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Screenwriter Web www.breakingin.net Script Marketing Advice

FOUR THINGS TO DO AFTER TYPING FADE OUT

Copyright (c) 2002, Lenore Wright

Your script may be finished, but your work as a screenwriter is far from over. You must now devise a marketing strategy for your script. Even if you have an agent or manager working with you, as an unproduced writer you must act as your own promoter.

Marketing a spec script is an awesome endeavor -- even for established screenwriters. Here are four manageable tasks to launch your marketing plan. The order is not important. Make a start.

1. PROTECT YOUR SCRIPT.

Whether you are a Writers Guild member or not, register your script with Guild when you finish it. The Guild makes it easy to do ONLINE => www.wga.org (Click on Script Registration in the left TOC and follow instructions.)

You established your copyright when you put your story on paper, but registering it with the Guild establishes the date of creation. Down the road, if someone questions your claim to creation, the Guild and their legal staff will back you up -- even if you're not a member.

If you change the script significantly later on, you can reregister it. Establishing the date of creation for your original draft of the script is more important that registering each creative tweak you do later on.

2. TARGET SCRIPT CONTESTS THAT FEATURE FEEDBACK.

I'm a great advocate of script contests as a legitimate way for unproduced writers to make inroads toward a professional screenwriting career. If you win or place highly in a respected competition, you gain more than prize money or free software. Many contests guarantee meetings with film professionals, submissions to agents, public script readings or feedback from film professionals. Some contests even offer a production opportunity for your script.

Focus on contests that feature individual feedback on your script. This site => www.moviebytes.com publishes a specific list of contests that offer feedback. While checking them out, read the Contest Report Cards from other writers who have entered the same competitions you are considering.

A tutorial on evaluating script contests => www.breakingin.net/choosey.htm

3. CREATE A BULLETPROOF LOGLINE FOR YOUR SCRIPT.

A logline is a short teaser that introduces your script to agents, producers and readers. Creating an irresistible logline is one of your jobs as a screenwriter. If you can't promote your movie in a sentence or two or three, marketing your script will be very difficult. Loglines help sell movies. That's how producers and agents find new
scripts. Here's a typical conversation agents and producers have every day:

AGENT: I just read a great script --
PRODUCER: What was it about?
AGENT: Good question.

Your logline must answer this vital question succinctly and winningly. For a mini-tutorial on writing dynamic loglines => www.breakingin.net/logline.htm

4. INVENT A TWO-MINUTE PHONE PITCH.

As you (and your agent) market your script, eventually you must invent a short conversational pitch - 6 to 8 sentences - that you can use to describe your project quickly over the phone or in conversation. Agents will use this tool to pitch the project to producers or packaging agents before they send the script to them. Some writers type up this pitch and give it to their agent disguised as a cover letter; others just pump up their agent in conversation. Don't leave this important step to your agent; you know your movie much better than your agent ever will.

When trying to come up with a short pitch, I sometimes find it helpful to write it up as dialogue. As an example, here might be a phone pitch for an agent promoting the SOME LIKE IT HOT script. (TIP: Haven't seen this classic comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis? Rent it tonight. Then send me a
thank-you note.)

AGENT: I've got a hot movie script here --
PRODUCER: (unimpressed) Yeah, what's it about.
AGENT: It's about two musicians who witness the St. Valentine's Massacre and they're on the run from the mob --
PRODUCER: We got chase movies up the wazoo. What else you got?
AGENT: It's not a chase movie it's a comedy. The two guys -- one's kinda randy in a good-lookin' way, the other's uptight in a lovable kinda way. To get away from the mobsters, they pose as girls in an all-girl-band on its way to a gig in Florida. The randy one falls for the lead singer -- she's a real babe...
PRODUCER: Eddie Murphy won't play a romantic lead.
AGENT: Eddie plays the partner -- the uptight but lovable one.
PRODUCER: Why's he uptight?
AGENT: This dorky millionaire playboy's got the hots for him.
PRODUCER: He can get rid of the guy, all he's gotta do is change his clothes.
AGENT: He can't change his clothes. The gangsters show up for a convention at the Florida resort where the girls are playing --
PRODUCER: And the randy one's making headway with the babe and doesn't want to leave. I get it. What's it called?
AGENT: Some Like It Hot.
PRODUCER: I like the title; can we lose the mob angle?
AGENT: I'll send it over.

Try this exercise with your script. Write a short phone pitch, bring up objections to your story and answer the objections from a marketing point of view. This exercise will crystallize the marketing features of your particular script.

Screenwriters need to differentiate their script from the thousands of spec scripts on the market. You can't expect an agent or producer to do this for you. Writers who create a special niche for their script increase their chances of generating a sale.