1 / 30

Lecture 15: The Re-Write & The Business

Learn how to ask yourself the right questions during the re-writing process, strategies for getting your screenplay read, and tips for staying inspired. Discover the importance of query letters, pitchfests, internships, and contests in the business. Finally, find out how to keep yourself motivated and inspired as a screenwriter.

malbers
Download Presentation

Lecture 15: The Re-Write & The Business

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Lecture 15:The Re-Write & The Business Professor Christopher Bradley Barton Fink (1991) Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

  2. Previous Lesson • The Climactic Moment-- the Final Showdown with the Antagonist • Tying Up the Loose Ends Taxi Driver (1973) Screenplay by Paul Schrader

  3. In This Lesson • The Re-Write • Getting Your Screenplay Read (and Getting Started in the Business) • Keeping Yourself Inspired! Barton Fink (1991) Screenplay by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

  4. Re-Writing Adaptation (2002) Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman Based on the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean Lesson 15: Part I

  5. Questions to Ask Yourself • Download the document Questions as You Re-Write • The answers may seem obvious, but review them anyway. • They can work like a fine-toothed comb to tease out bits and chunks that aren’t working. • They will deepen your story and your characters.

  6. Questions to Ask Yourself • For Example: • How does each character feel about every other character? That they’re heroic? A jerk? Too stupid to deal with? Smart, but deluded? • Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll likely see the conflicts between all your characters sharpen and intensify. Which is what you want!

  7. Getting Your Work Read! Sunset Boulevard (2002) Screenplay by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder & D.M. Marshman, Jr. Lesson 15: Part II

  8. Getting Your Work Read! • Query letters to agents • Pitchfests • Internships • Contests

  9. Query Letters • Keep it short! • Don’t send the screenplay until asked • DO include a logline • Enclose a treatment if they want to read more.

  10. Pitchfests • Again, keep it short! • Have the logline (with the set-up, the main complication, the climax and the resolution) ready • PRACTICE telling the story • Have a printed treatment available (with your contact information) to leave behind.

  11. Pitchfests • Do your research! Pitchfests are notoriously expensive, so be sure you know with whom you’re really going to be speaking. Be sure it’s an executive who actually makes decisions.

  12. Pitching without Pitchfests • Another way to pitch might be to think of three producers with whom you’d love to work. • Seeking out their underpaid assistants and taking them out to a nice lunch might be a better way of getting your pitch heard and your screenplay read!

  13. Internships • People in the industry are often insanely busy and overworked. They probably should read your screenplay, but where are they going to get the time? How do they know it will be time well-spent? • An internship is a great way to get in the door.

  14. Internships • An internship is a great way to: • Meet other industry people. • Find out how the game works. • Work hard • Show them you’re smart and on the ball • Think long-term

  15. Contests • Perhaps the most significant screenwriting competition: The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/index.html

  16. Why Contests are Useful • Contests provide a structured form in which screenplays are read and reports about them are generated. • The readers for screenplay competitions come from agencies and production companies and are being paid to find good stories.

  17. Why Contests are Useful • If you win or are a finalist even a moderately-sized competition, agents know it and will almost always request a copy of your screenplay. • Even if you don’t win, your screenplay may find its way into the right production office through word of mouth.

  18. Contests • Again, do your research. • Almost every contest wants the same entry fee, but who are the readers? How effective is winning? Is this the right place for your particular screenplay? • An excellent place to start your research is moviebytes.com

  19. Contests • What contest is right for your screenplay? http://moviebytes.com/directory.cfm

  20. Contests • What is the reputation of the contest? http://moviebytes.com/contests.cfm?category=All

  21. Contests • Remember! It’s not necessarily important that you win. • Getting your screenplay read by the right agent, manager or producer could be far more important than any cash prize.

  22. Contests • Once you’ve found a good fit, when do you enter? • Be careful not to enter before your screenplay is ready. Many contests will only read a certain screenplay once. • But don’t keep re-writing endlessly. When someone options or purchases your screenplay, there will even be more re-writes. Life is going by!

  23. Keeping Yourself Inspired In a Lonely Place (2002) Screenplay by Andrew Solt, from an adaptation by Edward H. North, based on a story by Dorothy B. Hughes Lesson 15: Part III

  24. Keeping Yourself Inspired • You now have courage to face the blank page! • You’ve done it once, you can do it again! • You wrote a screenplay. That puts you miles ahead of everyone who dreamed of doing it, but never started.

  25. Keeping Yourself Inspired • Writers’ Groups • You might find the right group right away. • You may need to shop around. • You may need to create your own. • But hearing your words out loud, getting real-world responses, is imperative.

  26. Keeping Yourself Inspired • Learn how to receive notes. • What you’re hearing is not rejection, it’s the key to all success. • Say “YES” to every note. Then go back to your desk and see if you can make that note work. • If not, think what might be under the note. What are they getting at? What’s not working?

  27. Keeping Yourself Inspired • Bad questions get you bad answers. “Does my work suck?” is a no-win question! • Ask good questions where you win: • Is there a more appropriate contest for this story? A better market? • Are my standards for my work high enough? Where can I go to learn and grow next?

  28. Assignment Casablanca (19422) Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, based on the stage play Everyone Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison Lesson 15: Part IV

  29. Eboard Post • Post your completed first draft to the eboard! 29

  30. End of Lecture 15 Congratulations! You’ve finished the course! (But you’ve just begun.) Back to the Future (1985) Screenplay by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale

More Related