How Do I Get My Movie treatment Read

[deconx]

Hi,
How do I get my movie idea read by the right person.

I have written a movie treatment "First Person Shooter". Ive sent it to the main producers/agents that have their info on the web, but with no reply from most and an unopened return envelope from others!

Is there any way to get support for my idea from people on the web, without people copying my idea.

 

[micdavis]

First, get an agent.

Nobody will read anything without one, unless you are really lucky or have an in somewhere.

It is generally is about who you know.

 

[8 perf]

Mic is right. Producers/ production companies will NOT read your script unless it was given to them from a bonnified literary agent that deals in film and tv scripts. It protects them as well as you so that your ideas are not stolen, generally speaking. You should also register your script with the Writers Guild of America. This too will help protect your ideas once they are "in the wild".
I'm not sure how receptive they would be by you sending in a "treatment" over an actual script. The treatment is usually written in prose format while a script is in, well, "script" format. If you send the latter, make sure it is the correct format. There are a few word processing like programs out there that are specifically designed to do this. Two that come to mind are "Final Draft" and "Celtx". FD might be more well known in the industry, but it costs $$. Celtx is free and open source and will work on Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. Both will generate the necessary formatting for your writing just fine.
Good luck with it. Its a tough egg to crack.

 

[terryr]

Most stuff goes straight into the round file. [garbage] or is sent back unopened. All the addresses in books and online are BS. And if they did use it how would you prove it is yours?

First register it with the Screen Writers Guild. But they take only complete scripts, or maybe digital now. For 20 bucks they keep it 5 years. You put the number on the script, and now they know that you know something about the procedures.

That's still no guarantee. They take 50,000 scripts a year. At 20 a pop that's a cool million to them. But only a few hundred movies get made every year.

You have to make contacts and practice your BS skills. That's why so many crappy movies get made. They BSed their way in, and because the execs can't tell a good script from bad, they go for it.

 

[TheNickFox]

About the only way to "backdoor" your way in is to make a celebrity friend or two and get them to "attach" themselves to the project. Basically making them say, "If this gets made, I guarantee I will be a part of it." The can attach themselves as a producer, director, actor, whatever, but the bigger the name the easier time you'll have.

A buddy of mine is developing a TV pilot and even with decent connections couldn't get it out there and read...until he got a major Hollywood actor (Sorry, I'm not actually allowed to name names) attached himself as producer. Immediately a whole new bunch of doors opened for him, and a few channels are now talking to him about possible deals.

Sadly, even then it's not easy. Unless you have a track record, or someone with a track record to vouch for you, this is one of the toughest industries to crack. Good luck.

-Nick

 

[DarkHelmet]

Yep, a literary agent is about the only way to get it read, which really isn't that bad if you have a GREAT script because if it is great (not good), they will jump all over it.

Send a PM to Jetbeetle (Paul). He is the man when it comes to this. He wrote and sold "Sky High" and is still active in the industry. He can give you the best advise. He is also a super guy to talk too. He's helped me quite a bit.

 

[terryr]

And don't pay to have it read. That's a Readers job. They get paid to read. They are plenty of scammers in hollyweird too. They'll be very interested in your stuff...until the check clears.

And have fun with it. We'll do lunch.

 

[Jet Beetle]

You don't need an agent - which is good because landing one at Endeavor (Now Endeavor William Morris), UTA, or CAA is going to be impossible with this being your first step into the business, and beside that - you don't want an agent right now. The agencies will bury you under their heavy hitting clients and work will be harder to get than if you had no agent at all. Plus, no agency will have you until you join the writer's guild - the only way to do that is to sell a script. How do you sell a script without an agent to get into the guild to get an agent!?!? What would serve you best is to write your story into a full screenplay - as heartbreaking as it is, no one will pay attention to a treatment by a newcomer - tell you the truth no one would pay attention to a treatment written by me either. We (as writers) have to do the work. If you don't believe in your movie idea enough to spend a few months to a year working out the details, characters moments, no one else will. It took me 3 sales before i landed a agent who wasn't hip pocketing me. But that doesn't have to be the way it happens for you.

A manager is 100 times easier to get and if you get a good one - they will work harder for you. The problem with managers is getting a good one.

There's a great line that goes "we all survive on other people's good graces". I did and so did my mentors. I'll help anyone I can - but the work is hard and it must be done by you - it's your baby. It takes a lot of work to get something from good to great - but, I can tell you there are a couple of guys on this board who have already made great strides with their work and it's only a matter of time for them -- even great ideas need their moment.

If you are willing to write out your movie, I'm willing to look it over, talk to you about it and when we agree it's ready I'll pass it on to 4 people who I know are damn good that are dying for new blood.

I'll PM you so we can chat.

 

[Jedifyfe]

That's cool of you Jet. The way I did it was I was I had a good friend working at Warner Brothers, he later became an Executive at Dreamworks. He was kind enough to get my scripts past the interns and straight into the next level. You will have no chance to be a succesfull newbie screenwriter living anywhere other than LA or NY. Just won't happen.

 

[Jet Beetle]

That's cool of you Jet. The way I did it was I was I had a good friend working at Warner Brothers, he later became an Executive at Dreamworks. He was kind enough to get my scripts past the interns and straight into the next level. You will have no chance to be a succesfull newbie screenwriter living anywhere other than LA or NY. Just won't happen.

I don't mind helping anyone - I hope things worked out for you Jedifyfe. That's a nice backdoor to have and you're right - without being in LA you can't sell yourself and network into situations like that, but it was good you sent in a screenplay. The only reason I was able to get my career started was because of working at Dreamworks at a time when there was almost no one there. That was a great place to be back then. We had Prince of Egypt in production and that was IT. Shrek, Ants and El Dorado weren't even on the walls yet. A tv show called High Incident and Champs were being talked about as well as a Clooney movie called Peacemaker or Peacekeeper) i was in the animation building right across from Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott's office and I knew they had this sort of open door policy. I walked into their office and politely asked their assistant if she would listen to a pitch I had - she liked it and asked them to listen and they offered to help me. At the time I thought I knew how to write, but being around them I realized I knew NOTHING. After I sold the first one - things got easier... well, not easier. Dan O Bannon used to say, with each script you sell, the town gets smaller - that's a good way to put it.

 

[TheNickFox]

Yet another reason I love this forum; the people here kick expletive.

Way to be awesome, Jet!

I'm sure others can chime in with their own personal tricks, but I've written 2 multi-draft screenplays (one as part of my degree and the other just for fun) but here's what worked for me to get my ideas on paper (Well, screen...then paper):

-Make a treatment, then build a detailed outline from it
-My first outline is usually about 7 pages, and roughs things out without getting bogged down in scenes and details. It's mostly to make sure the flow is right.
-Make a more detailed outline. 20 pages is a good working length for me. This is when you start throwing in specific scenes and locations as well as secondary characters.
-Make an even MORE detailed outline. Basically make this outline as thorough as you want, but the more detail you have here, (including some of the dialogue) the easier it is to write. (for me...so maybe it will work for you too) For the second screenplay I wrote, my final outline was something like 60 pages.
-Start writing your script, pulling characters and scene descriptions straight from your outlines, and working the dialogue out from the outlines.
-I find it's easiest to write dialogue by speaking it out loud, so you may want to find a way to record yourself speaking and ad libbing over your outline to help you.

-After it's all done, get a bunch of friends together, crack some drinks, turn on a camera or audio recording gear, and do a table read, assigning roles to each person, leaving you to read the scene descriptions. Watch that video back, making notes of plot elements that need tweaking and dialogue that doesn't work (Listening to other people saying your lines will really point those things out) and begin your editing process.

Lather, rinse, repeat. It's a long process, but when it's done, it's rewarding to hold your creation in your hands. I hope some of these ideas might work for you as well.

Best of luck to you, deconx!

-Nick

 

[Lufo1138]

First register it with the Screen Writers Guild. But they take only complete scripts,

The WGA will register anything, including treatments. You can also mail anything to yourself as registered mail and as long as you keep it unopened it will serve to protect the date of when you had your idea.

But you DO NOT want to sell a treatment. You want to sell only completed screenplays. Less than 1% of all treatments/pitches purchased without a screenplay ever make it into production. And the number of treatments bought is probably a smaller number than that. You are much better off with a completed screenplay for many reasons. I speak from experience. I totally got screwed by Columbia on a big project I sold to them as a pitch.

 

[Riskbreaker]

No one's buying a treatment in this market unless your name is Scott Frank or Christopher Nolan. Write the script, then pursue getting it read. Screenwriters write screenplays.

 

[DarkHelmet]

You can also mail anything to yourself as registered mail and as long as you keep it unopened it will serve to protect the date of when you had your idea.

Unfortunately that's not absolute anymore. It's too easy to mail an unsealed envelope to yourself and wait for the latest blockbuster.

 

[terryr]

And if you get to LA and make contacts and meet people always remember that many of them are just BSing. They have no contacts don't know Clint, can't get to Spielberg, and never did anything. But their ego requires them to make something up.
Name any job and there are thousands trying to 'break in' and get it. Most of them have no talent, they just want to be famous.

 

[wondersquid]

Deconx - write the full script, it's the best thing you can do for yourself as a writer, it shows any producer that you're serious about the story. But then, write another 2 scripts after that, preferably different genres. This is what helps get you the agent, they're not going to rep you if you're a 'one hit wonder'. Be serious about writing and come up with other stories too. One of my favorite stories is about a writer who has a great first script, but no one will talk to him, then he writes other stuff that sells first, but eventually he sells that first script later and it's the best thing that could happen, why? Because by the time he sold that first script, he was a known name and they didn't rewrite the script with other writers. Not to mention, by this point he had enough experience under his belt that he did another rewrite and made that great script perfect!

 

[LM3 Productions]

love this forum guys.. just joined..