Screenwriting : The hell I can't or how to get past the standard line about unsollicited material. by Dave Begley

Get one of these: agent, manager, entertainment attorney, and, if possible, good contacts that can make intros.

I personally got tired of hearing, "Don't send us unsolicited material," so I decided to create my movie myself. It's their loss. I recommend you find a film director, raise the funds and create the film yourself. Once they realize that they missed out on a good thing, they'll come call for you. The longer you wait on them, the longer your scipt collects dust. Create. Create. Create.

get an industry job (security guard, sell coffee, grip, work a desk, whatever) , or write your way in. Everybody else did it.

I live in Omaha and moving is not an option. Frankenstein, Part II needs $30-50 million to be done right.

I have been trying to reach Dream Works. They always answer unsolicited material you need an Agent. I have a Master Piece which they are missing out on. How do I tell them that I am worth the wait?

if you don't want to move, write your way in. I live 3000 miles from my agent and I got her attention by writing a screenplay with a point of view, voice, craft. I just continue to push past rejection, win more champions.

Dave. Send me a few steaks and I will help you. Just kidding. Hey since you have a $30M to $50M project you might try attaching a known director with a lot of credits to your screenplay. You can buy a book that lists their members from the DGA. Anyway that might help. I optioned two big budget scripts that way.

Get yourself a $20 seersucker suit at JC Pennys. Wear skinny jeans. Matching skinny black tie. Loafers. No socks. Aviator shades. Drape a too-tall blonde babe over one arm. And crash the lobby at AFM in Santa Monica. You'll meet all the producers in town within 3 seconds flat!

Just kidding! I got my first manager when the InkTip staff recommended me to a manager on the hunt for new talent.

Erik A. Jacobson How has your experience been at InkTip?

Frankenstein, Part II is only going to have one potential buyer: Universal. You're really hamstringing yourself hoping to sell someone else their own copyrighted material.

Teresa. Can't complain. My scripts have gotten attention. But I no longer post wannabe blockbusters, realizing most filmmakers operate on the smaller side of the spectrum. My time is better spent writing small, personal stories that I could possibly produce myself instead of tackling comic book heroes or "The Charge of the Light Brigade."

Problem I found is you can't get an Agent unless you have a Producer interested..Catch 22...The problem is not the agents or the producers , it's the gate keepers ! What I want to know is who are these gate keepers?

Are they industry pros or are they Jake the cleaner doing a side line?

Look, there's only two options in the entertainment business: inside the system or outside it. Each path has its own rules, procedures, tactics, etc. Either way, there are NO SHORTCUTS. Everybody pays their dues to make it where they are. You pay in time or money, usually both.

There are NO SHORTCUTS.

Using screenwriting as an example of this, Dan MaxXx as usual, hit it on the head: write your way in. This means spending many, many, many...many hours (and some money) learning the craft and getting excellent (not good, not really good--Excellent) at it. Then spending many more hours (and some more money) finding people to read your words.

But whether your goal is as a producer, director, DP, even Crafty; studio, network or indie, commercial or artsy--the processes may differ somewhat, but there are NO SHORTCUTS. There are no quick, easy ways to success; there are no secret "ins" or guarantees. Learn your craft, do the work, persist--these are the dues everyone has to pay.

Sorry if I rambled a bit, but I just want to say, THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS.

The part that confuses me is that even agents will tell you not to send unsolicited material to them. Then who the hell do I send it to? Not everyone has "connections" or know a guy who knows a guy. I wish I could produce my own work. Nowadays, that seems the best way to go. Otherwise, you're spending half your life trying to get the attention of one gatekeeper.

I think the answer to the question of sending unsolicited scripts comes down to the agencies people send them to. Big agencies probably get too many requests per year, plus the legality issue, so they're gunshy. Maybe a smaller agency who's looking for clients would be the answer?

Then again, the whole reason we're here is to build networks, so maybe the answer is to keep plugging away and getting to know each other so that we can lift each other up when we're in a position to do so.

Dan MaxXx you have no idea how much your "don't give up just keep pushing" mentality gives me hope man. I'm adopting that mentality with every fibre in my bones. I'm finding a dang way!

In this day and age, Nikki April Lee , you CAN produce your own stuff. Simply start small. A 5-page script with one location and 2-3 characters can be produced (shot, edited, delivered) on your phone. Don't worry about who's gonna see it--it's a learning experience. Then do another one that's a bit more complex (e.g. 10pp, 2 locations, more characters). Then another. Along the way you'll network with others with the same desires/goals, as well as become self-taught filmmakers.

John Ellis that’s real sane advice but the poster is aiming for the big leagues on first try, wants to play with Studios, work with A-List Talent, a franchise character he doesn’t own rights to, $50M minimum budgets, 0 track record.... and he will fail. That’s not a screenwriting career. That’s power-ball lottery mentality.

Steven A - yes some of these 'gatekeepers' are indeed old pros (not all). As John E says - start small and work your way up. It goes by faster than you think.

Thanks Doug :)

Frankenstein is in the public domain. Universal paid nothing to the heirs of Mary Shelley when it made the first movie in 1931.

that's right , Frankenstein is free, but the Monster is controlled by Universal. Who's gonna pay money to see Dr Frankenstein without the monster?

My Frankenstein is not the Monster created by Universal. It picks up where Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ended. Mary Shelley's creature was not the grunting illiterate of the 1931 movie. While Kenneth's Branagh's 1994 movie did more closely follow the novel, it was still influenced by the 1931 portrayal.

Dan, you are wrong here.

Kenneth Branagh? You mean an Oscar nominated Director/Actor/Writer making low budget movies before he tackled a studio movie doing Frankenstein? Okay, sir, keep fighting an uphill battle

Dan: Think of it this way. The Walt Disney Company paid nothing to the heirs of the Brothers Grimm for the rights to Cinderella. But once Cinderella was made into an animated movie, the Cinderella figure drawn by the Disney artists was copyrighted and protected. Essentially the same deal here.

I would further add that ideas are not subject to copyright. The idea of the Cinderella story is common. The idea of a creature made from body parts which then comes alive is also not protectible. If ideas alone were subject to copyright, then there would be no movies to be made.

Sir, you're talking to an empty phone. No one in the business of making movies is replying to your screenplay idea, solicited or unsolicited. Figure out plan B, C, D... Everyone begins a career at zero. Hardly anyone starts a career at the top.

Silly me. I thought the idea of Stage 32 was to help screenwriters sell their scripts.

Stage 32 website is an educational hub. It doesn't sell scripts

It's more to trade advice and help with questions. Dan's giving you advice. He's saying write things more producible so that you can network/get your foot in the door, then possibly get the megascript in front of somebody who has sway. He's trying to help you not waste time, get your hopes up, or put all your eggs in one basket.

It might serve you better to try that idea out as a novel.

The screenplay is adapted from a novel.

Ohh gotcha

I tried selling a high-budget screenplay, based on my own novel, which was traditionally published and actually made money. I tried for two years. I knocked on every door, got into some screenplay contests and even placed as a quarter-finalist. But it was a no-go.

Eventually I put it aside and wrote a low-budget screenplay based on a true story and voila! After less than a month I found not only one producer, but two producers who had worked together previously. We raised money for development, re-wrote the screenplay until we made it shine. They became co-writers and made me a co-producing partner. We are now about to close on financing and begin pre-production.

I have since written five other screenplays, working on my seventh, and have people interested in a couple of them. My first screenplay? Still no takers. But I'm not giving up on it.

I optioned a big budget screenplay once but I had an agent and well-known director attached. Unfortunately even after they are optioned they often die in development hell. I am submitting that same screenplay to another producer who requested it this week but they already like my writing which is why they want to read it. So it isn't impossible you just have to keep working at it. I am thinking about posting that script here because I am doing a quick rewrite as we speak.

Would definitely look forward to reading if you post it here Dan Guardino

My issue is that in my search for a literary agent, their websites say the same thing. So if I can't send it to the production company or the agent, who do I send it to. I understand the reasons for it but come on.

Kay, think back, all the way back to your younger nieve days: How long did it take for you to learn that? I wonder how much I could make if I just charged new writers flat fees for accepting unsolicited scripts. if I promise not to read them, just pack 'em into the dumpster. Sounds like a pretty good get-rich-quick scam to me.

An the young uns won't learn 'till they feel the burn. That's just the way it is.

I’m a firm believer everything has a time to shine just hope I’m not 105 when mine gets noticed lol

Query, so that they request it.