Hi, there, has anyone had experiences that prove this tenet right or wrong : The best way to write a script that gets made, is to write a great script. But, it’s even easier if that great script is also cheap.
Screenwriting : Best way to write a marketable script by Annie Mac
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Define cheap. I'm being genuine. Isn't cheap in the eye of the beholder?
I guess whoever wrote that advice, meant a great script for a low-budget film, few locations, no special effects or green screens, no car chases, and the likes.
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Do you have relationships with more financiers in the low budget space or in other budget spaces? Rhetorical. For me, I have more relationships outside the low budget space, and therefore, I have more success selling to studios looking for mainstream material, but that's just me. Low budget to someone might mean $500k. To someone else, it means $10 million. Rhetorical. There's no one size fits all.
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you dont need a great script. Just a concept that gets people in the movie business interested and spend $$$ and Time.
Visit American Film Market in November. Plenty of movies made for 0 money to $$$$$. It is just product. Go on Netflix website. Thousands of crappy movies.
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I agree you don't need a great screenplay. It takes a great one to win a major contest but a bad one can get made into a movie. Personally I look at the numbers and there are a lot more people making lower budget films and the people that make them are easier to reach out to so that is obviously a much bigger market.
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Do you personally privilege great screenplays that cost big bucks over good screenplays for low budget movies?
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Annie. I don't have a preference as long as the script has the potential of making money.
Spoken as a true businessman! What are the ingredients in your opinion that make a film marketable?
Annie - marketable to which market segment?
Annie. I am a business man first and a screenwriter second. I like stories that already have been proven which is why I like writing adaptions. That takes away a lot of the guess work and reduces the risk for a producer.
Sounds like a smart move Gardino. Do I get it right? You favor tried and true over fresh and unpredictable. I wonder what sign you are, not that I totally believe in that crap...
Marketable to baby boomers, then to Millenials, Doug.
Aquarius. You actually got it wrong. Most of the script I write are from novels that are fresh and unpredictable. I don't adapt old novels. I secure the rights to the ones I think would make good films. When I say proven I mean the books were well received and got good reviews. That way a a producer or investor can look up and see what people think of the story. That makes them less risky. I would also well-known directors to them to make them more valuable which makes them more marketable. Anyway that is what I used to do when I was more motivated.
I'm glad I was wrong. But why are you less motivated now? I got the impression you loved your work.
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I love the business but I have written over 30 something screenplays and I really need to focus on some of the projects I have in development and in preproduction. I know I can get at least two of those off the ground in the next couple of months. I have an academy award winning director attached to another screenplay that I need to start marketing. I optioned it to Kensington Publishing when they decided they wanted to produce film but they since change their minds. It is a probably a $30M bellow the line budget so I have to find a producer that has the assets to make it. Anyway I am still in love with the business I just need to change gears.
All the very best! Are you at liberty to say what kinds of projects will lift off in the next 2 months, or it it top secret?