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The
Screenplayers: Sam Quo Vadis’ Band of International Scribes Canadian screenwriter Sam Quo Vadis founded the Screenplayers, an online marketing group for screenwriters, in 1999. The group began when he invited a few writers whose work he found outstanding to combine forces, hoping to pool their contacts, knowledge, and marketing efforts to help each other get work in the film and television industries. Over the past few months, Quo Vadis has seen his vision come to fruition; the group was hired to collectively write a mini-series for German television, and several members have gotten options, assignments, and representation due, in part, to the efforts of the Screenplayers. Ah, yes, and I'm also a member. Why did you start the Screenplayers? I had been a member of American Zoetrope's online screenwriters workshop (www.zoetrope.com) for several months. Workshop members read and critique one another’s scripts with the goal of improving the quality of writing and sharing their knowledge of the craft. However, I realized that having a high quality, polished screenplay was only half of the equation, at best. What most writers lack is the ability to effectively promote their product in an over-crowded marketplace. I found myself wondering why screenwriters don't expend as much effort helping one another market their work as they do refining it. I decided that a group of allied writers sharing contacts, information, and marketing ideas would have a better chance of getting their work read than would an individual writer, forced to rely on his own limited resources. Who are the members and where did you find them? We have ten members internationally: Betsy Morris, Kent Graham, Mary Case, Anna Raffael, Hank Isaac, Sable Jak, Mary Schirmer, James Barrett, you, and me. We found all of our members on American Zoetrope's virtual studio. The studio allows us to get to know people through its bulletin boards, and we also have an opportunity to read nominees’ scripts. The former is critical, as character has always been as important a consideration as talent and dedication. What's the Screenplayers’ mission? Our mission statement is: "To maintain a society of talented writers who share a positive, professional attitude and a commitment to success, and to provide a forum for these writers to bring their screenplays to the attention of the filmmaking community." However, the Screenplayers is much more than this. We also critique one another's work and provide emotional support during those moments of disappointment that invariably occur in this business. Writing can be a lonely profession, but no one who belongs to the Screenplayers is ever alone because each of us knows he or she has a group of friends and supporters who will be there whenever needed. If your interest, primarily, is in helping each other get scripts sold, how do you resolve this goal with the competitive nature of the business? Most screenwriters lack a true understanding of the competitive nature of the movie industry. They feel they are competing against other screenwriters in terms of the quality of their work. This is rarely the case. Most production companies express quite specific needs. Some will look only at low-budget screenplays, others only at high concept stories. Some indicate a preference for family stories and will not consider horror or sci-fi. Others will insist that horror and sci-fi are their specialty, and they will not accept family-oriented stories. The demands vary dramatically from one company to another. And added to this mix is the personal taste of the reader, his or her assessment of the current movie marketplace, and any production deals he or she may have with talent or with a specific company. The real competition lies in getting one's script read. Tens of thousands of scripts are registered with the WGA each year, and thousands more are registered or copyrighted with other services. There is such a glut of material that an industry has sprung up just to weed out scripts! It's a simple fact that you can't make a sale if you don't get read, and the people who have the most success getting read are those with connections. By sharing our leads, we dramatically increase our resource base and gain an advantage over writers who adopt a more selfish approach. How did the Screenplayers come to collaborate on a German miniseries? One of our members, Sable Jak, had done some writing for an independent German producer who was living in the U.S. He approached her with an idea for a German TV series, but Sable had other projects on her plate and didn't want to commit all of her time to the series. She approached the Screenplayers with the project and eight of us signed on to write five one-hour episodes. How did the collaboration take place, and what was the experience like? The entire collaboration was done over the Internet and by telephone. It was a challenging experience for a number of reasons. The time frame we were given didn't allow us the luxury of writing the episodes in chronological order. At any given time, we were working on three or four episodes at once. And the producer kept changing his mind about what should be in the first episode, which naturally affected all the other episodes and forced rewrites. It was like a row of dominoes falling. We had to keep setting them up all over again in order for the story to make sense. What were the biggest challenges in this project? Other than dealing with the constant changes to the story line, there were difficulties in terms of the lines of communication. The producer would talk with Sable, who would then have to contact the rest of us. While the Internet is a great communications tool, it doesn't offer the advantages one gains by sitting down around a table with a group of people, brainstorming and talking things over. I can't imagine creating a 22 episode series this way. Not at the rate of one episode per week. What did you learn? I gained a lot of respect for TV writers. It isn't easy turning out a complete story each week, especially when each episode must have a connecting thread. It requires a great deal of forward planning and, in some cases, ingenuity. Sable had the toughest job of all in that she was acting as story editor and liaison between the writers and the producer - and trying to put everything together in a very tight time frame. I definitely learned that I wouldn't want her job. Two of the Screenplayers recently signed option deals. Tell us more. Betsy submitted Christiana Claus, a wonderful family Christmas story, for review at the American Zoetrope workshop. Most workshop readers gave the story high marks. This brought the script to the attention of American Zoetrope's professional readers, who were evidently impressed, because eventually the company optioned the screenplay in conjunction with Canada's Alliance-Atlantis. Another member, Kent Graham, who has been a fantastic addition to our team, recently optioned his clever comedy, Zotzed!, to In The Light Entertainment, and the film is planned for production in Summer, 2001. Several members of your group have also won or placed in screenwriting competitions. Have any of the awards had an impact on their careers? It's difficult to quantify exactly how much of an impact these competitions have had. They've definitely been a positive, but when gains are made in this industry, it's usually a result of several things coming together at once. Betsy’s placement in the Moondance screenwriting competition attracted industry attention and was ultimately responsible for her signing with AMG. My recent success in the Telluride contest has certainly opened doors for me. Also, two of our members (Hank Isaac and Anna Raffael) just found out they made the top 250 in Project Greenlight. Doing well in a contest makes it easier to get one's work read by people who can have a significant impact upon one's career. Ultimately though, a great deal comes down to timing, having a professional attitude, and hard work. Contest success will create opportunities, but you have to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities. How has being in the group directly affected members' careers? Sometimes we're dealing with intangibles: things like inspiration and encouragement. At other times the impact takes on a more practical nature, like feedback and advice on a specific screenplay. Or it may come in the form of a new experience, like working on the German TV series. And, of course, we’re getting requests from producers, agents, and managers based on the listings on our website. I’ve just found a manager, thanks to our last e-mail campaign. Basically, we're learning from one another and exploring new directions. One of the biggest challenges has been to build credibility as a group. We're gradually accomplishing this by optioning scripts, doing well in contests, and publishing articles and books. Within the industry there is still some doubt that high quality screenplays can be found via the Net. We're proving the doubters wrong, but every one of us is aware that it's going to take a big sale to win people over in what is a surprisingly conservative business. When that big sale is made, I believe we'll see a major impact on our members’ careers. What are some of the ways your group has sought publicity? Aside from our main website (www.screenplayers.net), we've designed a very useful page for producers, directors, actors and writers. ScreenplayersNet (www.screenplayers.net/screenplayersnet.html) offers industry news and information, interviews, press releases, and valuable industry links. It also prominently displays recent Screenplayers news so we can keep our visitors up to date on our progress. We include our URL on our scripts, in our emails, and anywhere else we can think to put it. We have business cards and are in the process of having custom postcards printed. In the near future, I hope we'll be taking these materials to various festivals and perhaps even pitch marts. Because one can never have too much publicity, one of our members, Mary Case, is setting up a series of script readings for broadcast over public access television. The series is to be called Script du Jour. Anyone who wishes to get involved should go to our web site and email us via our webmistress' email link. Which Internet resources and websites would you recommend for writers? Aside from Absolute Write, the four I most often recommend are: ScreenplayersNet (www.screenplayers.net/screenplayersnet.html) American Zoetrope (www.zoetrope.com) MovieBytes (www.moviebytes.com) Mark's Screenwriting Page (www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6448/) If you can't find what you're looking for at any of these pages, you can get to it from there. How are new members chosen, and what qualities do you look for? Existing members nominate potential new members. We read at least one screenplay written by the nominee, examine his or her bio (if one is available), consider the individual's bulletin board posts, and share any personal feelings we have about that member if we've been in contact with them through email or in person. The qualities we look for are talent, dedication, and good character. In terms of talent, we look for writers who bring something special to the table: sparkling dialogue, engaging characters, fresh concepts, a highly cinematic style. What we don't expect is the writer to be all things to all people. That just isn't possible in this business or in any other. A writer whose strength is creating small, personal stories with engaging characters and strong dialogue is just as welcome as someone whose strength is high concept, action films. What we want to see is that the writer does something exceptionally well. That's enough because there's a market niche for everyone and we want to be able to offer producers a wide variety of stories. We also need to know that the nominee is serious about succeeding in this business. We are not interested in one-script wonders, regardless of how good that one project is. In order to keep our web site fresh we need fresh content and fresh successes. We also want members who are dedicated and professional enough to complete assignments on deadline. I've emphasized "character" strongly from the very beginning. A Screenplayer must be a team player with a generous nature. He or she must be able to get along with others, debate issues without getting personal, and be flexible. In other words, anti-social types need not apply. The movie business is based on relationships. And the behaviour of any one of our members reflects on the group as a whole - that's why a positive character is an essential requirement. Do producers and agents really visit your website? How do they find it? Yes, they really do! The primary way they find it is we write to them and tell them we're here. How's that for a magic formula? There are also times when an ambitious reader comes across our site after finding it through a search engine or via a link on another web page. If a screenwriter wants to establish a web presence, but doesn't have any experience with creating a website, what should he/she do? Hire a professional. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. I've seen too many poorly designed, uninviting web sites. I've seen pages that have been up for a year and haven't seen 200 visitors yet. It isn't just a matter of designing a page. That page has to be marketed, as well. You need to exchange links with related pages and get a good ranking with search engines and directories. And that page represents you. It immediately gives a visitor an impression of who you are, so it had better be a professional one. Otherwise you're wasting your time, at best. Any tips for other writers about making connections? Enter contests, attend pitch sessions, join American Zoetrope, send email and snail mail queries, create a web page and promote it - do anything you can think of to do provided it's in good taste and you don't harass people. The main thing is to tell people about your screenplay. It won't sell itself. What's something you wish you'd learned earlier about the film business? I wish I'd realized the importance of contests sooner. I'd never entered contests before because I'd thought that only the winners would benefit by doing so - and with some contests selecting as few as three scripts out of thousands, I believed my time and money was better spent directly contacting producers and agents. Since then, I've discovered that a semi-final placement (in some contests, even a quarter-final placement) can generate interest in your work because producers and agents realize that this business is very subjective. They may not like the winning screenplays, but they may find a semi-finalist script that they feel has real potential. How do you write query letters that get noticed? There is so much discussion around this and so little agreement. It's always beneficial to mention a past success, be it a contest win or an option or a positive comment you received from a well-known person in the industry. But if you don't have this I recommend that you begin your query letter with a single, attention grabbing line. Follow that with a brief synopsis of your screenplay - 30 words maximum. And then in your final paragraph add anything else that's relevant, such as some personal experience or expertise you may have that's related to the subject matter of your story. Keep your query to one page in length. Your writers have often gotten reads from agencies and production companies that claim they won't read unsolicited submissions. How have they broken through this gate? The main reason many agencies and production companies won't read unsolicited submissions is that there are so many amateurish scripts out there. They simply don't have time to sort through the poorly written, unprofessional material to find the few gems. In order to break through this barrier, you need to establish your credibility. I've already touched on a number of ways to accomplish this, but I'll emphasize one thing: be professional. No matter what happens or how you're treated, be professional. One of the major complaints that I hear from producers and agents is that too many writers take rejection personally and vent their feelings on the one who turned them down. This only helps to close the door on the offending writer and on all the other writers. What do you see in the Screenplayers' future? I see perseverance that leads to a big spec sale - mid to high six figures. And resulting publicity that lands us in major news stories in The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety. And maybe a few television interviews, too! We're in the business of creating reality from dreams. And in one of my dreams, the Screenplayers are the first to make a big sale through a script found on the Net. Visit the Screenplayers website at www.screenplayers.net Interview originally appeared in Screentalk Magazine (www.screentalk.org), January, 2001. |
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