Horror highway script query

[Norma Jean]

Ok I'm posting this here because the people over at "Share your work" said it would be better if I posted it here, so:


I wrote this script, it's called "191". It's a horror script. it's about three travelers in Arizona who drive on Highway 191, and the horrors and demons they face while driving on that road. (You know the highway that's named 191, that used to be named highway 666 and is said by EVERYONE to be haunted?) Do you think that writing a screenplay about such an highway would be a good story to write, given if the right horror and spookiness was added into it? Be honest people.

[dpaterso]

I'd say you already got some good answers in your thread in SYW:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74314

OK, I've got the setting, but what's the story about? So far it sounds like it could be a Tenacious D (http://www.tenaciousd.com/video.html) music vid. You've gotta tell me more.

If you haven't already, see The Construction of a Logline (http://www.twoadverbs.com/loglinearticle.htm) article on the Two Adverbs (http://www.twoadverbs.com/) site. Now try writing a logline -- sum up the interesting heart of your story in 25-30 words.

-Derek

[Joe Calabrese]

Been there done that...

Jeepers Creepers
Race with the Devil
Route 666
Haunted Highway and a slew of others.

Not to say you can't but you must be original, put a fresh slant on it and make sure it's not too much like other highway horror films.

[scripter1]

is worth considering.

The magic is in the DETAILS.

I would say for you that research could lead to some pretty intresting story ideas.

Um, maybe the three are novice documentary film makers and the script becomes sorta a Blair Witch type thing?

Will you be making up events or working from documented cases?

[NikeeGoddess]

horror is the easiest selling in all genres but it still ain't easy. you must be more creative than what you see now and like joe said, avoid the "been there, done that" story.

[nmstevens]

Ok I'm posting this here because the people over at "Share your work" said it would be better if I posted it here, so:


I wrote this script, it's called "191". It's a horror script. it's about three travelers in Arizona who drive on Highway 191, and the horrors and demons they face while driving on that road. (You know the highway that's named 191, that used to be named highway 666 and is said by EVERYONE to be haunted?) Do you think that writing a screenplay about such an highway would be a good story to write, given if the right horror and spookiness was added into it? Be honest people.


The honest answer is -- people are looking for easy reasons to pass on scripts. If you submit your script it will be covered, reducing your 100-120 pages down to two pages. On the cover page of the coverage, there will be a logline that reducing those two pages down to two lines.

At my old company, everyone used to get the coverage when it came in, except for our boss. He only wanted to cover pages. That is, all he wanted to read were the log lines. If they didn't interest him -- he wasn't interested.

He wasn't even interested in reading the two-page coverage, never mind the hundred pages.

Remember, it isn't going to be you writing that logline, but some reader who isn't particularly invested in your script. And if that logline reads something like this -- "Some guys are trapped on a haunted highway" (or words to that effect) and that sounds just like three other movies that were made in the last ten to fifteen years --

-- you've just given them a reason not to make the movie. You'd have given my boss a reason not to read the coverage. Everyone else a reason not to read the script.

Your goal as a screenwriter is to come up with a "bulletproof" script -- a script that gives nobody any possible reason to say no.

Too much like something else? That's a no.

Nothing at all like anything else? That's a no.

Action is too familiar? That's a no.

Action is too unfamiliar? That's a no.

They say that if there's a "formula" in Hollywood it's, "We want the same, only different."

And that sounds absurd, but it's true.

Because that's really what audience's want.

Ultimately, the same things, the same stories, the same ideas, will always move us -- but if we get the sense that we're seeing a carbon copy of something we've just seen, we get bored, we're no longer interested --

-- audiences crave both familiarity and novelty.

And that's what Hollywood is after too.

Unless your "highway" idea -- or specifically unless the *logline* for your highway idea contains both, it's going to die.

NMS

[DanielD]

To nmstevens.
Just wondering as to your referring to the reader at the Prodco , writing out the logline.
I havn't heard of this before.
Have I missed something here?
I thought the logline, treatment, ect were the sole domain of the actual writer of the Screenplay.
Except of course, in the instance whereby the original writer is payed off, and a new writer/ or writers, take over the project(Screenplay).

Apart from that, I like your rundown of what's required in the writing of a knockout Screenplay.
Many thanks.
Daniel.

[nmstevens]

To nmstevens.
Just wondering as to your referring to the reader at the Prodco , writing out the logline.
I havn't heard of this before.
Have I missed something here?
I thought the logline, treatment, ect were the sole domain of the actual writer of the Screenplay.
Except of course, in the instance whereby the original writer is payed off, and a new writer/ or writers, take over the project(Screenplay).

Apart from that, I like your rundown of what's required in the writing of a knockout Screenplay.
Many thanks.
Daniel.


I don't know how familiar you are with the process known as "coverage" but it's common to all studios, development companies, and agencies. Scripts and books come in, are read by professional readers and, while there are slight differences from place to place you end up with something that is much the same.

A cover sheet that contains certain basic info -- who wrote it, how long is it, the genre, where it came from (that is, who submitted it), if there are any attachments -- often there is a rough ratings chart, where you check off on best to worst on various levels -- commercial appeal, characters, plot, etc., Down at the bottom, there's a place where the reader writes in, Pass, Recommend, or Consider (although recently that's blossomed into "Weak Consider" and "Strong Consider" because nobody wants to just come out and say Recommend and Pass any more).

And in the middle, there's a place for a logline -- a one or two line summary of the story.

While people recommend that writers think in terms of a logline, the logline is something that developed within the realms of production -- really on documents like this, as a way of more efficiently keeping track of material.

Just think of the word itself -- "log line" -- it's really a description intended for a log -- for a record book.

After the logline, some companies (William Morris used to do this), asked for a summary -- that is, the whole movie in a paragraph or two, and then everybody wants coverage -- the whole movie in two pages. After that, the reader is expected to write around a half a page or a page of comments describing the strengths and weaknesses of the project, focusing on whether or not the company should make the thing or rep it, if the coverage is for an agency.

Of course, sometimes the coverage is slanted, (say it's an agency and it's something written by an existing client). Then they produce coverage and the comments, obviously, are going to be positive, because it's one of their clients and good, bad, or indifferent, they're not going to distribute bad coverage on it.

But these days, one has to be especially careful about coverage because, even though it's supposed to be proprietary (that is, not just passed around) -- there now exist these coverage sharing boards to which execs at all of the studios and most development companies belong. Once a script goes out -- to pretty much anywhere these days, and gets covered, the coverage can end up on these boards and gets shared by everybody.

Thus, one bad piece of coverage (and these things can be very much a hit and miss affair) can kill your script all over town.

So that's just one more hurdle that writers have to contend with these days.

NMS

[dpaterso]

So the process would seem to be:

We write a logline for our screenplay so we can query a prodco or similar... and it better be good, because...

If "they" like it, they might request a synopsis or the screenplay...

If they read the screenplay they may assign someone to provide coverage...

And that person writes a new logline (dismissing our logline, the one we sweated over for days!) as part of the coverage?

-Derek

[DanielD]

To nmstevens.
Many thanks for your indepth, and very imformative reply.
As per usual, your posts are written in a manner which is both clear, and insightful.
I have read a little about coverages, though obviously not enough.
I didn't realise just how indepth coverages actually are.
Also, going by what you've said about their selection process, it seems to be of great importance for a writer to have an agent, in regards to his/her bettering their chances of gaining a positive coverage, rather than risking a bad coverage of their screenplay, possibly being spread all over the place, through one of these coverage sharing boards, or elsewhere.
Thanks again.

PS : My other question has already been taken care of, thanks to Dpat.

re: Our logline possibly being scrapped, then rewritten by the reader.

Daniel.

[nmstevens]

So the process would seem to be:

We write a logline for our screenplay so we can query a prodco or similar... and it better be good, because...

If "they" like it, they might request a synopsis or the screenplay...

If they read the screenplay they may assign someone to provide coverage...

And that person writes a new logline (dismissing our logline, the one we sweated over for days!) as part of the coverage?

-Derek

The person writing the coverage may very well not even see your cover letter. It wouldn't be unusual. After all, the reason that they are paying the reader is to get *their* take on the material, not the writer's who, after all, has a vested interested in trying to sell the material.

NMS

[Joe Calabrese]

Coverage is such a weird animal. I did it for a while years ago and hated it.

My hands were tied in so many cases.

I didn't write a log-line, because when I got the script, my boss already knew the logline and pitch from the initial query letter. If that pitch intrigued him, he requested the script and then I got it directly (without the original pitch or even a title page).

He just wanted an unbiased (that's a whole 'nother story) opinion on whether the script lived up to the query letter the writer sold him on.

Before I was hired, he sat me down over lunch and told me flat out what to look for and how I was to do things.

I had a checklist with a grading sheet and only checked off items that my boss wanted to know about, like quality of dialog (1 least - 5 most), budget under 10mil over 10?, How many locations, characters, a lot of logistic stuff.

So, my coverage consisted of a one page synopsis outlining the story, the grade sheet with about 20 questions and my cover letter which simply stated whether I felt it met his expectations, whether I would pay money to see it and what are the biggest hurdles in making it. Quite a bit different than what most companies do but each producer, agent company, etc are looking for different things and not all coverage is what you think it would be.

Of course I would have recommend or pass typed on the top. Consider wasn't an option. My boss felt that if I had to consider it, then it didn't blow me away or needed too much work to be a winner.

For my work, keep in mind that the only scripts requested were those pitches/queries that he found interesting (subject matter), his kind of film, and of course marketable.

If I got it, then it was the kind of script my boss would make into a film and spend years on.

He loved broad comedies and if the query letter made him laugh, he would most likely ask for the script. He had done a few action comedies and those had to be unique for him to even consider asking for the script. If it even slightly smelled like a film that was done in the past decade, he threw the letter away. He hated and never made a straight drama, so any of those queries never got to him as his assistant (who opened the mail) trashed them.

Now there are companies that accept unsolicited scripts, but those are far and far between. Most only take those requested through a query letter or solicited by an agent or manager on record. There are a few places that IF they get a script, will get someone to cover it anyway, but most trash it unopened.

Know who you are querying. Know there track record and submit accordingly.

[zeprosnepsid]

And that person writes a new logline (dismissing our logline, the one we sweated over for days!) as part of the coverage?

Oftentimes, yes. And because of this when I review people's scripts online I first regurgitate what I thought the story was about. I do this because it's important for the writer to know what the readers are seeing when they read the story and whether or not it's what they were trying to portray. It also why it's as important to set your tone with your first scene (since the reader may not know the genre), more so than to introduce your character or any of those things. Your script could be brilliant but if the reader doesn't read it the right way or in the right mindset they'll miss it entirely. I've certainly read scripts that I didn't 'get' until halfway through and am too busy to go read it from the beginning with my newfound knowledge of what they were going for...