ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXScreenplay to production.
8 years, 5 months ago - James Kearney
Hi, a certain production company are looking at my Screenplay, they said it was really good...they asked me to leave it with them and they'll get back to me. This was 4 days ago and they haven't got back, I know it's early days but can someone tell me what happens next?
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8 years, 4 months ago - Nick Brown
Could be another day, could be four months, could be never :) The most hit and miss business in the world! Best of luck.
8 years, 4 months ago - James Kearney
Hopefully it's some time soon, I'm really anxious as it's my first glimmer of hope ;)
8 years, 4 months ago - Nick Brown
@James Kearney
The fact that they've already expressed a positive opinion is promising. Good advice below; if option offered do consider very carefully.
8 years, 4 months ago - James Kearney
@Nick Brown Cheers Nick ;)
8 years, 4 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin
Congratulations :)
There are no hard, fast rules, but what you may hear next is that they want to 'option' it. An option is the right to buy the script if they can find investors, think of it as "first bagsies". For an option, you will agree a sale price, an option price, and a duration. In the good old days, an option might be 10% of the sale price, so a £10,000 agreed sale price might get you £1,000 on the signing of the option for 2 years, and if the film goes into production you get the other £9,000. If it doesn't, the option expires and you are no longer legally obliged to give the production company first bagsies.
If they get close to a sale, and need more time, option agreements can include the right to renew, usually on the same terms as first time.
Beware of the £1 option - it can really mess things up for you. It is the production company wanting to both eat their cake and still have it. This buggered things up for a friend recently. If they really are serious get them to put their hands in their pockets and come up with real money - if they don't, they're not seriously confident of getting the production budget. Even if you agree a 5% option (ie £500 on £10k), it means you've not wasted your time entirely with your script off the market for 2 years.
BTW the balancing 90%/95%/whatever is usually payable on the first day of production.
8 years, 4 months ago - James Kearney
Cheers Paddy, the feature I wrote is based on true events and I done my homework and the company in question has produced a lot of these kind of movies that reflect real life, one being I Daniel Blake... The bloke who read my screenplay happens to be my second cousin, I think I've already mentioned this. Anyway I've sent him a few of my screenplays, some of them he thought were terrible and some he's liked but this one he says he really liked and thought it was hilarious and he's passed it on to a couple of people ;)
8 years, 4 months ago - Richard Anthony Dunford
All about who you know in this business. Good luck with it.
8 years, 4 months ago - James Kearney
Cheers, it's not all good because he's said a lot of my Screenplays are crap ;) well,the first few I sent him but I'm really starting to get better now he's gave me a few pointers...
8 years, 4 months ago - James Argyll
The good news is that this chap said some of your previous scripts were crap. This at least confirms you're talking to someone less prone to bullshit which suggests that the praise can be considered genuine when it arrives.
Keep working on your other scripts and shoot him an email in three or four weeks if you haven't heard anything.
There's nothing stopping you from getting others to read your script in the meantime. If it is objectively good then there's no reason why someone else won't find it subjectively good too.
Whatever you do, best not to wait for the phone to ring, that will only lead to frustration. Best of luck.
8 years, 4 months ago - James Kearney
Cheers James ☺