Screenwriting?

[dclark0699]

I do. I haven't heard of BlueCat. Coverage is free?

I'm working on a crime drama right now. Enter yours in Nicholl's! But then again, if you don't, less competition for me!
All kidding aside, what do you enjoy writing? I steer towards drama.

Coverage is given to every writer who enters - the entry fee is 35 bucks if you get it in by the early deadline - I think $45 for final deadline. So certainly worth the money if coverage is what you are looking for. A lot of coverage services out there cost an exorbitant amount of money and probably wouldn't provided any revolutionary insight that only they could come up with.

At BlueCat You get about 600 words and they did a very good job of citing specific things and pointing out what they thought needed work. It used to be one of the short list of competitions that were worth entering - but in the past few years there have been so many new competitions and so many more people entering in them - that the only ones worth entering have become the ones that land you jobs (ie the Nicholl and Disney) I chose BlueCat for the coverage, because I could have been terrible and really wouldn't have had any idea.

Depending on how I do in this contest - the Nicholl and the Disney Fellowship will be what I do next year - I just wanted to get fresh eyes on in and gets some comments to make some final adjustments before I went for the big ones.

I'm all high-concept comedy - I can't take anything seriously and feel that dialogue in a drama would be very challenging. I think what really keeps me writing is the humor. It makes it enjoyable to write from page 1 to page 100, even doing the narrative aspect of it with a comedic flare. This one that I entered was my third, I've done a first draft of a fourth, and have ideas for 8-9 more (albeit several of them are bad ) i just keep writing because it is relaxing and if it ever became something more than that, it would be terrific, but I fully expect to work a long career at some news outlet somewhere.

The nice thing about crime drama is - if you can write a good one - they are very marketable without needing a whole lot of budget. I've decided those are probably the two most important things about being an unproduced writer - write to a wide audience, and write to budget.

[bigh0rt]

You are probably a 90's, not an 80's kid. Boooooo!

born in eighty-fo sucka

You have no excuse then! Princess Bride is a hysterical book and movie. Definitely go rent it.

[dclark0699]

I've been waiting to update this until stuff stops happening and I think there is a little break between now and when things start happening again.

The contest that prompted the creation of this topic ended not so happily for me, as I was eliminated. .

But tears did not last long, as I also sent it to major script coverage people, who if they like it will help you find representation and people who might be interested in making it.

Again it was well-received and I actually just got to talk to a dude from LA. Pretty sweet stuff. Needless to say I'm quite excited right now, but I have some waiting to do before it gets to and looked at by the companies contacts.

It's a tough time period to get made these days, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up and am concentrating on working on other projects, but I'll update as I get more news.

[jlm53089]

I have a question about all this...
Say I have a premise and ideas for movies, TV shows etc...
How would I go about pitching the idea to someone to get the wheels rolling?
I really would like to write a screenplay and just get some of my crazy ideas out there, but I have no idea where to begin

[dclark0699]

I have a question about all this...
Say I have a premise and ideas for movies, TV shows etc...
How would I go about pitching the idea to someone to get the wheels rolling?
I really would like to write a screenplay and just get some of my crazy ideas out there, but I have no idea where to begin

If you are a Hollywood outsider, as I am and most of us our, the only way to really do it is through what is called a "spec script". You write the script for nothing, then try to market it to agents and production companies yourself through query letters and phone calls. It's a tedious process that gets you a lot of no's and feels like you are getting nowhere.

Unfortunately, for unsold, unproduced writers we never get to pitch the idea before it is actually written. The pitches will happen if you get a meeting with an exec or agent after you have completed the script.

The only real way to avoid marketing it yourself is to win a very prestigious contest like the Nichol, or go the route I ended up in where you pay a company who will market it for you if they like it.

If you are close to LA, or know a guy or two in Hollywood, it is a little easier. By living over there it is a little easier to get meetings and actually sit down with people, although as a beginning writer they will still want you to have a body of written work for them to see. If you know someone, you can begin by showing it to them and trying to work a favor from them where they set you up with someone.

So I guess what I'm the way to begin is just to sit down and write, rewrite, and hammer it out. Then if you think you've got something marketable - go for it.

[CineMamet]

I have a question about all this...
Say I have a premise and ideas for movies, TV shows etc...
How would I go about pitching the idea to someone to get the wheels rolling?
I really would like to write a screenplay and just get some of my crazy ideas out there, but I have no idea where to begin

If you are a Hollywood outsider, as I am and most of us our, the only way to really do it is through what is called a "spec script". You write the script for nothing, then try to market it to agents and production companies yourself through query letters and phone calls. It's a tedious process that gets you a lot of no's and feels like you are getting nowhere.

Unfortunately, for unsold, unproduced writers we never get to pitch the idea before it is actually written. The pitches will happen if you get a meeting with an exec or agent after you have completed the script.

The only real way to avoid marketing it yourself is to win a very prestigious contest like the Nichol, or go the route I ended up in where you pay a company who will market it for you if they like it.

If you are close to LA, or know a guy or two in Hollywood, it is a little easier. By living over there it is a little easier to get meetings and actually sit down with people, although as a beginning writer they will still want you to have a body of written work for them to see. If you know someone, you can begin by showing it to them and trying to work a favor from them where they set you up with someone.

So I guess what I'm the way to begin is just to sit down and write, rewrite, and hammer it out. Then if you think you've got something marketable - go for it.

By the way, you should check out InkTip.com. It's much better than paying someone for coverage. InkTip allows you to market your work based on well, how well you write your material. I should know, I work for InkTip ; P.

[Matthias]

born in eighty-fo sucka

You have no excuse then! Princess Bride is a hysterical book and movie. Definitely go rent it.

i guess i should. ive never heard anyone talk about it before.

Fezzik (Andre the Giant): We face each other as God intended. Sportsmanlike. No tricks, no weapons, skill against skill alone.
Man in Black: You mean, you'll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword, and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?
Fezzik: [brandishing rock] I could kill you now.
Man in Black: I think the odds are slightly in your favor at hand fighting.
Fezzik: It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.

Prince Humperdinck: First things first, to the death.
Westley: No. To the pain.
Prince Humperdinck: I don't think I'm quite familiar with that phrase.
Westley: I'll explain and I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand, you warthog faced buffoon.
Prince Humperdinck: That may be the first time in my life a man has dared insult me.
Westley: It won't be the last. To the pain means the first thing you will lose will be your feet below the ankles. Then your hands at the wrists. Next your nose.
Prince Humperdinck: And then my tongue I suppose, I killed you too quickly the last time. A mistake I don't mean to duplicate tonight.
Westley: I wasn't finished. The next thing you will lose will be your left eye followed by your right.
Prince Humperdinck: And then my ears, I understand let's get on with it.
Westley: WRONG. Your ears you keep and I'll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, "Dear God! What is that thing," will echo in your perfect ears. That is what to the pain means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever.
Prince Humperdinck: I think your bluffing.
Westley: It's possible, Pig, I might be bluffing. It's conceivable, you miserable, vomitous mass, that I'm only lying here because I lack the strength to stand. But, then again... perhaps I have the strength after all.
[slowly rises and points sword directly at the prince]
Westley: DROP... YOUR... SWORD!
[mouth hanging open, drops sword to floor]

[Buttercup kisses the senile King]
The King: What was that for?
Buttercup: Because you have always been so kind to me, and I won't be seeing you again since I'm killing myself once we reach the honeymoon suite.
The King: Won't that be nice. She kissed me!!!

[thedude]

Vizzini: You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...
Vizzini: [Vizzini stops suddenly, and falls dead to the right]
Buttercup: And to think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.
Man in Black: They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.