Buying Opportunities to Sell Your Script

Screenwriter William MunnsGuest Post
by William Munns

In my last article, we discussed the bizarre challenge of proper script formatting and coming to terms with the absurd appeal of “more white on a page.” If your literary integrity has survived reducing your work to an anorexic level and you feel you have a wonderful movie/TV/media script, you are now ready to try and sell it. If you’ve sold to any other publishing medium or industry, and think that the movie/TV script selling process is the same, change your name to Alice and start chasing the White Rabbit into Wonderland.

I don’t say this to intimidate, because in an absurd sort of way, selling a script is actually quite pragmatic in its current process. You buy your way to a sales opportunity. Gone are the days of discretely greased palms, bribes, kickbacks, and similar under-the-table attempts to gain the recommendation or accessibility of a person who can get you closer to a buyer. Now, the process is remarkably open and publicized, with credit cards and PayPal gladly accepted. The trick is to buy your opportunities in the right order. Continue reading “Buying Opportunities to Sell Your Script”

Anorexic Literature – Writing Screenplays for Today’s Market

Screenwriter William MunnsGuest Post
by William Munns

There was a time when writing for movies or TV was like writing a play, with lush descriptions of a scene and robust soliloquies. If you aspire to write a great movie or TV script today, abandon that thought and face the realities of today’s market. Format, high concept log lines, formulaic story structure, and minimalist content are the Four Horsemen of the Screenplay Apocalypse you must confront. If you have written for other forms, especially classical literature, writing a script will be something akin to a head-on collision with a garbage truck. Continue reading “Anorexic Literature – Writing Screenplays for Today’s Market”

10 Things That Can Harsh Your Book-to-Movie Buzz

The biggest hope of many authors these days is having a book adapted to film. Screw the Big 6/5/4 (whatever) Publishers. When there’s a starburst on your book cover that reads “Now a major motion picture,” you’ve really made it.

Still, few authors are going to have the kind of clout needed to call the shots about translating the book to the screen. That is very likely going to mean the movie will be different from the book, and WAY different than you imagined it.

An author’s artistic integrity is a precious thing. We also hope that a great movie will drive book sales even higher.

Sadly, Hollywood doesn’t always get it right. Here is my list of the top ten different ways Hollywood can snatch failure from the jaws of success in making an adaptation: Continue reading “10 Things That Can Harsh Your Book-to-Movie Buzz”