Aspiring writer - Needs help.

[Teetotaler]

Hello Screenwriters,

I have just made it a goal to become an accomplished screenwriter. I hold in my fingers the ability to write scripts that gross $100 million plus. I know what the public wants and I know what they're not getting. With all this said, I am still scared sh*tless that the door to Hollywood is closed.

My ignorant questions are:

Is it difficult to get a script bought? Is it impossible to get a script bought? Is it strictly a who-you-know business; or can a social phobic genius find success? And after I have my finalized script, what should be my next goal? Is it finding an agent?

Seriously, If allowed, I will be greater than Michael Mann.

[Arden]

Hello Screenwriters,

I have just made it a goal to become an accomplished screenwriter. I hold in my fingers the ability to write scripts that gross $100 million plus. I know what the public wants and I know what they're not getting. With all this said, I am still scared sh*tless that the door to Hollywood is closed.

My ignorant questions are:

Is it difficult to get a script bought? Is it impossible to get a script bought? Is it strictly a who-you-know business; or can a social phobic genius find success? And after I have my finalized script, what should be my next goal? Is it finding an agent?

Seriously, If allowed, I will be greater than Michael Mann.

HaHaHa, another joke post. You missed April Fools day, oh well.

[scripter1]

Yes, it is very difficult to get a decent read let alone a sale.

Is it impossible? No. Happens from time. But it is few and far between that a totally brand new writer breaks in.
Most of the time though there is an existing connection. Family, past jobs, friends, etc.

[dpaterso]

Sorry Tee, I had the same reaction as Arden. If it were that easy, we'd all be doing it. We're all trying to, but alas, 99 point something percent of us won't make it according to statistical facts.

You might want to take a peek at this thread on DDP: The Futility of Pursuing an Agent (http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/boards/showthread.php?t=15194) ...which is kinda disappointing, but is a realistic "insider" look at the situation. The thread title speaks for itself.

Contests may give you a better shot at getting a foot inside the door. Visit the MovieBytes (http://www.moviebytes.com/) site and check out the screenwriting contests page, plus contest report cards (feedback from entrants). Just for example's sake, 3 big (in terms of prizes and exposure) contest deadlines are approaching, and by golly I'm entering 'em all this year:

Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting (http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/index.html) - May 1
ScriptPIMP - Pipeline Into Motion Pictures (http://www.scriptpimp.com/) - May 1
Final Draft Big Break (http://www.finaldraft.com/) - June 1 (extended June 15)

If you haven't already, check out the tips (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24087) thread which contains info plus links that you may find useful, including ways to submit queries to production companies.

Once you get your head around all that, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Welcome to the forum!

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
Take the critiques you get with a grain of salt. Invariably, some of the critics will be kooks, bitter curmudgeons, or complete fools. ~odocoileus

[Mac H.]

Seriously, If allowed, I will be greater than Michael Mann.The sad thing is that I had to google to find out who Michael Mann is.

I'm still torn if the reference is to the writer of the new 'Miami Vice' or the new 'Lassie'.

I can answer one question for you: "And after I have my finalized script, what should be my next goal?"

The answer: Write another one. A better one.

The first script you ever write is NOT going to be something that can gross $100 million. Guaranteed.

If a would-be portrait artist picks up a brush for the first time - do you think they'll be able to sell the portrait for $1 million ? Why not ???

Mac
(PS: I still suspect it is a joke post. Apologies if it isn't)

[Arden]

[QUOTE=Mac H.]The sad thing is that I had to google to find out who Michael Mann is.

I'm still torn if the reference is to the writer of the new 'Miami Vice' or the new 'Lassie'.
QUOTE]

Mac, you are joking, too, right?

Michael Mann... the screenwriter who changed how scripts were written with THIEF? The man who co-wrote COLLATERAL?

His short-lived TV series, Robbery Homicide, was like a series of mini-features.

His minimalist TV series Miami Vice, whether you like it or not, changed the face of television.

He's an absolute, no-holds barred genius.

Everybody does stuff for cash... the producer of Walk The Line recently did the new Larry The Cable Guy pic.

The reason the joke post was a joke is because the poster had the gall to compare himself to real talent, mega-money making creative ability.

[dpaterso]

Let's assume we're talkin' about the Michael Mann (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000520/). :)

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
Take the critiques you get with a grain of salt. Invariably, some of the critics will be kooks, bitter curmudgeons, or complete fools. ~odocoileus

[odocoileus]

Is it difficult to get a script bought? Is it impossible to get a script bought? Is it strictly a who-you-know business; or can a social phobic genius find success? And after I have my finalized script, what should be my next goal? Is it finding an agent?




I can get you meetings with the right people. You can sell your script right away and start making big bucks.

I'll need ten grand up front. It seems like a lot of money, but it's just a small percentage of the millions you'll soon be making.

If you're serious, email me at HaywoodJablomi@amf.com

[icerose]

I can get you meetings with the right people. You can sell your script right away and start making big bucks.

I'll need ten grand up front. It seems like a lot of money, but it's just a small percentage of the millions you'll soon be making.

If you're serious, email me at HaywoodJablomi@amf.com

Yet another joke. This thread is full of jokes.

Original poster, please post a section of your script so we can all read it. How good you are should be determined by your audience or no one will take you seriously.

Sara

[Arden]

I can get you meetings with the right people. You can sell your script right away and start making big bucks.

I'll need ten grand up front. It seems like a lot of money, but it's just a small percentage of the millions you'll soon be making.

If you're serious, email me at HaywoodJablomi@amf.com

Hey, Odo, great idea! I will give you a reference! You should get a P.O. box where the aspiring hordes can send their cashier's checks or money orders! Ten grand IS just a little money when you are talking about writers BETTER than Michael Mann -- they will soon be making hundreds of millions!

[clockwork]

If you're at all serious about this (and right now, who the hell can say?) the first thing you need to do is check your attitude at the door. Producing scripts is not just about buying them, it's about working with the writer during the development process and beyond. If you ever got a first meeting with an interested party, top of the agenda as far as they're concerned would be - is this person someone we can work with? If you go into this with your current attitude, you'll do all the door closing yourself.

[icerose]

Hey, Odo, great idea! I will give you a reference! You should get a P.O. box where the aspiring hordes can send their cashier's checks or money orders! Ten grand IS just a little money when you are talking about writers BETTER than Michael Mann -- they will soon be making hundreds of millions!

You can't seriously be considering this?

Ah, my head hurts.

And clock is right.

[Arden]

Yet another joke. This thread is full of jokes.

Original poster, please post a section of your script so we can all read it. How good you are should be determined by your audience or no one will take you seriously.

Sara

I second that! Good suggestion, Sara:D

[broughcut]

The sad thing is that I had to google to find out who Michael Mann is.

I'm still torn if the reference is to the writer of the new 'Miami Vice' or the new 'Lassie'.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteJaw.gifhttp://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteWha.gif

[rich]

I'm still wondering how you can be a teetotaler and still produce good stuff.

[xhouseboy]

Yet another joke. This thread is full of jokes.

Original poster, please post a section of your script so we can all read it. How good you are should be determined by your audience or no one will take you seriously.

Sara

That could prove difficult.

Teetotaler stated that he that he has made it his goal to become an accomplished screenwriter. That he has it in his fingertips, etc...

So I'd hazard a guess that he is not yet accomplished, that he hasn't yet instructed his fingers to do the talking for him..

Before he does, perhaps he should keep in mind the old screenwriting adage of 'show don't tell'...

[dpaterso]

Everyone, it might be worth bearing in mind that this is original poster's first foray into the forum, so the biting humor might not seem so funny to him. A major attitude adjustment seems required, but let's not beat him senseless just yet. After all, ignorance isn't a sin. Refusing to learn is. :)

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
Take the critiques you get with a grain of salt. Invariably, some of the critics will be kooks, bitter curmudgeons, or complete fools. ~odocoileus

[icerose]

That could prove difficult.

Teetotaler stated that he that he has made it his goal to become an accomplished screenwriter. That he has it in his fingertips, etc...

So I'd hazard a guess that he is not yet accomplished, that he hasn't yet instructed his fingers to do the talking for him..

Before he does, perhaps he should keep in mind the old screenwriting adage of 'show don't tell'...

You are absolutely correct. I completely missed that. I just assumed that if someone was boasting their ability they had tried and succeeded? in that attempt. He says he has it in his ability, which makes it seem he has not written it.

First word of advice. Write it. Post it. Because it's pointless to try and get an agent or sell a script that has not been written. And there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who say they are going to write a book or a script. There are far less who actually do it. So do it, then go from there.

Good luck.

[rich]

Nah. Although, from what I hear, they will inherit the Earth, but the meek can't write. I don't think the posts were all that biting--merely a few writers trying to put Teetotaler in touch with reality.

[Mac H.]

[QUOTE=Mac H.]The sad thing is that I had to google to find out who Michael Mann is.
>Mac, you are joking, too, right?

Unfortunately not. I appreciate he is probably a wonderful writer, but his name was unknown to me.

Yeah, I know, I'm ignorant. I got told that last week by Vig, so it must be true.

But now I'm a little bit less ignorant.

Mac

[Maryn]

Everyone, it might be worth bearing in mind that this is original poster's first foray into the forum, so the biting humor might not seem so funny to him. A major attitude adjustment seems required, but let's not beat him senseless just yet. After all, ignorance isn't a sin. Refusing to learn is. :)Good point, and taken.

Some confidence in one's abilities is great. Too much is, ah, unseemly.

Maryn, as seemly as can be

[Arden]

[QUOTE=Arden]
>Mac, you are joking, too, right?

Unfortunately not. I appreciate he is probably a wonderful writer, but his name was unknown to me.

Yeah, I know, I'm ignorant. I got told that last week by Vig, so it must be true.

But now I'm a little bit less ignorant.

Mac

Ah, I'm sorry, Mac... you're not ignorant. I don't think that's a nice thing to say. I think you are in the process of learning -- the very best place to be. Don't you find you learn something new everyday? I sure do. You seem to have a great attitude... humbleness is nice in such an ego-fueled world.

I think you will enjoy Michael Mann... if you can, read the script for Collateral and see the movie, too. He wrote Heat and The Insider. He's really a phenomenal talent.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/Emotewelcome.gif

[Teetotaler]

I can get you meetings with the right people. You can sell your script right away and start making big bucks.

I'll need ten grand up front. It seems like a lot of money, but it's just a small percentage of the millions you'll soon be making.

If you're serious, email me at HaywoodJablomi@amf.com (HaywoodJablomi@amf.com)

I've seen movies about getting into the movies. The next thing you'll ask for is a sucky sucky. While your offer seems tantalizing, I'll pass.

You are absolutely correct. I completely missed that. I just assumed that if someone was boasting their ability they had tried and succeeded? in that attempt. He says he has it in his ability, which makes it seem he has not written it.

First word of advice. Write it. Post it. Because it's pointless to try and get an agent or sell a script that has not been written. And there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who say they are going to write a book or a script. There are far less who actually do it. So do it, then go from there.

Good luck.

I will be sure to do so when I write my first script.





I think you will enjoy Michael Mann... if you can, read the script for Collateral and see the movie, too. He wrote Heat and The Insider. He's really a phenomenal talent.

Michael Mann is a talented Man (no pun intended). I plan on becoming a screenwriting god!

[Teetotaler]

Hollywood movies such as "Transporter 2" and "2 Fast 2 Furious" are disgraces to American writing. People, we have lost our way. Our box office is dying. Why? The answer is because I don't have my foot in the door. Mark my words; I will change the face of American movies as you know it.

[Teetotaler]

Oh, and thanks to all those who gave meaningful input. I'll put you in my Oscar acceptance speech. I also will not forget to damn Arden to an eternal afterlife of nude, hellrock mining.

[Mac H.]

Quote: "Hollywood movies such as "Transporter 2" and "2 Fast 2 Furious" are disgraces to American writing."

I think I see the problem - it's the number '2'.

Seriously, if they set out to write a meaningful insight into modern society and came out with those movies, then you'd be right - it'd be a disgrace.

But they were exactly what they set out to be - a quick follow-up on the success of the first movie. Expecting them to be Shakespearian (or Michael Mannean) would be bizarre.

In your Oscar acceptance speech, just be sure to annunciate clearly. "Mac" sometimes sounds like "Mark" if you aren't careful.

Good luck !

Mac

(PS: What will this changed face of American Cinema look like? So far, we've had Black & White movies in 2006, movies entirely in Aramaic (with subtitles), movies about Gay relationships, racism, loss of innocence, movies shown chronologically backwards (which still have a story forwards), movies with 3 other stories inside shown out of order.... and Howard the Duck.

Given all that, what would you do that is different - and how would people know that it is different ?)

(PPS: And don't say "No car chases". There are hundreds of movies each year without car chases. You just don't hear of them.)

[dpaterso]

Teetotaler,

Gracious, humble, modest, self-effacing Oscar(r) acceptance speeches are always the most memorable ones. Ditto message board posts. :)

Talk is cheap! It's time to zip the lips and hit the keyboard, and show the world what you've got.

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
Take the critiques you get with a grain of salt. Invariably, some of the critics will be kooks, bitter curmudgeons, or complete fools. ~odocoileus

[scripter1]

A yes or no answer.
Are you working on a script?
Do you have any ideas that are actually going down on paper some how?

Currently you are just a dreamer with loads of confidence.

And what do you expect to gain from this board?

And I'm curious, what do you believe you will actually bring to the industry?
What will you do differently? What SPECIFIC things will you change, write, ect?

[Sheryl Nantus]

Hollywood movies such as "Transporter 2" and "2 Fast 2 Furious" are disgraces to American writing. People, we have lost our way. Our box office is dying. Why? The answer is because I don't have my foot in the door. Mark my words; I will change the face of American movies as you know it.

action talks... BS walks.

I think we can guess where you're headed.

come on back when you have a script.

[Maryn]

I always find it unnerving when someone I barely know channels my words through her fingertips and onto these boards...

But man, it happens a lot.

Maryn, a.k.a. Show Me the Money

[Teetotaler]

Have you written a script?

I'm currently in the process of reverse engineering some works. This is my secret plan. It's seriously genius. I won't tell you any more. Consider yourselves lucky that you know as much as you do.

What will I bring to this industry?

I don't understand the question. I think you're trying to ask about my background.

I attended college at 17 as a computer science major.
After recieving an F in comp sci, I changed to an undeclared business major.
Soon afterwards, after passing calculus, I declared Accounting.
In order to satisfy my creative arts requirement, I took beginning script writing.
I wrote an urban comedy masterpiece, and recieved an A- (The professor was french; otherwise I would have recieved an A)
Now that I am graudating with a B.S. in Accounting, I plan on sharing my screenwriting gift with the world (and getting laid).

What am I trying to get from this board?

Initially, I wanted to know if the door to hollywood was closed. After I got flamed by the majority of you, I wanted to amuse myself further.

[Maryn]

I started college at 16. If we're going to brag about how freakin' smart we are at a tender age, you've been one-upped.

That said, you appear to have a decent grasp of written English, which is more than some of the aspiring screenwriters on the net have. Maybe you'll make it. The odds are very strongly against it, but who knows?

In the meantime, though, how to phrase this delicately? Gentlemen who plan on getting laid generally don't, unless it's some sort of cash transaction. Keep clean sheets on your bed. Meet girls. Be charming and kind until one likes you. It's what works.

And honey, this was gentle teasing. You ain't seen flames from smart people yet. They make grown men bash in their own monitors.

Maryn, font of knowledge

[icerose]

Of course the hollywood door isn't closed. Have movies stopped being produced?

So you are copying other peoples works and calling it genius.

Good luck and thus far I don't feel honored or lucky by knowing you. When you have something tangible let me know.

Hey Maryn, me too! It was supposed to be 13 but I didn't get it until 16. To me it was all good fun.

And you are so funny! I love your posts.

[clockwork]

Now that I am graudating with a B.S. in Accounting...

Must. Resist. Urge. To. Pounce.

Remain. Dignified.

Make. It. Up. To. Rimshot. Later. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/e2zipped.gif

[dpaterso]

I think original poster's questions have been answered, so let's close the thread to forestall further potential unpleasantness. Any problems, PM me.

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
Take the critiques you get with a grain of salt. Invariably, some of the critics will be kooks, bitter curmudgeons, or complete fools. ~odocoileus