Selling my script?

[nlaneo]

I have a couple pitch sessions coming up and this is the first time I've done this...I know I need a couple comparable films, but do I need to estimate a dollar figure for the budget? Should I put the copyright symbol on the fly page of my copyrighted work or leave it off? Should I put the title and my name on the cover or just the fly page?
Thank you guys so much for the help, Nick

[Joe Unidos]

This is for real-life meetings, I infer, not some "pitchfest" or seminar or anything? If so, I would actually suggest minimizing (or eliminating) any leave-behinds. Wow 'em live and make them come back to you for more info. Don't leave anything they can pick apart after you've gone. Who told you that you "need a couple comparable films?" Also, a new writer throwing around budget numbers at a pitch meeting is going to be useless at best, and at worst, make you sound foolish (I am assuming, of course, you have never produced a feature before). And if you do choose to leave them some material, I wouldn't worry about the copyright symbol.

If it is a seminar, then I have no idea. Good luck!

[icerose]

A billion? Wow that will get them running faster than anything. I think the highest movie budget was just over 100 million.

I really don't think they would even ask a first timer about budget, after all a script can be re-written to fit different budgets. I think you are better off sticking with ranges if they ask about budget.

If you have few locations, few characters, no stunts, no explosions, and no special effects, then your movie can be done on a very-low to low budget. If you have a mid of these it can be done on a low to mid budget, if you are exploding everywhere, fight scenes, big stunts, massive ammounts of actors and such, then you are going to be in a high budget.

I would suggest keeping it clean and candid, straight forward, prepare for extra questions but try to keep it focused. Recite a 3-5 minute synopsis of your story, have it linear and concise. Have other materials such as a treatment, character synopses, if they ask for them but don't push them, if they want them they will ask.

Be prepared to talk about your characters, make sure you recite their characteristics.

Know what audience you are wanting to market it to, the appeal factor.

And make sure you put your best selling points forward, and leave the extra fluff behind. It sounds silly but practice before you pitch. Practice in front of family members, friends, anything that gets it drilled in there and helps you to portray it natural is suggested.

Good luck!! I hope it goes well and it I hope this helps. Use what you can, tailor it to suit you best.

Sara

[zeprosnepsid]

Check this out: http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl?show_code=tb&air_date=10/31/05&tmplt_type=show

Talks about a lot of mistakes first timers make. Might help.

[Randomness]

mmm ... just adding onto icerose, that i think king kong was about 200+ million.

[icerose]

Dang you are right Randomness, 207 million. That is insane. Makes you wonder what they are doing with all that money. I mean it looked nice and all but star wars wasn't even that expensive, nor was lord of the rings and it has a story too!

Never mind, I just checked and the third was 270 million.

[bluejester12]

Titantic cost 250 million I think.

[clockwork]

Studio films cost way more than you probably realise. Breaking a hundred mill isn't difficult at all for even the most modest of blockbusters. This is from "The Big Picture" by Edward Jay Epstein about Gone In 60 Seconds;

"Disney paid $103.3 million to physically produce the movie - the so-called negative cost. Then, just to get the film physically into theatres in America and abroad, it had to pay another $23.2 million - $13 million for prints and $10.2 million for the insurance, local taxes, customs clearances, reediting for censors and shipping fees. Next Disney spent $67.4 million on advertising worldwide. Finally it had to pay $12.6 million in 'residual fees' in accordance with agreements it had with various guilds and unions. Altogether, then, it cost the studio $206.5 million to get this film - and it's audiences - into the theatres."

God only knows what kind of bohemoth invoices King Kong et al racked up after marketing, distribution and prints.

[icerose]

Yeah but I remember reading an article that most films stay between 40-60 million. Some of the most successful movies outside those mega blockbusters were produced under those budgets. One, forgive me for forgetting the title, was produced at 12.5 million and won academy awards, made quite a profit and such. Also distribution can be carried by other companies, it doesn't always remain on the original production studio's shoulders.

And my point is, no or almost no first time writer is going to get THAT kind of budget. One of the best words of advice I have received is write for small budgets, it is much easier to place those, it they are picked up by larger studios they will receive bigger than written for budgets, but chances are you will have to start out with small sales and work up.

You would have to be one of the top writers around, have one of the best agents in hollywood for a production studio to slide over 200 mil for your script to be produced as a first time writer. We are talking about a small handful of movies that have recieved that kind of budget. Most work with much smaller budgets.

[icerose]

Okay, again more movies than I thought but here is a list of movie budgets, find what yours is closest to and that will give you an idea.

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/budgets.html

[clockwork]

Yeah, sorry, I didn't make my point in reference to first time writers. I agree, I doubt any first-timer would garner such an extraordinary budget. I was commenting generally on the increasing cost of films these days.

[clockwork]

Nice link, btw. Sheesh... what happened with Blair Witch is just phenomenal, isn't it?

[icerose]

I was shocked when I saw budget lists. But you look at some of the best movies that sold profit wise and over all gross and quite a few of them did not have those huge budgets.

For something to look great doesn't mean they need those huge budgets, there are ways of making it work.

What's painful is looking at the loss chart. OUCH!

But also just because a movie has a big budget does not mean it will be successful either.

And yes Blair witch's success is phenomenal, that was fueled by a lie.

If you are curious about any other movies, just search for them, they have everything.