Submition Help!

[clandis88]

Ok, I have this great movie idea and I am in the middle of writing the first draft of the script. I know after im done i have to rewrite it a few times. But when im done with that what do i do? Where do i start? How do i get it seen by a producer or who ever i need to send it to? And what do i send to them? I dont send the whole script right?

Can Someone help me out here?

[Joe Calabrese]

1st. Devise a devious and foolproof plan to Kidnap a studio exec's children and make sure you make the ransom note very clear "Buy my script or they get it!."

Just kidding...

Congratulation for your enthusiasm on what you consider to be a great idea. Now, step to the back of the line along with the rest of us.

Your question is as old as time itself and it's very complicated and cannot be answered in one or a dozen posts. But in a nutshell.

Once it's finished the script and you have been told it's good by others who know better (competitions, analysts, mentors, writing groups, etc...) then write a query letter with a logline and short synopsis and send them to producers/agenet/managers and hope for the best. Look in the trades and various websites to see who's buying what and target them too. Make sure you send the right letter to the right people. Don't send an indie a big budget action film and don't send Warner brothers a small one location character drama.

Samples and theory on writing query letters, logline and synospsis can be found in a variety of books and online. This is an art form almost as difficutlt as writing the script.

Oh. And keep writing. It usually takes many years and scripts before your good enough to get noticed and/or sold.

Good luck.

[Boo_Radley]

Once you're finished with your first draft, go ahead and register it with the Library of Congress or the Writer's Guild of America. Both have websites. It's okay if it's only the first draft...better to get it registered the second you're done just in case you happen to share story with someone else and they (unknownst to you) decide to try and do something with it. You can copyright as many different drafts of the same script as you'd like. I'm not sure about the LOC, but the writer's guild charges twenty bucks a script for non-members.

After you've finished your final draft, you have the choice of paying a script analyst to give it a go over. They'll provide you with detailed notes on what's good about it, what works, what doesn't work, and what they think you need to work on. If you choose not to go through a script analyst, here's what you've got to do:

1. Write yourself a logline.
2. Write yourself a synopsis.
3. Write yourself a query letter.

Once you've done these three, it'd help you to do some research, check around which studios, producers or other filmmakers might be interest in what kind of script you've written. For instance, if it's a nasty horror flick you might not want to query Disney...but someone like Lion's Gate would be a good choice.

Then, you wait. No telling how long it will be but what you DON'T do is just up and send your script to any studio, producer or exec. ALWAYS query first.

Hope that helps.:)