Ask The Script Mentor, No. 7

Q. Hi, Script Mentor! I will soon be completing my third screenplay. My thinking is that I need to get an agent to help me get noticed. I have been in contact with an agent out of the Seven Bridges Group and have had some moderate success there, but still no representation. Any suggestions?

TSM: Yes. Don't waste your time trying to get an agent. You're not there yet.

Agents are not interested in writers unless and until they start making serious money with their writing. If your screenplay is involved in a bidding war, an agent will step up, or if you start selling a few scripts, someone will contact you. You'll know when you're at that stage; they'll be calling you.

In the meantime, you need to build your own buzz, so people know what you've done or accomplished. Three scripts are a start, but it's the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, they're all in the same genre, and you can start becoming the "go-to" writer for that genre.

You'll need to start getting screenwriting job assignments. I started with a $200 script job several years ago for a friend, and today, I'm writing an episodic TV drama for big money.

Not bragging; just telling you that it's completely possible.

Beyond that, you'll want to look for a LITERARY MANAGER. They will work on getting your career going, and they are the conduit to agents, as that's what THEY do.

If you are, or become, a lifetime member to The Script Mentor Program, I can provide you an extensive list of my personal contacts.

You'll want to find one that is small, boutique, perhaps starting their own agency looking for active writers wanting to take the next step in their careers…

…and that sounds like YOU!

Q. What do you mean by the "look" of a professional spec screenplay? Are you talking specific formatting issues (like the size of the action blocks, etc.), or the overall flow, or something else?

TSM: There are some easy fixes to your screenplay. I'm simply addressing issues that have been noticed by others, but they weren’t as willing to point these problems out to you.

The Query Letter:

Yes, books and blogs all suggest certain ways of writing these things, but if I told you that a recent poll asked for input from thousands of producers, producer assistants, professional script readers, gatekeepers and those on the front lines of the industry, and a preferred query letter format was devised, would you believe it?

If you did, would you use it?

Well, that poll WAS conducted a few years back, and today, only a handful of writers know it, have learned it, and currently use it. It is a major piece of what we teach at The Script Mentor. The new form is designed to highlight the points that these people are looking for IN a query letter. They want to know what separates YOUR story from every other story in the genre ever written or that is currently being shopped around. We do this by highlighting the "hook". The "hook" is that single element that makes your screenplay different.

If it's like the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf, but the wolf gets his house blown down by the pigs - THAT would be your hook.

In 1975, if you wrote a horror story that took place at a beach during the 4th of July weekend where a killer was terrorizing a town by killing the inhabitants, it might be one of twenty such pictures. If you made the killer a shark, and the person chosen to save the town is a sheriff- whose deathly afraid of the ocean- you've got yourself two great hooks (no pun intended), and an instant classic in "JAWS". So, you’ll need a query letter that highlights at least three major hooks of your story.

The Logline:

Only about 4 or 5 out of 100 loglines that I read are even close to decent; most are laughably horrible. This is the single most poorly written facet of the screenwriter's marketing plan, and it is arguably the most important.

So, why do people struggle with it?

I don’t think most writers fully comprehend the “rules” for creating a logline or the purpose for using it. At The Script Mentor, I developed and copyrighted an easy formula to assure the writer of getting a good logline every time out, in a matter of seconds.

Overall Spec Screenplay Appearance:

To your final question- when I talk about appearance, I do mean "first impression"- the flip-through of the first ten pages. I immediately noticed that the parentheticals were wrong, the master scene headings and sub-headings were incorrect, the lack of real descriptions, sound effects in dialogue, the over-capitalization of words, the incorrect action tense (noted by excessive "-ing" ending verbs), and the extraneous words/ heavy word weight (you averaged 200 words per page in Act I; 188 words in Act II; 230 words in Act III. The target number of words is 150-180 per page, on average, throughout).

So, that was MY first impression.

You're a good writer; much better than most. It's these little things that separate the really, really GOOD writers from everyone else. It is my belief- one that is borne out every day in this industry- that you can have a truly great concept and twist in a story, but no one may ever know it.

Why?

Because if the writing violates most, or all, of the spec screenwriting protocols, no producer worth his salt will read beyond the first three pages.

Conversely, a spec screenwriter can write a perfectly formatted screenplay; it’s very lean, moves quickly, has the right balance of action and descriptive text- but the overall concept might be played out some. I’d bet it will still garner the attention you seek from producers and contest judges, etc. These writers are most likely going to get writing assignments and possibly staff writing jobs, if that's their calling.

Eventually, a writer like this will hit on a very original concept or come up with a twist on an old concept, and get it optioned and/or sold, perhaps even produced.

You want to be THAT writer.

Q.? I want to thank you and The Script Mentor team for their help and guidance in finding my recent success at the Hollywood Pitch Fest. I received quite a few compliments on the pitch. A veteran writer I know looked at my script and commented on how much “white” there was on the page!

I had several fresh script requests at Pitch fest for both of my scripts. I was able to get one of them in the hands of Silver Productions (Matrix, V for Vendetta), and two other companies that did “300” and “Twilight” respectively. Morgan Creek also took both.

Millennium’s VP was there and seemed enthused by the script, saying "this is exactly what we do." He was very happy to take the one sheet (which he complimented me on, thanks again for your guidance!)

Again, I just wanted to thank you so much. I spread your name and company to a few writers at the event, so I hope they get in contact with you.

TSM:?? Wow, that's some great feedback- both on your pitches as well as our service in helping you to this point.? I certainly hope your pals from the pitch fest follow up with your suggestion and contact us. I expect big things from you going forward, as I always thought having the Gods of mythology come alive in the present was something very unique and intriguing as a concept.

Continued good luck going forward!

Q. Hey Geno! I've used a Flash Forward at the beginning of my screenplay. When returning to it later in the script, where should the scene pick-up from?

TSM: Does it open with a Fast Forward? You can't flash TO or FROM anything if there is nothing to start from, so make sure this is not the case (many writers incorrectly open with a "flashback" when no present time has yet been established). Assuming you opened the story in the present, the story would then pick up in the present after returning from the FF. If you opened with the FF, it is incorrect- for this very reason. You don't know where to return to. I hope that makes sense. It feels like we’re in a worm hole of time when reading this...

Example: I'm playing basketball (current timeline), and the script flash-forwards to the end of the game (later timeline), where I’m seen taking a potentially game-winning shot. We don't know yet if it goes in, though. The script returns back to me on the court (current timeline), where I was before that flash-forward. I'm dribbling around, breaking ankles left and right, a euro-step, then a shot- the same shot we saw in the flash-forward.

Swish!

We win!

I'm a hero; carried off the court on the shoulders of my teammates.

Get it?

Got it?

Good! ;)

WRITER'S BIO: Mr. Scala spent 24-plus years in the Hollywood community and was the Executive Director for the?72nd Annual Academy Awards,?as well as The Soul Train Awards,?The Grammys,?The Blockbuster Video Awards Show?and?The Saturn Awards Show. With three produced features- "Assassin 33 A.D.",?"Black Easter"?and?"The Tombs" (all are currently available on Amazon Prime and Tubi), Geno is working on a project scheduled to be filmed Spring '24 - starring Liam Hemsworth and Samuel L. Jackson - and continues to mentor over 550 new writers and authors.

THE SCRIPT MENTOR and TSM Publishing and Marketing now offers a full array of additional services to the author and screenwriter, including...

• Original screenplays.
• Rewrites of your screenplay.
• Complete Ghostwriting services, to include novels and screenplay adaptations.
• Lifetime mentoring- as many scripts as needed; any script; any time.
• Marketing and networking strategies and implementation assistance.
• Hundreds of bona fide DIRECT phone/email A-list contacts from personal list.
• NEW- our creative Pitch-Deck division!
• NEW- Full Social Media marketing division, including sizzle reels, video teasers, promotional SM pages, TV commercials and electronic billboards!
• NEW- Publishing division which includes editing, formatting for eBooks, hardcovers and softcovers, full-service distribution- and TWO publishers!

Contact [email protected] for additional information, cost analysis and written proposal!