Screenwriting : Which of the following ideas is real? by Victor Titimas

Depends how bad you are at business.

If you sign an agreement that stipulates your second scenario, then that is a possibility.

They is no magic in the film business. They are governed by standard contract law and other local legislation.

I have an agreement that gives the producers outright ownership. They can then hire me for more work. I keep writing credit. But even that can be purchased if they do wish.

I also stipulate ownership every story element. If I have more stories in the same or similar universe.

Verbal contracts are only worth the paper they are printed on.

So I don’t get it how do you hold on to the writing so if it does come a screen play they don’t butcher your idea

Troy, you don’t. Unless you want to finance and direct it yourself. You are a guy growing wood. You don’t get to tell the carpenter what to do. They have purchased your work. Walk away and write the next thing.

Personally, I choose to have faith in people that have spent their entire professional career learning their trade. No one goes out of there way to make a bad film. Everyone is doing their very best work.

People will have heard this story before. I wrote a female detective that was an ex-partner to a character in the script. During the first rehearsal the actor (Irma Cardiz) had a very playful, sexy tone in her delivery. I was surprised. She was willing do it anyone the director wanted. But her logic was, if a woman is happy to take a call from a guy at 2am without question, they have slept together previously. That was a great insight. I tweaked her lines to enable her to play with that character.

Your story was created in one brain - yours. There will be another 100 brains all thinking about your work - let them.

I recommend actually have a word with writers who had script sold...but chances are many will throw some BS here and there... no one wanna talk them being screwed around :)

Hi i have done mostly indie movies which is basically whatever you can negotiate with employer (producer/prod co). Unless you can get the full whack (buyout), the sale price is in partial payments and most times the full payment is when the script is lensed. Also doesn’t mean you are the only writer and credits dont mean shit because indie movie productions can credit whoever. Btw, I have been professional fired from every movie. Fired meaning replaced and rewritten. And I was okay with it. The goal is to finish and I thought myself as a waiter; if I didnt start a thing the people behind me couldn’t do their jobs. And again the goal is to finish and get the full whack (money). Because in show business, money means respect. And there are lots of shady deals. I have never seen any book keeping records but I know one of my movie partners lives in a nice mansion on top of a hill and he’s a book keeper. I left a lot of money on the table cause I took the money upfront. If i waited 3-6 years after, there are huge profits $ in distribution. But then again, I would need to hire gangsters to track down money due.

Hey, Troy - I've sold two screenplays. In both cases the rights were signed over. I got a fee for the sales, which were very generous percentages of the budgets. I retain writing credit, however in both cases changes to the script were made in production. I think of it like selling a house... when you sell a house, the new owners can change the paint, re-do some rooms, change the landscape... you can't go back a year later and tell them you hate the changes they made to the property you once owned and they need to put it back. So, with the screenplay, they bought the property, and that's that. I suppose when you get up into F U territory you can get more control - but I am very happy just to get a foot in the door, and I am fortunate to have directors who, even though changes were necessary for production, treated the script with respect, and even asked me for a quick re-write on a scene when needed. So far, all in all, it's been great.

Whatever you negotiate only matters if the other party honors it. They could break every item in your contract without thinking twice if they feel that you wouldn't survive a lengthy court battle. Know the person in front of you and whether they value you or not.

As far as what you're typically owed or can reasonably negotiate in an option agreement, your attorney can handle that. If you don't have one, hire one before you sign anything.

I'm from olden days when we sold scripts usually for low $6 against mid $6. I have a couple of friends who hit low $7 - but not me. Most of that was based on a handshake - I have no idea what you'll are doing nowadays. I didn't know any shady dealers in those days. Times have certainly changed.