| Author |
Message |
    
C.S. Alexander
Awareness Member
Post Number:
3
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 10:01 am: |   |
Hello everyone. Got a question for anyone who can answer it. A friend of mine who is a producer, is currently working with a literary agent to sell a script he has optioned. This same agent will be representing the script I am almost finished with (optioned through the same producer). I got in contact with the agent (William Pettit out of Charlotte, N.C.) via e-mail and he said even though he only handles Movie and Television scripts, he would be happy to submit a couple of my novels to publishing houses, as long as I gave him the contact information.
I asked him what he needed from me, aside from the contact info., to submit to the publishers. He told me a 1 page synopsis and a treatment for the novel, which broke down the manuscipt chapter by chapter and included information why this novel will sell. I know treatments are used to sell screenplays, but I have never heard of one for a novel. In my opinion, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, but one cannot write a treatment for a novel using the same format as a treatment for a screenplay. Mr. Pettit has been upfront with me about his lack of experience with novels so I am really trying to find out all I can about this before he sends anything off.
What I am needing to know is, what normally do agents submit to publishing houses? Should I go ahead and break down the story into chapter summaries like a Cliff's Notes version? Any correct information will greatly help.
Confused in Wilmington
aka C.S. Alexander
Buy my book....please. |
Perry Comer
Unity Member
Post Number:
1184
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 10:56 am: | |
Welcome CS
I like calling North Carolina home - Go Duke!
Many agents and publishers ask for a synopsis which often consists of a chapter by chapter summary. It is written in the third person.
http://www.pacwriter.netfirms.com/ |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
906
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 11:09 am: | |
And usually a few (say 3) chapters of said book, to see if they like your writing style and passion. They also most often want your bio, but that may be after they read what is asked for in the beginning.
I think that he is basically sending in a query for you. So, take it from there. BTW, how have you been? We haven't heard from you in a long time. Come visit more often, OK?
Claudia |
C.S. Alexander
Awareness Member
Post Number:
4
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 01:55 pm: | |
Perry, you're killing me (hahaha). Go Duke? At least you didn't say go Carolina (ughhhh). I am a N.C. State man myself. We are gearing up for the ACC tourney which starts tomorrow. Biggest event in the state and that includes the Super Bowl.
Back to writing...So when I do a chapter by chapter summary, do I keep each summary as short as possible or should length not be a concern?
To Claudia: I have been doing pretty well. I check in on the site all the time, but I usually don't feel I have better information to offer that isn't already being offered. Right now my almost 30 year old body is suffering from Chicken Pox. How in the hell do you get chicken pox at this age??? I have tried to find some good out of being quarantined and sick. I haven't smoked a cigarette in 7 days, so I figured I might as well quit now (FYI it is mandatory for kids to start smoking by the age of 13 in N.C.) I also have no excuse now not to finish this screenplay. A friend and business advisor just called about an hour ago and said he thinks he found our funding for a pilot we are trying to shoot. So as bad as the pox is (it's in my throat and mouth too...ughhh) everything else is going great, and at least I'm not dyin.
Long live the memory of Lewis Grizzard,
C.S.
Buy my book....please. |
Perry Comer
Unity Member
Post Number:
1186
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 03:04 pm: | |
Ride up 74 sometime and stop in at Wingate - I'll buy you lunch at Brenda's Bar-B-Que.
Going for another NCAA championship - Go Blue Devils (I do have a red Wolfpack sweatsuit)
The chapter summaries should be a substantial paragraph. Who what when where
http://www.pacwriter.netfirms.com/ |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
632
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 03:59 pm: | |
Speaking of screenplays, a reasonably well established movie studio agreed to look at "The Unreal McCoy" if I presented it in a screenplay format.
I've been told that your first attempt at writing a screenplay will be absolutely horrible so I'm looking for someone with a little experience who is willing to take on the project.
BTW, I own the screen rights to the story.
|
Todd Hunter
Unity Member
Post Number:
1180
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:17 pm: | |
I've tried my hand at writing screenplays, but have absolutely no training in them...any screenwriters lurking out there who have any tips on how to learn (other than reading other scripts to see how they've been done before...which is how I've gotten to the point I'm at)?
Since the movie company who was interested in making Hero into a feature film suddenly fell off the face of the planet (go figure), I guess it may be a while before that finally happens...
There's always the sequel...which will be even more adaptable to the silver screen...I think so, anyway... |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
606
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 09:36 pm: | |
Good luck on getting a movie. If and when they send you to Hollywood, be sure and look me up. We'll do lunch at Mickey D's and I can introduce you to all sorts of people who act as if they have clout in the film industry.
Vigilantes hear it, see it, read it as I write it
http://www.fdungan.com/vigilantes.htm |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2671
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 05:38 am: | |
I wrote a treatment for my book based on the guidelines my publisher sent me.
She also sent me a chapter by chapter synopsis written by an author who also wrote a screenplay for his book. The chapter by chapter synopsis was fairly detailed, I thought and quite long.
The last chapter by chapter synopsis I wrote was sent to Knopf 20 some years ago at their request and I kept it fairly succinct.
In other words. I don't know a whole lot that will help you C.S. Sorry. |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.105
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 06:09 pm: | |
No studio or agent will have anything to do with even a polished script from a veteran let alone a complete novice. This isn't vanity publishing OZ; it's the big time. Hang out at "Done Deal" and most questions will be answered.
I've adapted two books to screenplays and have been unsuccessful at selling them even with a WGA agent. I no longer have that representation but that's where to find the list of agents that are legitimate. |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2672
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 06:46 pm: | |
The treatment I wrote was done at the request of someone at Paramount studios.
It's still there as far as I know while they decide whether to progress to a screenplay.
|
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
638
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:18 pm: | |
The production company that I'm talking about has produced some successful motion pictures, is locally based, and I have sat face-to-face with the acquisitions manager in his office and he said, "Get it converted to a screenplay format and bring it back to me." Seems pretty plain to me. |
Todd Hunter
Unity Member
Post Number:
1184
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:27 pm: | |
It's hard to argue with words right out of their mouth... |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.102
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:51 pm: | |
What production company? "What's local?" |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.102
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:53 pm: | |
Who at Paramount? |
Gloria Marlow
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
617
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 08:02 pm: | |
"Liars, liars, pants on fire."
Really, Publius, why beat around the bush? |
Claudia Turner VanLydegraf
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
912
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 08:41 pm: | |
funny how things heat up here when HB is doing his rants over there...... Publius (aka Mark York), you ought to get a life also. Quit demanding verification about everything and everyone from whomever is making a statement. PLEEEAAAAASE!!!!  
If Dennis or Laurel are asked to do book reviews, and have gotten bites for their works from hollywood production companies, that is their business and theirs alone, certainly not yours, as to who they are dealing with. No one who frequents this board has to prove anything to you, or anyone else. In other words, it is their own damn business, and IF they want to deliver the names up, that is up to them, certainly not YOU!! Don't always ache for a fight, we (I and others) don't want to fight with you anymore.
Claudia |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.30
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 09:03 pm: | |
It's relative to what one thinks they know about a business. The record is as clear as to the outcome. No one in Hollywood will take a script from an unknown, but then I live here and worked in the business had an agent and am a member of an entertainment guild. I offered advice. It's apparent that amatuers in the midwest know more than we do here in Hollywood. What arrogance. We won't hold our breath out here for the sales. Get some software at least before you expect results.
And rent a copy of "Clueless." |
Violet Towe
Wandering Member
Post Number:
248
Registered: 03-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 09:40 pm: | |
Well, gee, Mark, excuse me, Publius2, if you are in the business, live and work there, had an agent and you are a member of an entertainment guild and you STILL can't a producer interested in you project, you must be one awful writer.
Oh, yes, Rebel Writer, how's your book doing you had published with Publish America? Was your royalty check big this time around? |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
639
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 03:59 am: | |
Mr. York
I'll gladly take you by the hand and walk you up to the front of the building. Getting invited inside will be your problem.
However...
This ain't Hollywood. It ain't even California. If there's arrogance involved, it's in the notion that one must be in California to know anything.
The man who owns this studio has appeared in about thirty movies and had starring roles in at least twenty-two of them. He owns a highly successful live theater near the University of Michigan and a motion picture production company in a Detroit suburb.
Seems to me that your primary industry is rock throwing. If I were you, I'd be careful about that. |
C.S. Alexander
Awareness Member
Post Number:
5
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 05:23 am: | |
Let me throw my 2 cents in here. First off, Hollywood is obviously not the end-all to movie and tv production Mr. Pubicness. I live here in Wilmington, N.C. where we have been making movies and television shows for years (Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Donestic Disturbance, Black Knight, etc. etc. etc.). There are production companies all over the area as well as a major studio 7 minutes from my house (Screen Gems is the largest movie production studio east of Hollywood). Most of the opinions I have heard from people who have worked both east and west coast productions is that Hollywood people live in another world and usually have their heads stuck up their own ass. Well Mr. Pubicness I think you have given us our answer whether that is a true or false statement.
You mentioned that no studio would ever look at a script from an unknown. You are completely false in this statement and I am going to back it up Mr. Pubic. Leif Yonkers is a friend of the same producer I am friends with (Rick Pour, Evolution Entertainment East). Leif is an unknown, but Rick liked his script and sent it to an agent he knows. Then he directed the agent to send it to a few studios, but one in particular is Gale Anne Hurd's (sp?) company. If you aren't a complete moron and you do know something about the business, you would have heard of Ms. Hurd (Terminator, Titanic, James Cameron's discoverer and former wife, etc). THEY LIKED THE SYNOPSIS AND REQUESTED TO SEE THE SCRIPT. So through that process and reasoning, you are wrong.
To sit there and try and make a mockery of other people quite simply shows that you have a severe lack of confidence. The fact that you try and point out the "wrong way" of others shows that you are trying to establish your superiority, mainly because you are someone who craves attention, but doesn't get it in the ways you feel you deserve. If you were a successful writer then you would be getting the attention you deserved and it wouldn't be here. To point out the failures of others, especially when you have obviously (you pointed it out) not done much with your works, is a sign of resentment, especially from people here who really try to keep each other thinking positive. Positivity is something that fuels the mind and I bet because of your lack of success you have lost much of that positive passion you once had. Here some advice from an east coast guy and this isn't in the entertainment business, this is life. If you want to give advice to people and have them take you seriously, do it with respect. By taunting people you totally discredit yourself. If you are just looking to pick on people and feel superior, then you need to take off your mask because everyone knows who lies behind it, and it seems no one is afraid.
And if you take offense to what I have said....I'll be your huckleberry.
C.S. Alexander
Buy my book....please. |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2673
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 05:25 am: | |
My arrangement or whatever you call it was done through my publisher, who has a colleague working at paramount. I did not have any direct dealings with anyone but my publisher, who wrote and said "You know your book better than anyone so I want you towrite a treatment. Here is the format I want you to use and here is how Iwant it to look."
Yes. You guessed it. I am a greenhorn from Nebraska. So I did as my publisher directed, and ran it past a friend who is a screenwriter who graduated from the AFI. He said it was OK. The publisher said it was OK so sent it to her colleague at Paramount.
Do I sit in wide eyed innocence expecting any minute that Paramount will offer a contract? Not on your life. Even hayseeds have a tiny sense of reality. |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.16
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 11:17 am: | |
"Well, gee, Mark, excuse me, Publius2, if you are in the business, live and work there, had an agent and you are a member of an entertainment guild and you STILL can't a producer interested in you project, you must be one awful writer."
This is the exact thing one would expect from an abslolute novice. Most fail at this business. The majority do. The disrespect of these credentials in the face of a group of people with none is astounding. But then the fallacious tend to put stock in a false premise through ignorance and geographic naivte. Go spout off at Done Deal and see what they tell you. |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.16
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 11:23 am: | |
Mr. Alexander your skills are evidenced by the sheer number of fallacies in one post. Ignorant language, prejudice, false assumptions, using one example to blanket a broader truth about the movie business is a classic propaganda technique most dupes use for lack of any understanding of reality. |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.16
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 11:25 am: | |
"Confused in Wilmington"
Yes. I highly agree. |
Perry Comer
Unity Member
Post Number:
1187
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 11:50 am: | |
Publius2 why do you persist in being a jerk?
http://www.pacwriter.netfirms.com/ |
C.S. Alexander
Awareness Member
Post Number:
6
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 12:08 pm: | |
Say what you want Pubicboy, but with all of my faults, I am still doing better then you are. Hmmm, I will be filming a pilot episode of a reality show I created sometime in the next couple of months. I will take some pictures from the set so you can see what you have been missing all these years.
So how is your enviromental crusade?
Buy my book....please. |
Gloria Marlow
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
620
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 12:10 pm: | |
Publius,
***The disrespect of these credentials in the face of a group of people with none is astounding. But then the fallacious tend to put stock in a false premise through ignorance and geographic naivte.***
We haven't seen any credentials. We don't even know your real name. Saying you're from Hollywood doesn't make you anymore an astute member of the entertainment community than saying I'm from Jacksonville makes me a Jaguar.
It's not that I don't believe you, I might if you had said anything for me to believe. You've said nothing about YOU and why we should believe you. Even if I don't like someone as a person, I try to listen to their side of an argument if they show me they have enough sense and knowledge about the subject to warrant my respect. Therefore, I will give you some unasked for advise: Let us know you as a person, as a writer, etc. You would be taken a lot more seriously here then, than you are in the attack mode. You may be surprised at how much you can learn from the people here.
I'm going to leave the "geographic naivete" thing alone. I wasn't going to, but I am, because anything I say will just come out a lot uglier than I want it to.
|
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.16
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 12:11 pm: | |
That depends on who is defending whom doesn't it? When advice is offered and then the more experienced person is attacked, well it's pretty clear that real knowledge isn't what is wanted: Fantasy is. Have t it. |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.16
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 12:18 pm: | |
The positions of the entertainment community and business practices are well known. You're talking about how to write ascreenplay and the ability to sell it. I told told you what I know from experience. Don't believe if you want to.
I don't see any resumes posted here but most claim to know who I am. Maybe you should check out his? Search online for listings of the projects. I've learned that people here don't know very much and won't listen to anyone that does.
That's enough. Stumble on. |
John Laurence Robinson
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
502
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 12:52 pm: | |
God almighty, is this guy tiresome or what? Sheesh, what a bore...zzzzzzz |
Justbackaway (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 68.63.93.167
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 02:03 pm: | |
The wisest thing one can do about P2/Mark is ignore him. Otherwise his baseless ranting will raise your blood pressure and there is no point in that. His desperate need to be seen as an authority at something is pitiful enough but too draining to make for good conversation.
Do what they do on other boards -- until he gets banned, just talk around him. Honestly, there's something a bit dreamlike in a debate with P2...like watching a man drive his car into a wall in slow motion. You can't hardly keep yourself from watching this poor guy make himself look more and more ignorant. You want to stop the train. You want to make the guy see where he's going.
But trust me, you can't.
It's been tried before. There is NO LEVEL of experience or credibility which will make this guy listen.
It's like the guy who wanders around the park muttering to his invisible dog...if you just walk by him, he'll go along his merry way happily -- but if you try to engage him in conversation, he's likely to accuse you of being one of PA employees who are paid to follow him around and trick him into looking like a fool on board after board after board...
|
C. E. Winterland
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1369
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 05:25 pm: | |
Well well, isn't this a nice little sandbox...
Publius2 - I don't know you or who you are, but I'd like to make a point here...
You wrote:
No one in Hollywood will take a script from an unknown...
Strictly speaking... if I went to Hollywood right now, I bet I could get someone there to take a script from me - and I wouldn't necessarily have to give a name of any kind.
Next point... who gives a F*&k about anyone in Hollywood. CS made the point that all movies are not made in Hollywood, and it could be argued (and has many times) that none of the best ones are.
Case in point... The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Make an attempt to deny that, seriously. Now, of course I don't intend to say that Tolkien submitted a script to anyone at all, but the movies were not made in Hollywood, were not envisioned there, and had little to do with Hollywood at all. The funding came from Hollywood, after a dozen turn-downs, Peter Jackson (who was an unknown - in fact - despite some B-movie credits) finally was able to convince New Line to back this MONUMENTAL monetary layout for his crazy idea to make 3 huge films all at once. He was able to convince them for 2 reasons: 1) the fact that it was Tolkien's work, and 2) because of his sheer passion for the project.
I will somewhat agree with your statement, however. There aren't many people (of any ilk, really) that will take work from an unknown without finding out who they are. That is the nature of networking. No one is born "known" (with the possible exception of Harry Potter, that is..)
How do you think people get known? By listening to idiots like you pissing on all the parades in the world?
I think not.
By all means, if pissing on yourself is your thing, have at it, brother! To each his own and all of that, you know... But to think anyone anywhere is interested in taking a cupful of that and drinking to your health is just idiocy - not to mention incredibly arrogant and naive.
Be disillusioned all you want. No one gets anything done with that attitude. People who look at your kind of posts and (whether they believe any of that crap you're shovelling or not) and say, "BS! I can do anything I want. All it takes is character and a domineering spirit!" are the people who get known.
I doubt you can make any sort of case for people getting "known" under any other kind of circumstance, really. I mean, it's not like Hollywood is going to come knock on my door tomorrow and say - hey man! I saw your website, cool stuff. Let's make a movie. I'll meet you at the Diaz party around 10:30?
People that do what they want are all going to say, "F(*k you, dude. You're holding up the train," y'know? I mean, I'm saying it to you now... hehe.
Anyhow, piss on yerself... be twelve... cry in your milk. There are whole nations that have built cultures around being defeatists, after all. Not many movies about that kind of crap though, is there?
You can retort by saying, "Sure, just ignore the truth, dumbass!" but I'm tellin you that it's not actually Truth (note the capital). It's your truth, apparently. We here are fully aware that there are 'powers-that-be' and all of that. The point isn't that we can't just walk up and hand them our work. The point is that if you're a decent human freakin being you have a billion times better chance of finding yourself talking to the right people - getting to know them - getting them to "know" you. But if you're just an arse all the time, you ain't goin to the Diaz party - catch my drift?
That's probably way too much by now... I'm quite certain I haven't convinced anyone on anything - but that's what makes me different from you, yeah? I don't NEED for people to come back with "Oh YES! You sure know what you're sayin! Thank you for setting me straight!" Frankly, if that's what you need, you're going about it all wrong, man.
CEW
(Message edited by cewinterland on March 12, 2004) |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.28
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 05:54 pm: | |
"Strictly speaking... if I went to Hollywood right now, I bet I could get someone there to take a script from me - and I wouldn't necessarily have to give a name of any kind."
Right and the bum on the street would use it for toilet paper in the alley. I suggest some study of the business and not dissing those with knowledge beyond your collective level. Don't read advice and knowledge reporting as raining on your little parade of positivity and naivete. That's not what it is.
I don't know you either. And since I live here in Hollywood I thought I'd lend a hand to those who don't. I have scripts and books and I don't care if you folks won't listen to advice from someone more experienced, but hey, I offered.
All films stem from here be it only the head production office or where the checks are cut. If you sell a screenplay it will be through here believe it or not and I don't give a Ratus ratus's hind end who doesn't.
I and thousands of others nore experienced than the gentleman who asked for help, with attitude, have registered screenplays that are represented by WGA agents. Look it up. That's a damn sight farther along in the process than anyone here is. What hubris.
|
Gloria Marlow
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
623
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 06:31 pm: | |
C.S. -- I'm certain there is a regular here who just won an award for a screenplay. Since you're registered, I'm pretty sure you can find it in the registered user section under a thread titled "Um...".
Of course, I could be making that all up, or maybe it's just a figment of my imagination. Either way, check it out yourself.
Gloria |
Fred Dungan
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
610
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 12:36 am: | |
If you compare the number of films produced annually to the number of books published annually, you get some idea of why there is less chance of having a screenplay produced as a film than having a manuscript published in print. Screenplays are like lottery tickets in that they rarely pay off but, when they do, the payoff is so big that they make everybody else want to play too.
I think CEW and the rest of you are off your rockers. It's not about who is popular and who isn't. It's about who knows what they are talking about and who doesn't. I'm not part of the film industry but I'm not so stupid that I ignore what is going on around me. Publius has his facts straight. Get off his back.
http://www.fdungan.com/bushwhacked.htm |
Gloria Marlow
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
625
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 06:34 am: | |
It's not about who's popular, Fred. It's about three people saying they experienced something and Publius saying they didn't. I'm not saying he doesn't know what he's talking about as far as the film industry goes. I can't say that because I don't know who he is or what he knows. But I do know Laurel, Dennis and, to a lesser degree, C.S. and believe that they aren't liars or delusional...they all say they've been asked to do treatmens of their books. I see movies on television all the time with the words "based on the novel by" and then some author I've never heard of before. I don't know how they got from novel to movie form, but obviously they did.
I don't know what else to say. I guess it's up to you to decide if you think they're lying and it's up to you to call them on it or let it alone. |
C.S. Alexander
Awareness Member
Post Number:
7
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 07:19 am: | |
The funny thing is that I started this thread asking a question about how to write a treatment for a novel, not a screenplay. First off, I appreciate all the advice given concerning my question. Secondly, I want to apologize if I have come off as less than modest. I was trying to make a point that this person (publius) is wrong with what they were saying. It was as if I were being told that all this hard work, all this sacrifice over the last ten years has been for nothing because I don't subscribe to all of Hollywood's methods and practices. It took me three years at bartending at the same place before I started making significant contacts, but I did it. I took the time, I played the social game, and I got my foot in the door. Now it's two years removed from that time and things are in motion. I utilized the contacts to the hilt and now (please Lord don't let this bubble burst) things are really happening. I am no longer talking what-if's and now am talking when and where's and how much. These are significant steps in a persons career, a crossroads if you will. I have finally got to the "put up, or shut up stage with real industry people involved. Am I going to make it and be famous? Who knows and right now the only person who cares is me, but I DO CARE and a great deal at that. I have so much passion for these current projects and never threw them aside when one or two doors shut in my face through traditional channels. Mr. Publius, there is more than one way to get your projects made.
Fred, my attack on Publius is because of his lack of tact and inability to see more than one way while trying to make those who can feel stupid. To try and tell a group of people that because one person doesn't make it, the rest have no shot, is just plain conceited. This is one of the reasons why I don't interact too much. I don't back down from idiots, and sadly, even when it makes me look like one in the process. I am 29 and full of bravado. I have the can-do attitude and it works for me as well as many other people. I also know that I can back up what I claim, though I know logically it's better to brag about something after the fact, then before because filet of size 13 shoe doesn't taste very good, even with seasoning. That is the mentality of a 29 year old, feeling the need to impress and make my mark. I never stop accepting the challenge.
Pulius, you are correct, I am sure there are many fallacies with my post. I never claimed to be a great writer, but I AM a damn good storyteller and you know what, I am becoming a better writer as each day passes. I guess I am glad that I do at least 5 drafts before I give my novels to a professional to edit. Too bad I didn't do that with Publish America, but you live and learn. Three years ago I hired a bad agent (BAWN), signed with a publishing house that has horrible editing practices and expensive prices, and found out that it was going to take much more than that to kick start my career. Time has gone on and I did learn. I don't follow that same path anymore. I tried a new one and you know what, it works.
As far as backing up anything I have said, just ask me a question and I will give you your answer, complete with facts and all. I have nothing to hide and see no reason to play myself up to be anything more than I am.
C.S.
Buy my book....please. |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
644
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 08:42 am: | |
In the interest of clarification...
I have NOT been offered a movie contract. Actually, much the opposite. I've been advised that very few screen plays ever get past the first couple of people that read them. The reject rate is over 99%, pretty much the same disclaimer that literary agents live by. I have no reason at all to expect my work to ever show up on the screen. But that doesn't mean I should quit trying.
I've met a number of authors who've had their work optioned. The two that come to mind are Jay Bonansinga who sold the movie rights to one of his books to a major studio for $250,000 knowing full well that they weren't planning to make it into a movie. They bought it to protect another very similar project that they were working on.
The other guy is Daniel Keyes. His book started out as a novella of just over a hundred pages or so. Some people from his publisher told him that the work was very strong and would be very competitive if he beefed it up to a full length novel. It was published after re-write and to hear Daniel tell the story, a major movie star wandered into his local Borders, picked up the book and after reading it, called his agent and told him to buy the movie rights.
The movie became an absolute blockbuster... |
C. E. Winterland
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1370
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 08:55 am: | |
Aw, come on, Fred. You know I'm off my rocker 
Publius... for what it's worth, your posts will remain here for people interested in this topic to view, and I'm sure there is much to glean from this conversation. There is, however, more than one place to skin a cat, I believe.
Fred makes a good point though. The 'major motion picture' industry is more costly than producing a book, and stands a chance of earning much more if the picture does well. But as such it is tightly controlled - I wasn't trying to argue against that fact really - the book publishing industry is much the same.
What we've seen here is less an argument of the facts, and more an argument of character.
If you want to throw sand, don't be surprised and get angry and call everyone stupid when you get a facefull yourself.
CEW
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Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.12
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 08:59 am: | |
"based on the novel by." And none of them were vanity press books. That's another fact you may not like. A 29-year old? You're still wet behind the ears and it shows. I'd lose that. Submit your edited work to a real publisher and write the next one while you wait. Repeat.
I'm 50 and I worked in Hollywood on camera for five years. I'm a SAG member. You wouldn't know me but with a VCR and the pause button I could point it out. The more prominent bit parts take less to work to find. This town doesn't buy treatments or "ideas" from novices. What sells, rarely, is the spec feature script and nothing else. I don't know who you're talking to but those are the facts. I have two scripts and I know how to write them. I wouldn't write another for the reasons the astute Fred stated. If you want to learn more go to Done Deal and ask. Be prepared to be creamed for what you've said to me if those are the tactics you use again. It won't be pretty but eventually you'll get the message. This ain't Kansas.
"It's show business, not show friends." That was one of my films. |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
646
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 10:28 am: | |
Many years, in fact decades ago my father (among others) was hired by Walt Disney to put together the music package for one of Disney's full length animated features.
Walt Disney was not a show business guy, he was a cartoonist. Show business people can be very clannish and unwilling to share with outsiders, and Walt Disney was not only an outsider, he was a meddling outsider and all of the real entertainers hated him. Show business people have inside jokes that stay inside. Nobody else understands them and that's always a big part of the joke.
My dad and Scat Man Cruthers wrote a piece of the musical score that would immediately be recognized by other entertainers as an extremely dirty joke. An unknowing Disney thought it was fabulous and eagerly included it in the movie. |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 65.54.98.12
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 13, 2004 - 11:43 am: | |
Disney is the worst outfit to work for out here. The joke's on you quoting thse wild examples from the past as being relavant to today. They're not and thinking so shows just how out of touch you are from your lack of experience and POV out of state and out of date. |
Gloria Marlow
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
650
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 08:44 am: | |
That's a really cool story, Dennis. I am a big fairytale lover and I think they did so beautifully on the fairytales and stories they animated. Especially those done decades ago. That is neat that your dad helped write the music for one of them. I've probably sang it at the top of lungs or heard it a hundred times.
Gee, do you think Hans Christian Anderson had to write a treatment of Little Mermaid for it to be made into a movie? Who do you suppose he knew in Hollywood?
I used to dream of working for Disney. Maybe it's because I grew up going every year or so, but I always thought it would be so neat to dress in character everyday and dance and sing...shoot, I even thought it would be neat to wear one of those little pinafores and serve food in fantasyland.
I think I'll end now....I got way off topic, didn't I? |
Dennis Collins
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
652
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 09:39 am: | |
Not exactly, Gloria... It's about vision
In the beginning, all that Disney did was listen. He had this cartoon character who didn't move at all except from one frame to the next but he saw the motion picture screen as an opportunity to bring his character to life and give him a real personality. The result was "Steamboat Willy."
The reception was greater than anticipated and encouraged Walt to explore a larger world. His "Fantasia" is what really opened the door for him. I remember going to see that picture as a very young boy.
In spite of what many thought of him, he had the simple ability to recognize what people want and then find a way to provide it. |
Publius2 (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 204.30.131.240
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 11:36 am: | |
I was in Fantasia 2000. The company as run today is the cheapest and most ruthless to its employees in the business. Walt started his own media corporation. I've browsed through his original bungalow on the lot down here dressed as a pilgrim at lunch time. I was later fired for being injured on that job. It's just that kind of place. It's that kind of town. |
Nancy Mehl
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1523
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 11:39 am: | |
Dennis,
Have you read "Waking Walt" by Larry Pontius? It is a hoot. One of my favorite books.
You'd love it.
Nancy |
Gloria Marlow
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
653
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 03:40 pm: | |
I think to have a vision into the future, you have to have vision into the past. Not to get stuck in the past, but to learn from it. The past we can learn from, the present we just have to deal with and the future is the sum of those.
But that's just my take on it.
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