I've pitched the screenplay for my book The Song Beneath the Silence and its sequel The Silence Beyond the Song to over 22 executives. Every one of them responded positively to the concept—most rated its originality a 4 or 5 out of 5. However, all but two ultimately passed due to concerns about the production budget. I'm confident the concept is fresh, richly thematic, and offers compelling world-building. Would love to hear any advice or suggestions on how to move forward with a project of this scale.
Screenwriting : 22 Execs Loved the Concept, But Passed: Navigating Budget Hurdles for a Big Idea by Purushothaman Anantha Krishnan
22 Execs Loved the Concept, But Passed: Navigating Budget Hurdles for a Big Idea
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Congratulations on the high scores, Purushothaman Anantha Krishnan!
Have you thought about entering Stage 32's 9th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Screenwriting Contest? www.stage32.com/happy-writers/contests/9th-Annual-Sci-Fi-Fantasy-Screenw... If you win a contest or place as a Finalist, you'll be included in the Stage 32 Finalists Lookbook that goes out to over 1,000 working industry executives. There's other prizes too. It might be the opportunity to get your script into the hands of someone who can fund your project.
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Hi Maurice Vaughan I entered the contest, but my screenplay is not as good as my books. The books are my 9 years work, the screenplay I wrote it in a month and I am writing the screenplay for the first time.
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I suggest you create a short film (proof of concept), maybe animated, that kind of sketches out your story's world, and maybe one or two characters. I hate to say it, but AI will make this a snap. That way you can sort of experiment with your vision, see how it looks on a screen in front of your eyes, instead of in your mind's eye.
Ultimately, since your screenplay is based on one of your novels, you either need to turn your book into a bestseller, or don't mention it in pitches.
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Morgan Aitken I will try as you advised. Thanks.
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Since your problem is the cost. Take one of those scenes which would be most expensive to film. Turn it into a cheap animation. This will help you find out how to rewrite it so it becomes cheaper to film. Than repeat for other expensive scenes.
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Göran Johansson I will try to do as you advised.
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Nice that you liked my suggestion. Another possibility is to discuss individual scenes here in this lounge. But you will learn more from creating scenes yourself.
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Do you have a script? No? No script, no major movement.
Books are great, and it's exciting you received positive feedback.
If it's just a book then the exec will have to take time developing the story for the script, and looking for and finding a writer. Then they will have to pay the writer up front so much money. Those days are over. They do not have time to develop books, look for a writer, and they're definitely not paying a writer to do this.
A script has a tremendous amount of value, and communicates how the story can be told. And I don't just mean a narrative. Execs will look at a book, and if they see, read things like a number of different locations around the world, if they're imagining heavy special effects and visual effects, and there's too many characters and extras, then yes, they will respond it's too expensive. It doesn't matter how you think things should be, it matters what they think.
So go write an amazing script that will allow the execs to see how it can be done. Break a leg!1 person likes this
Lindbergh E Hollingsworth Thank you