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Lesson 1
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9 Replies
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Renee’s Project and Market
What I learned doing this assignment is that there is much more to having a professional screenwriting career than simply writing great scripts. You also need to learn how to continually market those scripts to get anywhere in the industry.
Title: Something’s in the Woods
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Concept: When a young girl is snatched by a mysterious creature while camping with her family, a troubled young woman must face off with a powerful man and the mysterious creature in order to bring the young girl home alive.
I think the most attractive part of my script is that it is a limited location, low budget, horror, with a great protagonist transformational journey.
I’m going to market to producers first because I think it will be easier to make contact with the producers. I’ve gone through the marketing process once before in the Master Screenwriter Certificate program and found it easier to connect with producers.
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SUBJECT: Monica’s Project and Market
What I learned today is that it’s a great review for me to go through this process.
1. Give us your Genre, Title, and Concept.
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action (needs a big re-write for this)
Title: TIME GUARDIANS
Concept: A retired Special Forces team takes a job to steal an ancient alien artefact from a Bagdad museum only to discover all is not what it seems when a team member claims to have built the artefact and the person who hired them wants it to run the world before the timeline runs out in 2030.
2. In one or two sentences, tell us what you think is most attractive about your story.
The story is based on a conspiracy theory from YouTube and features an alien. It’s set in modern times and features good guys and bad guys.
3. Tell us which you will target FIRST — managers, producers, or actor’s production company — and why you picked that target.
1. I target producers first in all my marketing efforts. They seem to be easier to get a response from.
2. Then managers – even though I really don’t understand how this works.
3. I don’t think I’ve tried actor’s production companies as they always seem to have the info@ email.
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Amy’s Project and Market
What I learned today is how you market your screenplay can mean the difference between not getting read at all to actually getting project made.
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Title: Unroyally in Love
Concept: When a princess learns that she’s not really a princess, she’s forced to accept help from a neighboring country’s prince who she hates and the two find themselves unexpectedly drawn to each other.
2. In one or two sentences, tell us what you think is most attractive about your story.
Unlike all the movies where a commoner falls in love and becomes a princess, my protagonist starts out as a princess and ends up being a commoner.
3. Tell us which you will target FIRST — managers, producers, or actor’s production company — and why you picked that target.
I will target producers first because I want to write for networks like the Hallmark Channel and Great American Family and I’ve been advised by many people that this is the best way to break into that market.
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MODULE TEN LESSON ONE
FRAN’S PROJECT AND MARKET
WHAT I LEARNED: Just keep looking, listing to find the ones that best fit your script.
MY VISION: I want to write great movies. Movies that are magical, movies that move people and tell the truth. I want to write movies that stars will want to be in.
I do remember doing all this in one of my other classes. It’s a really good exercise to get down pat to target the market.
As I am abandoning my script for this class because it is nowhere NEAR anything—and, frankly, I lost heart in writing it, I’m going to be working to market two of my other scripts.
My COMEDY, HASH HOUSE, I’ve already placed in another contest after, this time, doing 5 passes on it to get it perfect. And because I heard that Chuck Lorre (Big Bang Theory) was looking for a restaurant script, I immediately jumped on it and sent him a letter requesting to send the script.
It’s about a young college slacker, who’s finally found himself in a tough love situation. He has to go to work for a living in a crazy, nutso restaurant that just so happens to be his aunt’s—and one day will be his. But when he gets there, he finds himself under siege by a gorgeous seductress who’s out to take over the business, his trust fund, and him, while Harlan finds himself falling in love with another server who he had a major clash with the night of his graduation party.
This one I’m looking for producers.
My second, The Great Steamboat Race Between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee, Parts I, II and III,
is an Historical Fiction, Drama piece, I’ve been working on for years.
It’s based on the true story of the great race that took place over three and a half days in 1870. And the love story is inspired by the life of one of our great newspapermen who lived during that time: Charles Welbourne Knapp (Missouri Republican, AP, New York Times ). The concept:
It’s the story of two young lovers who, through perils and pitfalls, and a handsome rival who vies for the young woman’s hand, find their way to each other in the greatest race ever to be recorded in the annals of American history.
This one screams for at least 2 actors to play the captains because, not so much for their acting abilities, but because they look so much like the captains of the two steamboats.
I want Liam Neeson to play Captain John Cannon.
And I want Mel Gibson to play Captain Thomas Leathers. (I know he’s a persona non grata in Hollywood, but you have to see the photos of Leathers. It’s uncanny!
Otherwise, if I had to choose to look for a producer, hands down, my first choice would be Ron Howard. My second would be Steven Spielberg. But if I aim for the History Channel for this one, then any one of the actors who’ve been producing for the channel would do! Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Renner. I would also check out Reese Witherspoon to see if she would be interested. But that’s later on in my research for the right fit.
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[WIM 2] Module 10 Lesson 1 – How to Get 50 Script Requests
Lisa Long Project and Market
What I learned today is that it is possible to get my script to a manager, producer, or actor.
1. Give us your Genre, Title, and Concept.
Genre: Coming-of-Age Drama
Title: Chesapeake Girl
Concept: A 12-year-old aspiring dancer is abandoned by her mother with a father she’s never known to live above his restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay.
2. In one or two sentences, tell us what you think is most attractive about your story.
Everyone can relate to a coming-of-age story because everyone has gone through the ups and downs of growing up. It’s a multigenerational family drama set in the unique area of the Chesapeake in Virginia. It shows the inspirational drive of a child who knows what she wants and pushes on no matter what.
3. Tell us which you will target FIRST — managers, producers, or actor’s production company — and why you picked that target.
I will start with actor’s production companies because I think the story has exciting parts for a middle-aged actor, a younger actress, and an older actress.
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Lynn’s Project and Market
I LEARNED that I’ll need to target several different marketing places, since my script is both a Rom-Com and Cli-Fi
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1. GIVE US YOUR:
GENRE: Romantic Comedy, subgenre Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi)
TITLE: Weathering It
CONCEPT: Two college students struggle to overcome family fights about global warming, then try to get married during the worst ever Texas freeze.
2. IN ONE OR TWO SENTENCES, TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IS MOST ATTRACTIVE ABOUT YOUR STORY.
This is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet comedic story that involves environmental themes and conflicts. It is set in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas with its Tejano subculture.
3. TELL US WHICH YOU WILL TARGET FIRST:
I would target production companies of actors passionate about climate change, with the idea that if my script is not of interest to them, they might point me in the direction of a company or manager who would be interested. Since I am only aware of DiCaprio’s Appian Way at this point, I may quickly go to choice 2 and 3…
Secondarily I would target production companies and producers into Rom-Coms. Third, those who have produced environmentally themed movies.
I’d need separate pitches and foci for each one.
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Andrew Boyd’s project and market
Genre:
Drama, war, based on a true story. Gritty. Emotional. Inspirational.
Title:
Hitler’s Choirboys
Concept:
Nuremberg 1945: Hitler’s henchmen are on trial for their lives and their place in history – if they go down as heroes a new generation of Nazis will rise to fight for the Fatherland. Only a handful of men stand in their way.
What is most attractive about this story?
2026 is the 80th anniversary of the greatest trial in history – the trial of the leading Nazis. The world remembers and wonders: how could this have happened, and why? And what can be done to prevent it happening again? Based on a true story, a few decent men work tirelessly to persuade Hitler’s henchmen to denounce the Fuhrer and all he stood for before they are sent to the gallows.
Who will you target first?
Producers, I think. This is a certain kind of film – profound, challenging, inspirational, and it will need a producer with a similar vision to bring it to the screen.
What I learned today is:
The challenge of being succinct over a challenging and cerebral issue. The importance of selling over telling.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by Andrew Boyd.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
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WIM Joel Stern Project and Marketing
My Vision: To write eight screenplays that eventually become Hollywood blockbusters (and to get a speaking line in at least one).
What I learned from this assignment: The basic requirements needed to market my work successfully.
Thriller: “Death Voice”
Concept: A decorated WWII hero with a dark wartime past returns home only to face a series of personal horrors that rival anything he experienced fighting in Europe.
As the world around him crumbles, Jim “Ace” McCarthy is a protagonist movie goers will sympathize with.
As of now, I’d target managers first. Marketing isn’t my strong point and I’ve always assumed I’d benefit from their expertise.
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David Holloway Project and Market
What I learned today is the importance of answering these key marketing questions
Drama – “The Last, Best Hope” or “A Nation Divided”
Concept: Fifty years in the future, a young Englishman and his friend must cross an America divided into independent states to rescue his wife
There is a lot of adventure as the two young men must cross a number of independent states which are organized around vocation, politics or social identity. All the while, they must withstand one man’s attempts to have them killed.
I will target producers first because I would like to sell the screenplay directly.
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