to subject yourself to that.

Getting feedback is an interactive, participatory experience. Don't just get in the car blindfolded and be driven somewhere. Look around, ask questions, make your own suggestions and know the path you were originally on in the first place well enough to only deviate from it quite consciously. You are ultimately responsible for your story, where or if you get feedback on it, and what you then do with that feedback.

All of this said, because many Wavers might be members of writing groups or screenwriting message boards in which bad feedback runs rampant, this is probably a good time and place to talk about what good feedback looks like. When giving feedback to a writer, try putting the feedback in the form of a question. Two great ways to start off that question are "what if" and "maybe...?" So you might say, "What if the main character's flaw is actually that he's vain?" and then you and the writer can play with that for a moment. How would changing the flaw affect the theme? How would it affect the main character's arc of change? How would it affect the reversals and complications along the way? So you ask a question and then you follow through with testing how that possible change might affect the major components of the story.

So to summarize, Desiree -

Be careful who you get feedback from; avoid message board blowhards and total strangers who are not familiar with your premise, you or your process.

Check in with the clarity of your understanding of your premise and main character. Are YOU the expert of your own creation? Is your premise pithy, articulate and unique?

Test suggestions against the major components of your script to see if they add value or actually just loosen all the hinges and then require more jury-rigging.

Incorporate only the notes and feedback that resonate for you.

When you give feedback, pose it in the form of a question: "What if" and "maybe" are great starts.

If alarm bells go off because you're hearing multiple opinions and suggestions about your script, step away from the feedback, sleep on all of it and revisit your premise line. Remember, this is YOUR story that only YOU can tell.

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High School Career Day Interview

So this very sweet high school kid from New Jersey or somesuch ["Somesuch??" Hey, we grow great assistants out there! -Ed.] emailed The Script Department with some very thoughtful questions about my company and being a writer. I wrote up the answers to his questions which of course I answered honestly but simply, since this is a teenager and when I was done I thought hmm...while simplified, this is actually not bad.

****

What exactly is the role of your company when it comes to helping screenwriters get their materials to industry professionals?

The Script Department gives aspiring writers a sense of how their script would be received within the entertainment industry. We provide notes and feedback so that writers can address problems in their scripts – whether they be problems of execution or of plot, character or even the premise, so that when the writer then makes those adjustments, they have a professional, polished script to send out to decision-makers in Hollywood. Writers in the process become more adept at the craft of screenwriting. So often aspiring screenwriters have a skewed sense of just how original or accomplished their script really is and send it out to entertainment industry professionals only to get shut down immediately. We are there to help writers make a good first impression – and sometimes to tell them they are not quite ready to make any impression at all but should rather keep learning the art and craft of screenwriting. Writers who wish to be taken seriously and have a career in entertainment writing need to understand that the industry is quite competitive and shoddy work will tarnish their reputation.

What does your job at The Script Department entail?

I am the founder and director of the company so my job is quite detailed and complex but would include marketing and advertising decisions for my company, attending events and teaching classes, managing the readers who work for me, managing all financial decisions for my company and occasionally, working with clients one-on-one to provide story notes and consultations. In the big picture, my job is to keep the whole operation running on a day to day basis. I make sure our clients get what they paid for in a timely and professional manner, and I make sure my readers get paid well and on time for the work that they do. I also interact with other industry professionals making sure that they are aware of not only my company in general, but of a particularly good writer or script that I have so that I can make an introduction on behalf of the writer.

How many screenplays does The Script Department receive on a monthly basis approximately?

It depends on the month. Hollywood has seasons, just like other industries do. Our busiest time is in April and May because there are a lot of screenwriting competitions and writers want to up their chances so they get notes from us first. November, December and January are always a lot slower. In a busy month, we might evaluate about 100 scripts.

Are there any flaws you or The Script Department have seen in new screenplays written by new writers?

There are too many flaws to list here but the two most predominant ones are scripts that are not actually very original story ideas and scripts that are simply not executed well. That is to say, scripts with what we call “soft” structure, or under-developed characters or sometimes even formatting problems. The newer the writer, the more likely we will see these two issues.

Is there anything The Script Department is looking for in a screenplay when it wants to recommend a screenplay to industry professionals?

We are looking for a really great, really entertaining an original story idea and we are also looking for writers with what we call “voice." In the entertainment industry “voice” means a writer with a great deal of individualism on the page. Style, in other words. Hollywood loves writers with voice. The thing is, newer writers often have to learn the rules first before they can really depart and really let their own personalities through on the pages.

From what you or The Script Department have seen, is there anything high-level executives and industry professionals who make screenplays into films want out of new screenplays?

It’s simple. They want to be entertained. They want to not be able to put the script down. And they want to think to themselves that this script is very unique, and it’s cinematic and it will attract great actors and audiences are going to love seeing this film. The entertainment industry is all about dollars, at the end of the day. And movies are very expensive to make. So industry executives want to see potential return for their investment.

What is it like to be an agent who represents screenwriters?

It is a tough way to make a living. Agents are basically salesmen. They have to convince buyers (studios) that what they are selling (the script) is worth several hundred thousand dollars and that further, the script, once made into a movie, is going to earn the studio a great deal of money down the line. Agents make about 10% of the sale of the script. So that means if they sell a script for $200,000, they take home about $20,000. Not too bad but living in Los Angeles is expensive and agents often have to keep up their image with expensive cars and homes. So an agent might need to earn upward of $150,000 a year to support his or her lifestyle. So that’s making seven+ sales per year in order to support that. Agents earn 10% of whatever their client earns, so they can also earn money if their clients gets a rewrite job, not just an outright sale. But the bottom line is that agents have to hustle, every single day, to make a living. That’s why they are so picky when it comes to representing a writer. They can’t afford to hustle and make phone calls and sweet talk buyers if the writer isn’t original and compelling and talented.

What should a new screenwriter be concerned on when s/he is writing a screenplay?

Brand new screenwriters should know that their first script probably won’t turn out that great. They should know that it can take years to really become a gifted screenwriter and that even after that, they may never sell one single script. They should take the art and craft of writing very seriously and study it wherever and whenever they can. New screenwriters should read as many scripts as they can and they should write every day and see a lot of movies. Knowing a lot about movies, particularly the genre you most want to write will put you miles ahead of many other aspiring writers. New screenwriters should have fun and go for it but also be patient and know that this can take quite some time...

Is there anything agents who represent screenwriters want most from a spec script written by a new screenwriter?

A brand new screenwriter can be very attractive to an agent because he or she can say they rep the “hot new writer” in town. They want originality, personality and saleability - of the writer and the script.

Do you believe there is anything notable about a screenplay that is sold to a major film studio versus one that isn’t?

There is a saying in Hollywood that if we knew what made a hit movie, every movie would be a hit. People spend hours analyzing why some scripts get sold to studios and produced and others do not. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason or pattern that really holds up over time. Studios are drawn to movies that are what they call “four quadrant,” meaning the story should appeal to both younger women and younger men and older women and older men – the widest swath of audience possible. Give you an example: 8 MILE – not a four quadrant movie, right? But UP, the new Pixar release, is. Pixar is great at producing four quadrant movies. So studios do look for wide audience appeal but they are also surprised all the time by movies they didn’t think would appeal to a wide audience but do anyway, like JUNO. A script by an absolute beginner will probably not sell to a studio because the writer probably doesn’t have the skill, creativity and chops of a more experienced writer. But if you put two scripts side-by-side, both written by skilled, talented, experienced writers – probably the one that is both very unique and would appear to appeal to a wide audience will get that sale. “The same but different” is another adage out here in Hollywood, meaning audiences want to watch what they are familiar with – a buddy comedy, a super hero story, a romantic comedy - and yet with different twists, different characters, different settings, etc. DISTURBIA is an interesting example of “the same but different.” Being trapped in a location, unable to escape a menacing threat is not a new story idea. In fact, Albert Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW pretty much aced this story concept way back in 1954. But DISTURBIA put a new twist on it, and some new details that updated the concept but also put some new touches on it.

How should a writer treat rejection from an agency?

Writers should take rejection totally, 100% in stride. It is part of being a writer. Many very famous writers were rejected hundreds of times before they got published. Stephen King threw his break-out novel, Carrie, into the trash can, he was so frustrated by rejection yet again. Thank goodness he pulled it out of that trash can and submitted it – that novel kick-started a legendary and lucrative career. Rejection is part of life for a writer. You just keep moving on. Sort of like vendors selling balloons or churros or lemonade at an amusement park. You try to sell your writing and when you are rebuffed you just ask the next person if they want to read your story or script too. You have to be persistent, you have to have faith in yourself and you have to want it so bad you can taste it. Opinions are subjective; it only takes ONE person to say “yes” and there you will be – published, sold represented. Only one “yes”. Think about that. But the thing is, that “yes” will be buried under a pile of “nos.” You just can’t hear the word “no.”

I thank you a thousand times over for your willingness to assist me in my research.

You are so very welcome, Dale! I hope my answers have been helpful and good luck with your project!

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