You sacrificed countless hours of personal life and your peace of mind, pouring your souls on the pages, and, to be completely truthful, you almost every day reviewed the results of your work and, consequently, made new decisions. You know that creating a script requires the creation of several ready-made projects and there are not those who are successful sending the very first draft of their scripts to festivals or competitions. Ultimately, one real scenario is worth creating a million mediocre scripts. So, you have started to work.
You rewrite, review and collected reviews. And finally, your script is ready. You are overwhelmed with feelings of accomplishment and pride, quite like feelings of loving parents, at the birth of the first child. The script you created, how the glorious Phoenix rose from the ashes. But then a new difficult task arises – to be able to show your script.
Of the more than one hundred thousand scenarios and three hundred films submitted annually, only about ten come from novice writers – the chances are frightening. However, the whole thing is in figures, which means that the more you show your script, the higher the likelihood that it will be seen.
After you have written several draft versions of the script, and now you are sure that it is ready, consider these 6 tips on what to do next with your script:
Do not seek to sell your script
This may sound completely contradictory, but when it comes to selling a script that no one ordered to immediately buy, then you have a chance only to consider the script as your resume.
Simply put, the first scenario should be used to demonstrate yourself as a writer, so that in the future you can build a career by creating scenarios paid for by film studios. Instead of working on selling your script, work on selling yourself. Keep in mind that even if customers like your script, the question inevitably arises: “What else do you have in stock?” You must respond with another script, or at least have a detailed pitching. So never stop writing. Concentrate on creating your career.
Selling your script is one of the transactions in building a career that can take a lifetime. You must continue to work, improve, revise, adapt and orient in the industry. Writers must constantly improve and, the better you write, the more likely your chance to sell or, more importantly, build a solid and fruitful career. Competitions are also a place where they get connections, thanks to which there is more opportunity to show scripts to managers. For example, several of our students received proposals after sending their scripts to the Film Festival in Austin.
Make a short version of your movie.
Now, you can use the script as a summary or as a creation, but in order to be noticed, you still have to advertise the script in the most concise and improved form. A short film created according to your script will be the most powerful business card you can watch. Perhaps you find it difficult to fit the whole script in a short meter, but this important skill is worth mastering. The platforms YouTube and Vimeo are excellent platforms for you, they are also used to gather information.
Competitions
Winning the contest will instantly increase the chances of viewing your work, will inspire confidence in you, as a script writer, improve your profile and that’s not all-in many competitions winners are offered cash prizes. Why do not you take part in competitions as much as possible? Annually many competitions are held, both by large players, such as PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, and less known, but not less significant, such as the Final Draft Big Break Contest. Take part!
Request letter or Email
This is very important, in order for everything to work out. In the letter, with the request / e-mail, information about you and about the contents of the script is indicated. Letters go to the studio, agents and managers. This may seem simple, but since industry regulations leave little space for listening to information from unknown writers (although managers are a bit more open to finding new talents) you will need to write a very good letter with a request that will take a lot of patience and perseverance. Despite the fact that it will exhaust all your opportunities in establishing contacts, this will increase your chances of being heard and the chances of the possibility of exposing your script. This is the case when a short film can help you very much. Busy and important people rarely have time to sit and read entire scenarios of unknown authors, so in addition to a brief description of the story in the request, give a link to the finished short film.
Pitchfest (or round table)
No matter how it may sound, it is a conference that industry representatives gather to share their knowledge and find hidden talents. Participation in these events is a key factor for novice script writers, oriented not only to selling their scenarios, but also to creating a network of contacts and receiving feedback. Also Pitchfests offers you the ideal platform for honing the pitching skills that you need to successfully participate. Come with honed pitching, always ask to leave feedback and do not forget to thank in the end!
Listing services
There are many sites offering catalogs for people searching for scripts. Sites such as the Black List, Spetsche Scout and Tracking Board (among many others) give you a paid platform to advertise your work directly to the industry’s customers, as well as the ability to receive feedback about your work.
Since it may seem intimidating to the novice scriptwriters selling the scripts, do not forget that innovative films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Back To the Future” were also among the many brilliant scripts repeatedly rejected at the beginning. The common denominator in all these cases was the unshakable passion that the writers felt for their work, and persistence when their work slowed down.
However, do not forget that all these rules work only with the proper level of material. No one will undertake a non-quality job, so it’s worthwhile to approach writing with all responsibility, so that the years spent on training are not wasted. By the way, I noticed that my best texts are obtained when I recall with what responsibility I wrote persuasive essay when I was studying at a university because responsibility in those days was proportionate to the current.