The internet is full of different information from every side and every level of experience. But just recently, a person who is definitely qualified with tons of made scripts, responded to a question about pitching and he made it clear he never pitched after he wrote the script. He did it before he wrote it and then they paid him to write it and when he answered it he seemed surprised that anyone would write a script before that happened.
So my question is has that changed? Are we putting the cart before the horse in writing a full script? Is there any stats on landing agents etc with treatments vs scripts? Haven't found that answer.
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There are two avenues: write and spec and find a producer to shop it around to get financing and build a deal with talent. The other option is to pitch a producer or studio and get hired on assignment to write that pitch. 90% of screenwriting income is from assignment work, either pitching for work or being brought in through relationships to work on parts of a script like a dialogue pass or a rewrite, etc.
Many writers break in by writing a spec, getting it optioned or produced, and/or using that spec to get assignment work.
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No.
First: You are a writer, so you should not be looking for reasons not to write. You should be writing constantly and turning out 3 screenplays a year if you have a full time job. Always be looking for ways to write.
Second: That writer was talking about real pitching vs. commercial pitching.
After you have sold a few scripts or written a few assignments, you will be invited to pitch your take on an IP. The production company bought the film rights to Yahtzee! and are auditioning writers. Or they are making a sequel or remake.or adaptation. You come in and pitch your version of the story.
Or my you have sold a bunch of original screenplays and come up with an idea that your agent thinks is so hot that you can get it set up without a script. You do a long form pitch to a bunch of different production companies and they bid on hiring you to write it. These pitches go scene-by-scene through the story - so you usually have to write a treatment first - just so that you can do the pitch!
But both of those are things that happen after you have sold a bunch of spec scripts or been hired for assignments.
So you will need to write a big stack of screenplays before that happens. Get to work!
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I can safely say because I was involved in this: when I worked at a major studio we stopped paying in advance. One of our reasons is if the writer felt the idea was great then why didn't he go write it? We didn't want to get saddled with the cost of paying for an idea up front only to have a bad script delivered.
Thanks for the responses everyone.
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Agreed. I keep trying to remind people that writers write. Whether it's books, screenplays, or whatever else, writers need to write. I''ve had two books published in the last six months and I've written two pilots (I should probably put up a logline for them. I don't know why I don't post things here. I just haven't yet, LOL). If you're going to be a writer, you need to write and get your stuff out there.
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Just to clarify this wasn't about writing or not writing. It was about writing the whole screenplay before it was sold or whether you only do the treatment first. It was a technical question only. The suggestion that this means I don't want to write is off base I've been writing stories since I was a kid, literally. Nothing stops writing for me, period.
I know, WL. I was just saying.