According to Plan by Gary Howell (Hawkeye ) and Rick Hansberry - Drama - A former professor with early onset dementia convinces his teenage grandson and 16 year-old neighbor to drive him to his old home to find a treasure he claims to have once hidden, but when things don't go according to plan, the grandson will have to deal with an unfortunate past. 96 pages - pdf, format 8)

Thanks to Don as always for getting this up!

I had this posted to the "Drama" board, but this is sort of a tweener, as it's more of a dramedy.  

For any producers or directors, this is a low-budget piece with really four main characters.  A road piece in the vein of "Little Miss Sunshine" or "Nebraska" that doesn't have any complicated shots or action.  It would also easily get a PG-13 rating.

Look forward to comments!

Gary

Heck of a logline buddy lol

I'll try and check this out this week

Mark

So some good news here!

Rick and I signed an option (and a nicely paid one, at that!) on this back in December with Traffic City Productions in L.A. The interesting thing is that the producer, Josh Monkarsh, asked us to do a complete rewrite using the base story but changing the tone and direction.  It's also been renamed "The Journeyers" (for now). We just finished the first draft on the new story and turned it in so things are progressing!

We'll keep you updated on whether it gets moving forward into production!

Gary

Wow - great news. Best of luck

Big congratulations, guys. =)

Congratulations. Great news!

Thanks guys!

Is it possible for you to share what steps you took (or didn't) to get the project this far?

Thx

Tony, I'm afraid there's not a ton to the story.  Rick and I had drafted this over a year ago.  I sent it to a couple of contests and got some feedback from different people, but basically we thought we had a pretty decent script and there wasn't a lot of changes we needed to make.  We didn't actively go out and market it to managers or agents or try to get pitches.  We just let it stay here on Simply Scripts for over a year and ultimately it got noticed by a producer who was looking for a script that involved a character with Alzheimer's.  

He indicated he was first drawn to the script by the log line, and after reading the script, he wanted to talk with us more.  After talking, we knew he had an interest in it and so we just asked if he was interested in an option on the script.  We didn't mention numbers at all.  He came back right away with an offer and because Rick and I both thought it was a fair offer, we agreed to it.  Now we did have to completely rewrite the script -- you wouldn't recognize the current version with what is linked above, but that was because he has some specific ideas in mind about how he wanted it to play out.  I guess you could say he optioned the premise rather than the script.

What I would say at the end of the day is that some people will call what happened dumb luck, but it's definitely much more than that.  First of all, this is now the third time someone has found me from a script I posted here on Simply Scripts.  The short "Family Man" led to a contract to write "Broad Daylight" for Matthew George and Acacia Filmed Entertainment, the short "Roadside Attraction" was found and filmed last year (was called "Country Road 12" and starred Dee Wallace, from "E.T." and "Cujo."  "According to Plan" was the third to get picked up.  So it's not really luck. Second,  a LOT of producers are on this site scouring for scripts daily. Don and his moderators have done a GREAT job making this site mean something.

So for lack of a better story on what we actually did, what I would tell everyone is to have a KILLER log line that hooks a potential reader. A boring or meandering log line will stop a script reader in their tracks.  And once you have a log line that gets people to look further, make sure you have a script that is 100% ready to read.  It's engaging, it's concise (I hate reading lengthy action blocks) it has a GREAT story (not just a great premise, as that only gets you so far), and dialogue that rings true (i.e., not on the nose and not expository).

If you can get those things down, eventually someone is going to notice.  May not be for that first script, or even the one you think is your best script.  But keep plugging away, keep posting scripts here on this site (as long as they're 100% ready!), and keep networking with other writers. Find a writing partner who will be an HONEST sounding board for your work -- not just praise you regardless of what is on the page.  Rick and I aren't afraid to tell each other how we really feel about a line or an entire scene.  Case in point: I had written five pages for the new script and sent it to Rick to follow up with additional pages. When it came back, four of the pages I had written were completely gone, because he didn't think they worked and weren't progressing the story. An honest partner can make a big difference in your overall writing ability and hold you accountable to meet deadlines and raise your overall game.

Not sure if that helped, but there you go!

Gary

Gary and Rick, totally awesome and a BIG congrats!!!

Totally agree on SS being the most effective place to get producers/filmmakers to find your scripts!!!

Any news on the heist script? That one kicked ass, as far as I'm concerned!!!  :)

Hey Pia! Always good to hear from you -- and thanks!

The heist film - "Broad Daylight" -- is sort of stuck in neutral at the moment.  The production company keeps moving other films up in production ahead of it, like "LBJ" with Woody Harrelson, "Wind River" with Jeremy Renner, and "Shock and Awe" with Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones.  So it's a waiting game at the moment.  I'm going back to the director to see I can just do another re-write on it and see if we can't get it off center.

Hope your projects are going well these days!