Part LXIII: Selling Your Spec Script

One question I get almost more than any other is;

“How do I sell my magnificent screenplay?”

There is much to do BEFORE you begin the marketing phase of your screenwriting career. You have to find out if your screenplay IS as “magnificent” as you THINK it is.

You have to get some feedback from professionals, make the necessary improvements, and see how you fare against your contemporaries.

Truth is, you’ll need no less than three (3) completed screenplays, preferably all in the same genre, before anyone will even notice and take you seriously as a writer. My first screenplay took six weeks to write, and it showed. My most successful spec screenplay to date took eighteen months to complete- and THAT showed, too.

You're probably looking at three years on average to be "ready" to market your stuff. If you WERE to wing it with the first one, which you most certainly can do if you choose, you should have a solid networking strategy and marketing plan in place.

The tools you'll need are;

1) A solid screenplay with a unique concept (a given);

2) An effective logline;

3) A solid query letter (the new accepted form of these that few people are even aware of);

4) A great synopsis.

These four items are usually requested by the producer at some point, and usually in this order: query letter, which contains the logline and synopsis, and the screenplay.

REMEMBER: These are NOT designed to SELL the screenplay (most writers mistakenly believe this to be the case), but to get the producer to REQUEST the screenplay to read. They cannot buy it if they don't READ it. So, that's your goal.?

Beyond that, there are a myriad of ways in which to accomplish this, and 95% of the screenwriters out there never do ANY of them! There are as many different ways to market your script as there are scripts, but there are some ways that are more time and resource-effective.

At The Script Mentor, we spend six months going through this stage, so to highlight "key components" is virtually impossible, but I'm willing to share with you some ways you may not have considered yet, that have proven to be effective with me, personally.

5) The best method of getting noticed is by winning or doing well in contests and/or film festivals.

While too many are designed simply as "money grabs", there are others that are really designed to FIND great scripts and great new "voices", i.e. writers like yourself. Producers, agents, and managers often read scripts in contests, usually in the later or final rounds, once the wheat has been separated from the chaff. If they like it, they'll find you. Others only want to read winners or high finishers. I've been read at least 100 times as a result of a good showing in a contest, and I've been fortunate to have had several good showings, including wins and high placements in several major competitions.?

6) List a number of movies to which your script is similar in genre, plot, story or subject matter and perhaps even the actors you envision playing some parts.

Then you research these films (IMdbPro), and list the producers, directors, cinematographers, and talent and determine their agent. Then you contact their rep and request that they read a script that was similar to blah, blah, blah. Most of these people work in the same genre repeatedly, sometime even with the same crew. You probably want to avoid studio movies, and concentrate on indies.

7) You want to maximize your social media presence (I hate it, too), and dedicate at least the same amount of time you spend each day writing on this marketing and self-promotion (again, a million thoughts on how and what to do here). You'd be surprised how many deals I've done through LinkedIn and Twitter. I once landed a ten episode TV drama deal from a major production company because one of their principals saw me on LinkedIn and read my posts in our group's forum. This year, the same happened with a major feature film deal- all by reading one of my newsletters.

So, hopefully, this opens a slight window into the process, but my best piece of advice is LEARN THE CRAFT. You cannot learn it by reading produced scripts downloaded off of the internet. People will tell you to do this, but they are WRONG. These are shooting scripts, written by professional writers, or a team of writers. You will be writing SPEC scripts; a completely different animal.

?THIS WEEK'S PROMO: Brigham Sunday of StoryBox Studios.

Founded by The Sunday Brothers, StoryBox Studios is a full-service video agency dedicated to STORY. They create stellar corporate content and engaging family entertainment.?"Our specialties include 2D animation, motion graphics, and live- action productions.?StoryBox is an animation studio with 2D and 3D capabilities, and our team includes incredible animation ninjas with the ability to create content that tickles your fancy. We specialize in family friendly co-viewing content for world-wide distribution, including episodic animated series, feature films, and choice-driven interactive content. We also do explainer videos to help others market their businesses through eye-catching advertisement."

WRITER'S BIO:?Mr. Scala spent 22-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 Award Show.?

He is working on his 42nd adaptation; the fascinating autobiography?"CALL ME ZENA", by?Sally Barnard?who, after a brief illness, developed high-level artistic skills overnight. He is also developing biopic projects of rock pioneer?Jimmie F. Rodgers,?Motown star?Tammi Terrell?and iconic folk singer?Harry Chapin- all while continuing to mentor hundreds of new writers and self-published authors.

Geno has two screenplays produced and currently on Amazon Prime;?"Assassin 33 A.D."??and?"The Tombs", and - at present -?is the?Executive Script Consultant?of a?major motion picture?scheduled to begin filming Spring, 2022.

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