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nobody reads scripts anymore

3 years, 5 months ago - Jay y

director friend of mine said this to me last week; it begs the question so all you need is a really good treatment and an excellent 'visual deck'?

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3 years, 5 months ago - Marlom Tander

I think it depends on your market.

Certainly a LOT of modern blockbusters seem to have little attention paid to the script. Probably because they are designed to work with other language audiences. "Who's on First?" only works for English speakers :-)

OTOH, good long form TV is absolutely script driven.

Response from 3 years, 5 months ago - Marlom Tander SHOW

3 years, 5 months ago - Jay y

"Who's on first?" not sure what you mean

Response from 3 years, 5 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 5 months ago - James McCann

Who's on first is an Abbot and Costello sketch. Stop whatever you're doing right now and got and find it on YT.

Response from 3 years, 5 months ago - James McCann SHOW

3 years, 5 months ago - Philip Carr

Joke goes on a bit too long ?
Everybody in the business thinks they are too busy to read a 90 minute screenplay unless they know a credited writer and most agents, producers won’t accept unsolicited submissions so where do you start ?

Response from 3 years, 5 months ago - Philip Carr SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna

Make your own film.

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna SHOW

2 years, 10 months ago - Nolonger Here

100% this.

Response from 2 years, 10 months ago - Nolonger Here SHOW

2 years, 10 months ago - Jay y

which means you spend your own money , which can be a bit of a no-no..

Response from 2 years, 10 months ago - Jay y SHOW

2 years, 9 months ago - alexander forsey

Exactly!

Response from 2 years, 9 months ago - alexander forsey SHOW

2 years, 9 months ago - alexander forsey

Les Amants du Pont-Neuf was funded and made by its crew over a period of 8 years. A passion for what you are involved in and a love of what you do are the main ingredients rerquired. I always read the script. However I'm not interested in block busters and have read one good script this year :)

Response from 2 years, 9 months ago - alexander forsey SHOW

2 years, 9 months ago - alexander forsey

Corre ction part funded by crew but a dedication to the project was the main point!

Response from 2 years, 9 months ago - alexander forsey SHOW

3 years, 5 months ago - Jay y

So moving forward; perhaps if you've a decent idea and spent time making your treatment tight and have a good pro looking deck, you're on the runway..

Response from 3 years, 5 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 5 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

To get a your script 'solicited', you write a query letter. Then, if they like the query (or your bio), the agent or producer will ask to see the script.

Now, there don't seem to be as many spec scripts in the news as there were in the 50s, 70s or 90s, but they still get picked up. However, it does appear that a lot more is written on commission. (No treatment either, a writer is hired to adapt something. However, a spec script is probably still useful to get that first job or at least show your talent.)

Pitch decks are for producers, not writers. I think they are replacing traditional business plans as budgets tend to be written after funding is secured. (and income projections was always a guess but are less relevant in the days of online content.) They were really popular with silicon valley recently. I guess as Netflix and Apple and amazon are run by techies, maybe they are more familiar with that format.

A lot of people never read scripts.

What your friend should say is no one reads budgets or business plans anymore. (Especially not income projections for a TV movie on Netflix.)

Response from 3 years, 5 months ago - Vasco de Sousa SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y

But I think that a good visual deck, will help get a producers curiosity peaked enough to read a treatment which in itself is 8-12 pages (depending on your POV), and therefore still an investment of time; and then perhaps onward to commission the script.

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y

I think you'd defo need a budget before you got finance otherwise how would the investors know what they were letting themselves in for/ should invest?

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa

@jason y If you are pitching to a studio (including Netflix, Channel 4, BBC...) they often decide on a project and then allocate a budget. If you are pitching to an indie producer, they listen to the pitch and guess at an approximate budget.
The indie producer looking for individual investors may need to know a budget, but they do not get that information from a writer. In fact, they may suggest changes to the script if they don't think they can raise enough to make it as written. (And they won't say that with money numbers, because professional producers don't expect writers to know how much things cost.)

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa SHOW

2 years, 6 months ago - Jay y

but without an agent , is anyone going to be taken seriously ? - add in the mitigating factor
if you're not black , asian , female, gay , disabled -

Response from 2 years, 6 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 4 months ago - Anca Badita

I think you still need a script Jason. After all if a producer read your treatment and thought this sounds great s/he would want to read the script and wouldn't be impressed that you haven't written it yet.

Response from 3 years, 4 months ago - Anca Badita SHOW

3 years, 4 months ago - Terri Potoczna

Agree. After the martinis and antipasto, you must have the pièce de résistance. Mixing cuisines here a bit but you get my drift.

Response from 3 years, 4 months ago - Terri Potoczna SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y

@Terri Potoczna ok I take that on board

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 4 months ago - Peter Spencer

I'm presently shopping a series with a director and when we go in (to UK) producers/production companies with our pitch deck a large number of people don't know what it is. Treatment and script are still (for us , so far) working better. On getting an agent. I set a schedule, chose all the agents I was interested in, and sent a query email every four weeks, over and over again, until I got one, where the right query hit the right agent on the right day, which led to a meeting and being signed. I never waited for replies, (very few agents EVER replied) but every four weeks the query went out. When the right moment came (and this was an agency I'd queried before) I had a reply within an hour and a meeting two days later. It was just fated, but I had to put the effort in.

Response from 3 years, 4 months ago - Peter Spencer SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y

That's interesting, yet I still think a visual mood board help people visualize and enter into what a project will look like and potentially be excited by, as opposed to just words on a page..

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y

So you're getting / have found, an agent as a way into getting a potential Production Co. involved in your project?
Did you try going direct to potential Prod Co.s or is that just too naive an approach?

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y

Peter, am I right in thinking that Producers/ production co's wont touch a writer/director, unless one has agent?

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna

I've been reading loads of scripts. I love reading scripts. But that's me and that's short scripts.

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna SHOW

3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y

thats great but short scripts are much less a daunting proposition to 75+ pages...

Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Jay y SHOW

2 years, 9 months ago - Elie de Rosen

I think that's an exaggeration. It'd be more accurate to say that first impressions are crucial. Your reader has to find the first 10 pages interesting, otherwise they'll stop reading. At least, that's what my industry contacts have told me.

Response from 2 years, 9 months ago - Elie de Rosen SHOW

2 years, 6 months ago - Yuki : the After Effect guy

If anybody here has a screenplay, I can read it and give you a feedback for free :)
Because I want to be a screenwriting consultant in the future !!

Response from 2 years, 6 months ago - Yuki : the After Effect guy SHOW