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To post or not to post a script? (currently 2901 views)
dogglebe
Posted: December 13th, 2009, 12:51pm
Guest User
Quoted from mcornetto
But, personally, I think the paranoia about not selling a script if it's posted online here is just that - paranoia.
I agree. Keep in mind that, by posting here, your scripts receive the feedback needed to improve them. I don't think there's a single script, on these boards, that are perfect. Every script here benefits from being posted here; you shouldn't submit to an agent or producer until after it's been reviewed by a bunch of us.
No script, even one that has been rewritten 100 times, filmed, made a billion dollars and won every award for writing in existence, is perfect.
And I'd point out that I have seen scripts on this site which have had multiple reviews contradicting each other - what one person likes, another won't. And in the end, it comes down to the writer of the script to decide what works in their script - not a committee of SS members.
TBF I didn't say ANY production company, I just said Hollywood Companies (At least I think I did).
I wouldn't take too much notice of what I say anyway. I try and be a bit knowledgeable but I can hardly claim overriding knowledge of everyone in such a vast Industry.
If someone was to post a script on here that was so good, so breathtakingly orignial that we all read it and loved it. If it moved us so much that we told everyone on the site about it and they all loved it so much they told their friends about it. If they all couldn't believe how good it was and passed it on to their friends and it ended up that ordinary people were reading it over their breakfast cereal and telling their friends about it in the bar, then a million people tried to join the site just to read it, or tried to download it and a huge clamour built up to see it made into a film...
...Then I guarantee, I absolutely guarantee that a Hollywood company would be interested. The execs wouldn't be able to sleep at night for the sound of money clanking in their ears.
Hollywood doesn't go around looking under every stone for the next big thing, because it doesn't need to. It's got access to any intellectual property it wants, best selling novels, comics, computer games etc Little risk stuff that should keep the tills ticking over.
It will check stuff out that is making a big noise though.
I think anyway. I don't know for sure. But it makes financial and logical sense to me.
TBF I didn't say ANY production company, I just said Hollywood Companies (At least I think I did).
I wouldn't take too much notice of what I say anyway. I try and be a bit knowledgeable but I can hardly claim overriding knowledge of everyone in such a vast Industry.
If someone was to post a script on here that was so good, so breathtakingly orignial that we all read it and loved it. If it moved us so much that we told everyone on the site about it and they all loved it so much they told their friends about it. If they all couldn't believe how good it was and passed it on to their friends and it ended up that ordinary people were reading it over their breakfast cereal and telling their friends about it in the bar, then a million people tried to join the site just to read it, or tried to download it and a huge clamour built up to see it made into a film...
...Then I guarantee, I absolutely guarantee that a Hollywood company would be interested. The execs wouldn't be able to sleep at night for the sound of money clanking in their ears.
Hollywood doesn't go around looking under every stone for the next big thing, because it doesn't need to. It's got access to any intellectual property it wants, best selling novels, comics, computer games etc Little risk stuff that should keep the tills ticking over.
It will check stuff out that is making a big noise though.
I think anyway. I don't know for sure. But it makes financial and logical sense to me.
When I read your post, I got all tingly thinking about the people on here and what they're capable of in terms of talent. Yup, I can see it too, blazing in the sky: SimplyHollywood.
The feature scripts that Scriptshadow reviews (and is sometimes able to post) are for the most part a whole level above feature scripts submitted here for review and comment.
I think SS is enough under the radar that you can get some meaningful feedback IF the people that can deliver said meaningful feedback would deliver and you could still put your script out there incognito (under a different title).
No one posts a script here, thinking it's awful... except maybe that Screenrider's Blasphemous Adventure script. The point is, you'll walk away with something if it gets critiqued, here, and you'll know where you can make improvements on it. I'm not saying that you have to make changes to everything people say, but if everyone says the story is slow, or the characters are two dimensional, you should listen.
TBF I didn't say ANY production company, I just said Hollywood Companies (At least I think I did).
I wouldn't take too much notice of what I say anyway. I try and be a bit knowledgeable but I can hardly claim overriding knowledge of everyone in such a vast Industry.
I know. I meant any Hollywood company.
It was your comment together with that article that made me wonder. It wasn't in regards to my own scripts btw.
I might listen more than you think. After having been here for years, I know who's opinions I pay attention to.
It was your comment together with that article that made me wonder. It wasn't in regards to my own scripts btw.
I might listen more than you think. After having been here for years, I know who's opinions I pay attention to.
Re-reading the article, one thing that strikes me is the assumption that aspiring screenwriters have direct access to these scripts. He has the absolute belief that all aspiring writers are already working for the major companies as interns, or readers.
I think that tells it's own story. You've got to be in that circle to make it. If you're dead set on making it that route (The Hollywood route), you've got to drop everything and get an internship at a major studio and work your way up.
If you don't want to go that route, it doesn't mattter a jot where you post the script. The more people that see and hear of it the better.
I think it's fair to say that there is fear in the air. The studios sound desperate to avoid their stories being savaged before they've had the chance to pull the wool over people's eyes. Sounds like they are desperate to protect their little monopoly. The other thread about Paramount hoping to make micro-budget films kind of backs that up. They don't want anyone else to have a chance to compete.
Write your scripts. Network. Try and get a great agent. Pitch your stuff. Do whatever you can to get noticed by the big guys, but don't let them scare you into hiding your stuff from the rest of the world. We don't need them anymore.
If every last major curls up and dies in a corner, we'll still be able to make films.
Write your scripts. Network. Try and get a great agent. Pitch your stuff. Do whatever you can to get noticed by the big guys, but don't let them scare you into hiding your stuff from the rest of the world. We don't need them anymore.
If every last major curls up and dies in a corner, we'll still be able to make films.
Fuck yes!!! You know what? I really don't care a shit about Hollywood truthfully. I care about "Our Hollywood".
We've got people here that care about life and extracting what they can from it.
It doesn't matter "what that is" really, but it's about your desire within "what that really is".
Truthfully, I will join with Balt in many of the words he's expressed. He might sound like an asshole, but in my mind, he's got it all together.
My feeling is and my advice is:
To do what you love to do, BUT!!!!!
There's one stipulation!!!!! You must do it for the RIGHT REASON!!!!!
When a person figures that out, then they're on the right track at least and it doesn't matter at that point if they win or lose in this life, but we hit the proverbial:
It's: "How you play the game".
So play nice everyone. (And as Logan says, "Don't curse God.")
Meh, I'm of the mind if it's good it'll find its way someday... you just might not be alive to see it is all. Anyways, post your work if "YOU" feel "YOU" can benefit from it and of it. If you feel there is an abundant group of competent writers here that can help "YOU" improve your work then don't be afraid to post it up and share it... It'll go through changes anyways. An idea is only as good as the writer can make it. Sure a group can give you input and tell you what direction you should go in but ultimately it's your work.
I don't post scripts anymore cos of time, lack of interest from others and no real competition in the genre I write in. Sure I've written outside the horror/thriller/oddity genre but none of those scripts showcase my talents like the former genres do. And, subsequently no one wants to read 90 to 120 page horror flicks anymore... It's all about the 5 page epics. And that's cool... I network with writers here and there and send my work out and that's fine with me. If I see a script here in my genre that "I" feel is so good I have to challenge it or it challenges me as a writer, then I'll toss something up...
To end this speil... don't be afraid to showcase your worth. If you feel you have something to show, and it's good enough to contend, get it out there if this is the business you want to pursue. Don't let anyone tell you, certainly not me, what you are capable of doing. More importantly, don't let anyone cheapen the worth of this site while you're at it... Yeah, you might not be guaranteed to have Hollywood beatin' down you're door or a 7 figure contract by coming here but you will find that the value of the site has no price tag in terms of what it can offer you.
Meh, I'm of the mind if it's good it'll find its way someday... you just might not be alive to see it is all. Anyways, post your work if "YOU" feel "YOU" can benefit from it and of it. If you feel there is an abundant group of competent writers here that can help "YOU" improve your work then don't be afraid to post it up and share it... It'll go through changes anyways. An idea is only as good as the writer can make it. Sure a group can give you input and tell you what direction you should go in but ultimately it's your work.
I don't post scripts anymore cos of time, lack of interest from others and no real competition in the genre I write in. Sure I've written outside the horror/thriller/oddity genre but none of those scripts showcase my talents like the former genres do. And, subsequently no one wants to read 90 to 120 page horror flicks anymore... It's all about the 5 page epics. And that's cool... I network with writers here and there and send my work out and that's fine with me. If I see a script here in my genre that "I" feel is so good I have to challenge it or it challenges me as a writer, then I'll toss something up...
To end this speil... don't be afraid to showcase your worth. If you feel you have something to show, and it's good enough to contend, get it out there if this is the business you want to pursue. Don't let anyone tell you, certainly not me, what you are capable of doing. More importantly, don't let anyone cheapen the worth of this site while you're at it... Yeah, you might not be guaranteed to have Hollywood beatin' down you're door or a 7 figure contract by coming here but you will find that the value of the site has no price tag in terms of what it can offer you.
And I think that THAT, is worth taking to the bank and depositing!
Personally, I have no problem posting shorts or features on here. If my ideas are any good and draw attention, I'd be happy to have it made by an Indie Film maker, who really cares about hollywood?
As long as your material is executed properly, it's all good in my book
I'd love to see my work become eternal in film, that would be the most satisfying thing... but, a little bit of cash wouldn't hurt.
I believe this site will one day have a member's feature turned into a blockbuster.