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Selling Your Script or Idea: Going Hollywood
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
As a manager in Hollywood, Miss P., an executive with an entertainment
management company, receives thousands of queries, yet only requests to
see a few. This means that if you have a properly formatted, well told
riveting story that you can be part of the few. Although she's actively
looking for projects and new talent via email, hard copy letter or fax,
she prefers email. Most Hollywood agents won't respond to queries they
have no interest in, and many don't even consider ideas from new (read
inexperienced) writers. It's imperative to know the rules....
Miss P. says that it's an absolute faux pas to send multiple query letters
or even to make contact to find out the status of your query. How to know
what works so you'll get a response?
1. Clearly State the Genre.
"The scripts that sell as specs tend to be very basic-genre driven.
As someone once told me, that means the ideas 'sit in a chair, as opposed
to falling between chairs'," she says. "A basic-genre has a
particular structure and certain story beats that it needs to hit. The
genres that typically have the most commercial appeal are—on the
light side, comedy - which can be "broad comedy" for a wider
audience (Liar Liar or Bringing Down the House) or "teen" oriented
(American Pie), romantic-comedy (Sweet Home Alabama or The Wedding Planner),
action-comedy (Lethal Weapon or True Lies); and —on the dark side,
action (Fast and the Furious), thriller (Sixth Sense), and horror (The
Ring). Each of these genres elicits a certain emotion from the audience
unlike the terms 'period', 'sports', 'musical', 'family', or 'sci-fi,
which can be married to these basic genres."
2. Develop a One to Two Sentence Logline.
After noting the genre, your logline is the next thing an agent or manager
reviews. It's your "sell" sentence that sums up the story and
gives enough of a teaser about what is to come that makes it unputdownable.
Here are some examples from current movies: Pursuit of Happyness—True
story of a once-homeless single father, Christopher Gardner, who raised
himself up to become a successful stock broker.
The Queen—The story of the death of Princess Diana of Wales and
the relationship between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the British
Royal Family upon hearing of her death.
And an old favorite: When Harry Met Sally—In this romantic comedy,
after meeting each other on the drive from college to New York, a man
and woman continuously run into one another. They're repelled by one another
at first, but over time they come to learn that they were meant to be
together.
3. Create Your Synopsis.
Your synopsis is a more detailed summary of the story that gives a flavor
of your style. Here is the one for Shaw Shank Redemption—Andy Dufresne,
a mild mannered New England banker, is convicted of murdering his wife
and her lover. Despised at first by the other inmates because of his introverted
manner, Andy slowly forges an unlikely friendship with Red, a seasoned
lifer and his gang. Soon, Andy also becomes popular with the prison guards,
including the vicious Captain Hadley who offers him protection against
the jail's rougher convicts in exchange for financial counseling. The
prison warden also takes advantage of Andy's banking knowledge by exchanging
privileges for creative bookkeeping. Over a twenty year period, Andy is
able to maintain his sanity and dignity in prison not by physical force
but by mental force. His smarts and confidence keep him going and he is
able to teach the other prisoners that hope is the ultimate means of survival.
4. Make it Emotional.
Pitch master Michael Hauge, who has consulted on projects for Warners,
Disney, Columbia, New Line, CBS, and more, tells us that people don't
go to the movies "so they can see the characters on the screen laugh,
cry, get frightened, or get turned on. They go to have those experiences
themselves." He says they want to have the opportunity to "experience
emotion." Keep this key point in mind when you're preparing to pitch
your idea. Recommended Reading: "Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds:
The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read," by Michael
Hauge. (BTW, Miss P. was one of the industry experts interviewed in his
book).
5. Submit Your Query.
The more you know about the firm and the person you're sending your query
to the better. This should go without saying, but so many people submit
their ideas to agents, managers, attorneys and entertainment firms without
knowing the first thing about their focus, how they prefer to receive
submissions, and in what form they prefer their submissions.
Even I get emails addressed to "Dear Sir" asking me for aid,
information and guidance. I don't read them. Imagine an agency getting
hundreds of such requests a week. You'll need to get and keep the attention
of the gatekeepers in the first 10 seconds that it takes to read your
logline. Know how to submit your query properly.
Miss P. says, "Your arc as a writer is to transition from outsider
to insider, and the more access and credibility you have within the system
the easier it is to facilitate certain types of projects, especially dramas,
independent films, or something you would like to helm as a director.
Also consider that most of the movies you are seeing are ideas that have
been internally developed by studio producers, based on their own idea,
an article, a book adaptation, a re-make or a sequel. New writers' ideas
are held to a higher standard than a lot of what is getting made by the
insiders."
Join us for the teleclass so you can
go
from outsider to insider.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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