Hollywood Insider's Proven Method To Getting Your Screenplay Read - Steve Douglas-Craig
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- Опубліковано 12 бер 2024
- In this Film Courage video interview we ask Steve Douglas-Craig about screenwriters contacting film production companies and making a proper visual presentation.
After graduating from the AFI, Steve was recruited by Sony Pictures Entertainment to work as a Story Editor & Acquisitions Executive for the Worldwide Acquisitions team in Los Angeles where he received an induction into story & business development, feature film packaging, domestic & international distribution, theatrical marketing & product acquisition. He helped develop & shepherd film titles including Terminator: Salvation, The Book of Eli, Django Unchained, War Room, Don’t Breathe (Sequel current in post-production), the Insidious horror movie franchise, Manchester By The Sea, The Grudge (reboot), Searching, Arrival, Whiplash, The Call, Attack The Block & many others (including TV releases - The Tudors, House of Cards).
Steve's tenure at Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions was followed with a promotion to Senior Story Editor & Creative Executive at Screen Gems where he was involved in the development & release of theatrical titles like the recent releases of Monster Hunter & the adaptation of James Herbert’s novel - The Unholy. Before that he helped shepherd Black & Blue, The Intruder, Possession of Hannah Grace, Brightburn, & Slender Man. He was also heavily involved in developing content strategies that attracted financiers & talent to specific projects for the studio.
Steve is also a professional screenwriter having worked as a freelance staff writer for the hit CBS TV series Hawaii Five-O over a number of seasons & currently has a pilot & several feature films (including a creature feature) going out through his literary managers in Los Angeles.
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Here is our full interview with Steve - ua-cam.com/video/adVxPaj17rU/v-deo.html
Pay to have a professional read your script. Do not use a friend or family. Pay a professional. You’re writing a business plan for millions of dollars.
For people starting out you can use family or friends but don’t expect them to always be honest or give good notes. It’s a better idea to get a few other screenwriter friends online then you can swap reads but you need to interact for a while before broaching the subject. This is far better for working out kinks before paying for professional readers. You want a fairly competent script BEFORE paying any money for reads/notes or submitting to contests (if that’s where you want to submit) or fellowships and/or agents, managers or producers.
Family and friends are practically worthless. Get people who are writers. Join a writing group of some kind. Find a mentor
Be careful with so called pros. Often these consultants inflate their reviews. They will rate a really bad newbie script as "good" and "very good" in the various categories, even give a "recommend". They do this because they want you to keep coming to them with your $$$.
As a screenwriter I can attest to this method. He’s spot on. Also remember that the act of reaching out to producers and getting rejected is actually about finding people that will stay in your film circle not necessarily greenlighting your movie.
I've tried the IMDB route. Most prod companies either say up front, 'No Solicitation', or their contact is to a standard info@ address. Plus, getting in touch with individual producers or assistants to producers was exceedingly difficult, bc their contact info is NOT available. Forget calling them, you can't even email them.
This channel is absolutely fabulous, the information given is priceless. This channel played a big hand in my decision to start my degree in scriptwriting this September. The icing on the cake is the lady's voice, it is so soothing and sexy, it's up there with the legend Joanna lumley. Much love, respect, and gratitude from London UK.
You only believe that because you are green. This is very misleading information.
Watching you from Ghana
Love it! 🇬🇭
If you try this and it works, please come back and let us know!
Yeah. The biggest catch 22 on the planet earth. You need an agent to get a producer or production company to read it. An agent/ agency won’t read unsolicited stuff. Assistants won’t go against policies, and no one wants to be sued.
I really hate it when friends or collegues ask to read my screenplays. I try and explain to them not only are they unlikely to read it at all (ie empty gestures) but they most definitely cannot "read" a script.
It took me at least 15 scripts in. Reading 15 professional scripts ie Die Hard, The SHawshank redemption etc and I had to _really try_ to get my head around the format and injection of scene compositing imagination while reading to finally get a handle on it.
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Perfect timing to hear this! I gotta listen to this full interview!
informative interview
I'm not too fond of the advice that you don't need an agent or manager and can just call up a studio or production company and get someone to read your stuff. That's bad advice. If you have already been networking with someone who works as an assistant for a producer, sure, you can try that. But 99.9% of even those assistants are not going to read something without an established representative involved. Why? Exactly because of that conversation about Power Point editing and PDF editing. They don't want to be sued by every writer who sends them a script and then thinks their idea was stolen.
Lol. I'm sorry but call producers and get them to read your script? That is literally impossible. No credible producer will read a script that doesn't come from a legitimate manager or agent.
And legitimate agents/agencies won’t take anything unsolicited. It’s exceptionally frustrating… and depressing…
You’ll need an entertainment attorney to submit your screenplay to production company
❤❤❤❤❤
PDFs can also be edited! Be careful who you send your work to guys!!!
hi karen,if u have a chance of interviewing john truby again, can u ask what he meant by designing principle.
In book,he said Designing principle = story process + original execution. What that really means. I am sorry that i am not responding to this video.But hope its ok.
Hi Sarath, Thank you! We appreciate you watching our videos. We also love John Truby and would love to also hear his thoughts! Cheers! Best, FC
@@filmcourage Thankyou. This channel helped me alot to improve in writing. Film courage is my film school 😊
Sure, a pitch deck, but you still have the same problem. Who the heck will look at your deck? They can be used to attract investors, but in that case youll need to show more than visuals. You need a business plan, which means hiring a producer to do it.
This is a fantasy. I’m not saying I’m giving up. But I’m saying it’s VERY hard to establish yourself with anyone! I live no where near Hollywood so the difficulty level just goes up x10. “Nothing Unsolicited” on the side of managers and agents and producers makes this process upsettingly impossible. Little me is very very sad right now.
Sending you a hug of encouragement.
You have to go to respected festivals, events, or social gatherings where you can meet people and get to know them. All my real contacts come from just chatting people up and being friendly. Don’t push anything just let people discover who you are. Those who are interested will ask for more and if you feel yourself having to chase at all just save your energy and move along.
Never quit your job to write. Get a degree that will pay you every day and write in your spare time.
I got a degree in Economics and that was a waste of 4 years. lol
@@deirdrestatham5730write a movie about the collapse of capitalism in 2024
degrees are a waste for most fields. don't get into debt. A degree job will never pay enough for the cost
@@cinematography212 The degree jobs that aren’t a waste of time don’t allow for much writing time either such as doctor or lawyer.
Come on, man. Without representation there is not a Producer on earth who will answer an email from a random writer. Unsolicited materials hell is screenwriting 101. Phone a production company? I did that once. You dont get an assistant. You get a secretary /call screener.