FREE Teleseminar! “The REAL Secrets to Selling Your Screenplay: The 5 Essential Steps to Screenwriter Success!”
(Hit the “PLAY” button to view the video)
Click HERE to register for the FREE Teleseminar!
And be sure to ask your questions in the COMMENTS section below!
May Your Life Be Extraordinary,
Marvin V. Acuna
How do you write a “killer” log line that captures the eye?
Anat
10 Feb 10 at 2:25 am
You mentioned that “Spec season” is officially on. Do you think that it is more likely that interest in a new screenwriter’s spec script would lead to a sale/option or to other types of possibilities, such as assignment writing?
Kevin Doree
10 Feb 10 at 3:07 am
Just wondering how a ‘query letter’ should be outlined. I know you need to cut to the chase and get quickly into the logline etc. But what about the paragraph or couple of paragraphs about the story! Should this be done like a mini-three-act structure or should it focus on the character(s) with some set pieces?
Best Regards – Vincent [Ireland]
Vincent
10 Feb 10 at 5:59 am
Hi Marvin,
Thanks so much for the great information and inspiration you provide in the BOSI Newsletters. It has helped me to feel closer to the rhythms and needs of the film industry. I live in Germany in a small town near Frankfurt and later this year plan a move to Berlin where I can be closer to the EU filming industry.
I have been working and reworking a script that is currently being considered in a monthly screenwriting contest. I’ll be sending it to a couple of very prestigious contests later this year – Page Awards and the Nicholl Fellowship.
My immediate goal is to garner enough attention for an agent. In the meantime, I’m writing another script which I’m hoping to have polished enough for those contests as well. My questions:
When is it most appropriate to make first contact with an agent and HOW do I best do this? Is a letter really all that effective? I can’t help but think the answer is no.
The Berlinale is this month. I have no idea what to expect there and am trying to get transportation over there. But I am a bit afraid. I don’t do all that well with crowds and while my objective would be just to meet people and introduce myself, I’m not really sure if I can do that. I am scared. I am afraid of bungling it completely, making an ass of myself, of my brain freezing entirely so that all that comes out of my mouth are bubbles. I have no idea – of anything.
What can you recommend here? What could you say? You always seem to break things down very simply and in a friendly manner. I am freaking out, and nothing has even happened yet.
Best regards,
Chazda
Chazda Albright
10 Feb 10 at 6:17 am
Hi Marvin, I love your screen presence. Everything you say sounds exciting and fun, so here’s my question:
As a screenwriter from abroad, it’s been necessary for me to work in a very broad scope – writing as well as script consulting and doctoring, but also working over a bandwidth of genres and formats. We have a tiny market here.
Is it okay for a beginning screenwriter in Hollywood to cover so much ground in her spec scripts? – like, for instance, a children’s film, a sexy noir thriller, the odd TV movie, a Heimatfilm (lol) and a series ideation?
Or would you rather recommend to stick to one’s guns or at least pretend you had favorite revolver (quick and dangerous)?
stirring many pots:
Barbara Anne
Barbara Anne
10 Feb 10 at 6:46 am
Living in Greece, I’m finding it frustratingly difficult to find representation. As we all know, without any connections, unsolicited mail is not accepted. Marvin, what do you suggest I do?
George
10 Feb 10 at 8:31 am
Marvin, with most agents requiring you to be referred to them and most producers won’t take a script from an unrepresented writer, how do you get your script in the right peoples hands? Are entering screenwriting festivals worth anything, other than the $50 I plunk down to each of them? Thanks.
Dominic
10 Feb 10 at 12:07 pm
Hi Marvin,
Can you suggest a way on how to get an indie-feature screenplay into the right hands without representation? I have been advised by several Hollywood producers, though none willing to offer specifics without being attached, that my script is so original and “execution dependent” no one can seriously consider it in the current climate of remakes/franchises and its most likely chance for success is to get it to the Scott Rudin’s of the world, whom of course, won’t take material unless it’s represented. Yeah, catch-22.
Jason
10 Feb 10 at 12:22 pm
Hello Marvin,
Here’s my question: The script consultant that’s analyzed my spec has identified my story as a drama/comedy. He suggests I pick either one or the other genre and make the appropriated changes to refine the work to match. He says that combination genres are usually too difficult to market. I’m starting to think that he’s right. What do you think?
Damian Wagner
10 Feb 10 at 12:27 pm
Hi, Marvin,
You are a power house! My question: I’ve made one short film, working on a second. Then I want to move on to a feature. It doesn’t have car crashes and people jumping out of tall buildings. More like Fellini meets Dickens. A Christmas Carol for playboys. Would I be breaking my heart on a film that doesn’t have a big “C” for commercial stamped across its forehead?
Thank you for what you do for writers,
Elizabeth Appell
Elizabeth Appell
10 Feb 10 at 12:28 pm
Unfortunately I won’t be available, at either of those times, to see the teleseminar. Any chance you could offer it for viewing on your website, afterwards? There could be ohters in this situation as well.
Thanks
Harold
10 Feb 10 at 12:38 pm
Given the success of 3D movies in 2009, are the studios actively searching for scripts with 3D potential and if you have one, is it wise to market it as a potential 3D movie? Thanks!
Kari
10 Feb 10 at 1:02 pm
My question: I was a quarter finalist with my first play submitted to the CWA contest. Entering now seems pointless to me. I’ve been a poet, short story writer for years. Novels and plays are relatively new genres. I was a national recognized slam poet at one point but it all seems to lead to confusion and road blocks. How do you find the clarity in the process and just write and submit?
Milton
10 Feb 10 at 2:16 pm
hey Marvin,
as a new screenwriter garnering interest in my screenplay, what’s the best way to ensure I don’t get ‘left out’ of the development stage? i.e. Because the film will have a substantial budget, they’ll probably want to attach a ‘name’ writer to do a polish.
peter kennedy
10 Feb 10 at 2:23 pm
I keep reading different things about synopses. Some say stick with one page, some say one to two pages is fine. Some say reveal the ending, some say do not. How exactly should my synopsis be set up? Thanks!
Alisa
10 Feb 10 at 3:13 pm
Hi Martin
I love the way you really enjoy what you are doing and the way you express that into helping others gain a foothold.
I’m nearing the end of writing a biography of a man who, during WW2, commanded loyalty, respect,and love. He was a hero and a pioneer and born into aristocracy.
My question is: I would like to write a script about this man’s adventures. Is it best to finish the book and get it published, or once it has been completed and waiting on a publisher, to write the script?
I live in a small country on the other side of the world and may not be able to get onto your seminar. If thats the case, would it be possible to get a transcript of it?
Thanks, Martin
Kerin Freeman
10 Feb 10 at 4:02 pm
Hi Marvin,
I have a film called “Kill Katie Malone” that is now being screened for domestic distribution and will also be at the Berlinale this month. What is the best way to follow up that success for the next sale? I do not yet have representation.
Thank you,
Mark Onspaugh
Mark Onspaugh
10 Feb 10 at 4:40 pm
Hi Marvin;
Thanks for all you do.
Q1: Wouldn’t it benefit prodcos to read the first few pages of a script in conjunction with a synopsis?
Q2: If a query is in an e-blast (and I assume you can tell), does it get less attention by the majority of film execs; a. compared to a personal e-mail; b. compared to a snail mail query?
My life is extraordinary,
John
John Murphey
10 Feb 10 at 5:02 pm
Hey Marvin,
Thanks for hosting another free Q & A seminar — these are all I can afford right now, which brings me to my question:
How can an East Coast screenwriter with no money left in his/her budget get agents for representation or producers to look our way when so very few will even consider unknown writers?
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this!
Jeremy
Jeremy Twigg
10 Feb 10 at 6:48 pm
Hi Marvin,
Where can I find particular producers who might be interested in Christian-themed scripts? I am not talking about fundamentalist, evangelistic stories, but a script concerning terminal illness with both non-Christian and Christian characters and a (true) ending that is on the “spiritual” side. Or would you say all such scripts are just too limiting market-wise and recommend revising such scripts so that they appeal to a broader, mainstream “agnostic” audience?
Cheers,
Doug
Doug
11 Feb 10 at 12:47 am
If I submit my very first completed screenplay to producers and they think it’s really good and commercial, what are the chances that it will actually get produced? Do producers care whether it’s my first screenplay or do they only care about the quality of the screenplay, regardless of whether it’s my first or tenth? My question is with the assumption that they have the required money and experience to produce it.
John Hyams
11 Feb 10 at 2:44 pm
Hi Marvin,
With so few specs being produced in the US, it begs the question: what’s happening on the international market? Do you have any thoughts about pitching in the Canada, the UK or Australia?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge with such eagerness and a constant smile.
Joan
Joan Chandler
11 Feb 10 at 3:26 pm
I keep hearing of people who get writing assignments to work on scripts. How does one get an assignment and where do the ideas for the assignments come from? Is it better to aim for the assignment or to continue to try to sell a spec script?
Cynthia
11 Feb 10 at 11:45 pm
Hola Marvin,
I’m having trouble perfecting and practicing my pitch. Are there any recomendations that you can give us to nail down a great pitch without sounding like a bumbling idiot?
Thanks for the writers support!
Ezequiel S
17 Feb 10 at 4:14 pm