Screenwriting : Translating the script to another language by Xaviera Iglesias

Depends on your deal with the interested party....If they're just standby-ers don' t sweat into translating it. If they're really interested, they'll offer an optioning soon enough, then negotiate the translation conditions.

In general, it's not your responsibility. If you just happen to speak that language well enough to do a formal translation, then it would be fine to contribute. But, usually, production companies have to find a local person to do the translation. The other consideration is which version will need to be translated. If you're potentially looking at rewrites, will the rewrites be in English and only the final version translated, or do you need translations along the way... So, it gets complicated.

My writing partner and I marketed our script with a China based story and included the translation if the script was picked up. The translation was one of the major reasons the script was picked up, it gave the Hollywood based production company

ease in submitting the script to the China film bureau, and production was beginning in April with director, DP, Composer, cast attached when it was suspended by COVID 19. We had a second script also picked up and the translation to Mandarin was a big selling feature. Will it help you? I don't know, but it did help us. You can read about one of our projects, THE BAREFOOT DOCTOR, featured in the BUSINESS OF FILM magazine February 2020 edition. Hope this helps you!!

If you anticipate requests for your script from a particular language area, it would pay to have a translation in that language readily available, especially if you are already fluent in that language. As Jack has said above, it will greatly increase the odds of your script being picked up.

If you're really good and fluent in the foreign language, especially with the idiom, you can probably offer to do it, but the producers generally have someone in mind who does it for them. I speak both Spanish and English, and find it fascinating to watch English movies with Spanish captions on, or vice-versa -- it's never a verbatim translation, due to the idiom.

Wow! Thank you all for your comments. If it's not too much work for the writer, why not, right? And it wouldn't hurt to offer this alternative script for foreign producers, especially if this means getting ones foot in the door. It'd also cut their work in half in terms of translating and rewriting which is good for them timing-wise. I appreciate your suggestions and I will definitely keep this in mind for the future. :) Happy New Year to all!

Only caveat, translation isn't cheap. So, as with anything, you really need to lay out up front what you are looking to do or not do. Yes, doing extra work to move the project forward is great, just don't end up in a rabbit hole because expectations weren't in writing in advance.

If they are considering buying it, but need you to do the translation, and it will definitely increase your odds of a sell, then do it. If you care about the quality of the translation, and owning that script, then do it. However, if you're super done with the script and you don't really care about any of the above, then let them know that if they want a translation they'll have to pay you for it. Most importantly, if this is a company or people with connections in the field, yeah, do the translation. You want them to appreciate your bilingualism, you want to be important and well known and yeah, once your reputation is firmly established then demand pay for work like that. If you feel your reputation is already firmly established, then demand pay up front. It's hard to know your situation for sure, Xaviera, but just ask yourself what you want your reputation to be....where you're at and how you want these people to view you. Everything is connected. Happy 2021!

Are you talking about Canadian/French Canadian or French/French?