I'm halfway through my rough draft of my first script. It is taken from my book series, Assumptions. Now, I question myself if I should even do this project. This series, which brought in readers when it was on Amazon, is a series that continues from one book to the next. The first and second end on a cliffhanger. What are the chances of a producer wanting to consider something of this nature? Is it better to stick to single focused scripts, ones that don't rely on another being produced, or should I continue?
Screenwriting : What to do? by Izzibella Beau
What to do?
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You might want to write some standalone stuff before trying to pitch a series.
Thank you, gentlemen. It's hard to decide what a producer is looking for, only they know what they want. I mainly write young adult, new adult, drama, with romance thrown in. I tend to think i write outside of the box as happily ever afters are not always guaranteed in my stories, but is that a good thing or bad? UGH, the frustrations of writing.
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Izzibella, something to keep in mind, it is VERY rare these days for a spec script to get purchased. They are more of a "calling card" to show your ability and help you get work. So I'd say if you feel comfortable writing the adaption of your books, do that.
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Good advice Jody, I wrote a spec for UK Doctor Who series, only to find out they cannot read it unless you have an agent, which I still do not, later I realised you need to write an original feature or pilot episode as a calling card. If your very lucky you land a staff writers job, or if a miracle happens someone may adapt your book - Game of Thrones - or like me in sheer desperation - become an indie film maker.
Wow, thank you all for the suggestions and recommendations. You don't realize how thankful I am to have support from so many professionals. Patricia Zell, congratulations on your success. I am going to follow your advice, maybe a TV series or mini-series would be more suitable for Assumptions as there are many characters roles. I wish I could wrap up Ayma and Colton's romance in one book, but it took me three to get through all their turmoil. I had to wait until book 4 to expand into two other characters. Please, if you have any more suggestions or opinions message me or post here. Once again, thank you everyone.
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Writing a sequel is not a good idea because if the first one isn't successful nobody will even want to waste their time reading the sequel. Been there and done that and I will never get that year I wasted adapting the second and third books of the trilogy back.
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If the books weren't wildly successful, you may want to consider standalone. Have you thought of perhaps hiring a publicist for your books to maybe garner national interest for your series?
Jesse, I had a publisher, the company ended this past January 2016. The series was doing well, not NYT good, but it stayed in the top 100,000 on Amazon, which is the top 1-2% of the books listed. There are approx. 5 million ebooks for sale on Amazon. There was international interest since I had readers from Austrailia, UK, Canada, Russia, Japan, contacting me. Some asked me if I would ever consider seeking deals to put the series into a movie or TV series, i know, as well as you do, that it's not that simple. I was thinking if the big screen or TV series is not a viable option, maybe creating a web series. Has anyone done something of that nature and if so what were the outcomes?
Jessie said "publicist" not "publisher." I have adapted a number of novels and they are a little easier to sell if they they have a good track record and reviews. However if you don't have much experience writing screenplays that could hold you back. You might want to try finding a screenwriter with more experience to partner up with to do the adaptation.
People are right, writing an average script of a great book will kill your chances. I guess we don't have the universal truth but having a second chance to sell the same thing is supposed to be more difficult than having a first chance. I had a similar discussion with a friend of mine, where you have to chose between a lot of work when writing your script (time to write, time to think, ramping up the writing skills... etc.) as opposed to spending a little time packaging the things that you already have established with good success: your books. Showing that your books have a niche, on several markets, and show the overall tendencies of reviews is enough to draw attention. The good thing is that it shows the stronger side of your skills and it gives the producer a full idea of how the rest of the material could stir the franchise. Then again, it gives the producer freedom to decide what he wants you to write, if ever you're the person he chooses to write the script, since (most of the time?) producers want to get involved in the writing and the development. That is why final drafts are less and less accepted. Hope that helps.