ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years, 4 months ago - Jane Sanger

I would love to know any places too but I do know euroscript give bullet point or full analysis for all types of scripts reasonable rates, look at their web page, Raindance offer a feedback service for £75 on features and they hold pitch evenings for a small fee , I think £40 plus £5 cash in the hat on the night and you pitch to a panel of experts who give you feedback. LFS have pitch courses For £180 a day and you make a pitch that's analysed by your tutor and the group.

9 years, 4 months ago - Nat Nollid

Hi Jane
Thanks for that.I did a pitch at Raindance a few years ago-so not a virgin but I am due to pitch 15 times in months time on Ehollywood live so a bit nervous

9 years, 4 months ago - Peter Spencer

Hi, two things struck me in this post, one is what is reasonable? You might think that say £20 is reasonable to pay someone to service your boiler where the actual plumber might think £80 is reasonable, so what is reasonable? And I assume you want to sell your scripts at some stage, and what you think is reasonable might not be the same as the producer who is actually paying. Off on a tangent slightly, I'm always amazed by the number of writers complaining they don't get paid enough, get ripped off, who then expect everyone to provide them with things and services for free or at the lowest price, likewise the number of writers who watch fiilms illegally, thus ripping off other writers. I'd say soneone charging £75 is not bad actually, they have to read and analyse the script - and there's a soul-destroying lot of terrible crap out there to wade through. But also what matters is what they bring to the table in terms of helping you make the script better. I have no compunction in paying someone a couple of hundred pounds if they have read at a high level in the industry and can genuinely make the script better. I pay them to rip it to pieces and see how it stands up.
The second thing that grabbed me was the line: 'Trust is vital regarding poaching of ideas'. I have met so many writers who say they've written a great script but daren't send it out in case it gets stolen! So.... How do you expect it to get produced? And is your idea that great? Is it better than ALIENS for example? The Black List in Hollywood is a list of scripts that agents and producers and studios have passed around the town, people read them and liked them. If your work doesn't go out, how will it be found? Another thing, you don't own the idea. You can't copyright an idea. If you told ten writers your idea and they went off and wrote it, you'd get ten different scripts and ten different copyrights and none of them would have stolen your idea. I tell everyone what I'm working on, I put it out there, and sometimes (like the present) when I pitch the idea a little team assembles around the idea and we move forward. I pitched an idea to a producer at a screening of my last film, we are now looking for funding, If I'd been worried about her stealing the idea how would I have gotten the project where it is? Sorry to go on, but you see the same old stuff come round time and time again on Shooting People....

9 years, 4 months ago - Nat Nollid

Thanks for that- i agree with much of it -tho have heard of ppl sending stuff-show concepts or scripts- to Beeb or C4 -told its no good-then it ends up in some sketch show a few years down the line-a friend is adamant about not trusting the BBC