09 Feb Film Fund-amentals: Spam For the Young Screenwriter

This is truly a land of opportunity. Why, hardly a day goes by when I don’t receive various offers via e-mail, social networks or even the good old-fashioned telephone. I’ve got people in Africa who want to make me a millionaire, timeshare companies in Florida who want to treat me to a free vacation, and offers for high-paying stay-at-home jobs I never knew existed.

So I was thrilled to receive an unsolicited e-mail for the Screenwriter Takes All Monthly Contest. Gee golly, for a modest fee of $35 to $65 (depending on whether or not you want your script “analyzed” by “experts”), you can enter for a chance to win at least $400. Oh, and maybe somebody important might see your script and turn it into a movie (though I noticed they were a little vague on this part).

The system used by this company is pretty straightforward. Every month, they collect their fees and use a portion of these fees for the cash prize. Most likely, they cover the prize money with the first ten entries, and the rest is operating cost and profit. Since a certain percentage of the entrants will pay for the full “script analysis” and in the process be enticed to try various forms of coaching, the contest is a good piece of eye candy for promoting extra services. Obviously, if you have $35 to blow and are willing to settle for the hope of collecting a small cash prize, then entering the contest is your call. As for the analysis and other services, I still stand by a previous piece I have written on this subject.

I should add that I have not found any complaints about this contest, and what they appear to be doing seems perfectly legitimate. But I’m not sure it will help you in any significant way. If you’re really looking for a screenwriting contest that might be useful, you can try the list available at Hubpages.com called Making Money in Screenplay Contests and Getting Your Script Sold or hope to get included in the next line up of unproduced scripts on The Black List.

Which reminds me of another little bit of advice for people with unproduced screenplays. Be careful who you send it to. Every so often someone offers to send me their script (or in some cases, just sends it). Fortunately, I’m a reasonably trustworthy kind of guy (really, I am). Because of that, I normally dump any unsolicited scripts sent to me. I do this for my own legal protection, especially since I’m also a writer. Otherwise, I could be open to possible litigation issues if someone wanted to insist that I had borrowed from their unfilmed script. Since I’m not interested in providing my attorneys with any more work at present, I just don’t want to get into this issue.

However, there are people out there who are more than happy to take your script. In most cases, they would prefer to take your money (though credit cards will do), but in lieu of cash they might just want your script. These things do happen and you need to take some basic precautions. Presumably, you would not take a walk down a dark alley with twenty dollar bills dangling from your pockets. This is kind of the same thing. Likewise, don’t send your whole script (or even a large portion of it) to someone until you’ve done a little research on them. Are they for real? Do you know how to locate them (by phone, state, whatever)? Are there any complaints about them (you can often check online)? Are they anything more than just some vague contact you made on Facebook or something? These are basic but extremely essential precautions.

The same goes for all of those people on social network sites who are anxious to produce your script. They are like a vast army out there. They can’t wait to make your movie. Too bad you’ve never before heard a mention of these folks. In most cases, nobody’s ever heard of them. But they’re ready to make you famous. For a price. I’ve seen lots of solicitations from “producers” who will “produce” your movie if you give them the money for it. Let’s go back to the dark alley. To your left, you see a shadowy figure. Do you really want to run over there and try to glad hand this guy?

A producer is the person who raises the money to make the film. They raise the money from investors. As the screenwriter, you are not an investor (unless you want to be). In truth, you are suppose to be getting paid for the screenplay, not paying for a movie. Granted, in a small indie production where everybody is working to scrape together the production budget, it’s not unusual for the screenwriter to be floating cash into the movie. But this happens on extremely small productions where everybody knows each other and often are still fresh from film school. But beyond that realm, a screenwriter works for a living (with luck, an OK living at that) and isn’t paying anyone for the pleasure of reading and/or filming their script.

I sometimes think that the best summation of how a screenwriter should relate to a producer is the old story about George Bernard Shaw. Until he met Gabriel Pascal, Shaw had been dissatisfied with previous efforts to adapt his theatrical works. Pascal (who is still one of the most mysterious figures in all of British cinema) only had a few German credits to his name and no reputation in British cinema. But he had the gall to show up on Shaw’s doorstep, proclaiming that he was the only person alive who could successfully produce movies from Shaw’s plays. Supposedly, Shaw demanded to know how much money he had in his pockets. Pascal sheepishly pulled out a few coins. Shaw glanced at the meager sum and invited Pascal into the house, telling Pascal that he was the only honest producer he had ever met.

Shaw and Pascal had a very successful career together. Pascal’s only regret was that Shaw nixed his idea of turning Pygmalion into a musical.