Home The Screenwriter's Success Newsletter, May 8 2009
The Screenwriter's Success Newsletter, May 8 2009
The Screenwriter's Success Newsletter - The Business of Show Institute
Dear Friend,
Welcome to this issue of the Screenwriter's Success Newsletter!
This week is packed with immediately applicable information dedicated to taking your screenwriting career to the next level.
Think Like a Fish: is this week's article by yours truly. The article focuses on the all-important mindset of a successful screenwriter. Most screenwriters focus on their own needs and wants, NOT the desires of their market, or the desires of the Hollywood executives they so desperately want to read their material. Here's how to fix that.
The Scoggins Report: is our bi-weekly/monthly spec market analysis. Use this information to see what's selling, who's buying what, and what genre you should be writing for. This information is pure gold...
From the Analyst's Desk: is our weekly offering from studio analyst Mark Lagrimas. Every week Mark explains how your screenplay is viewed and calculated through the eyes of the studio system. This week, "Who is the Studio Analyst?"
The Box Office Report: gives you the latest feature film releases as well as the opening weekend projections, so you can be on top of this critical information.
The Video Screenwriting Tip of the Week: is replayed here from earlier in the week, just in case you didn't get to see it. The weekly tip offers simple and immediately useable advice on achieving screenwriting success.
Best Business Advice for Screenwriters: is dedicated to asking a top executive or successful screenwriter the absolute best advice they could give a screenwriter looking for success. This month's contributor? Screenwriter John August!
That's it for this issue, but we are dedicated to making this newsletter THE resource for aspiring screenwriters.
If you enjoyed it, and would like to pass it along to friends, please have them go directly to http://www.TheBusinessOfShowInstitute.com and have them sign up there.
May Your Life Be Extraordinary,
Marvin V. Acuna
Think Like a Fish
by Marvin V. Acuna
When John Rade, a legendary fisherman from Montauk, NY, was asked how he managed to successfully and routinely catch more fish then all the other fisherman in Montauk he replied, “I think like a fish, not like a fisherman”.
Sounds silly, but it’s very profound.
Most aspiring screenwriters approach their careers and this business from the perspective of their own needs and desires. Listen, it’s important to be clear on what you want. I’m a huge believer that clarity is power and communicating your intention is a must. But, that’s only part of the equation.
John Rade is clear on what he wants… fish, lots of them. But, his unique approach has resulted in legendary status.
Bet you're thinking: Marvin, you want me to think like a fish?
Yes! I want you to begin thinking like a fish. I promise you it will change your screenwriting life.
Here are two principles you can apply to think like a fish:
Know exactly who your target audience is and look at everything from their point of view. It's easy to assume that what is significant to you is significant to your target audience. This is simply untrue.
In essence, if you are seeking an agent, think like an agent. What does an agent want? What does an agent care about? What does an agent dislike? Only after you find the answers to these questions will you be able to speak to them, have them listen and respond.
Do not simply rely on your instincts or what you think your target audience might want. Instead, conduct research.
In essence, before you commence your next screenplay get a sense of what’s being sold in the market place, what’s being made, who’s making it, what’s already in development, etc...
My hope is that from today on you will apply Rade's “think like a fish” philosophy to your screenwriting business and become legendary too!
Compared to the previous two months of 2009, April was a good time to take out a spec script especially if you were an agent at WMA, CAA or Original Artists. For the four weeks ending May 1 (not including the week of March 30), the total number of new spec scripts on the market dropped considerably month to month (46, compared to 77 in March and 62 in February), but a much higher percentage of them sold (9, or 19.6%, compared to 10.4% in March and 12.9% in February). Additionally, 1 script taken out in March sold in April.
The weekly breakdown (specs/sales) is as follows:
April 6:
April 13:
April 20:
April 27:
7/1
13/4
15/3
11/1
The above breakdown is somewhat misleading, since 2 of the sales in the second week were preemptive buys (where the scripts did not appear widely in the marketplace prior to their sale) and thus went out in the preceding weeks. Nevertheless, the average weekly number of scripts out in April was 11.5, significantly lower than the previous weekly average (16, through the week ending April 3), and the week of April 6 was the slowest week of the year since the market revved up post-Sundance.
The 10 total sales included 4 Comedy, 4 Thriller and 2 Action projects. Interestingly, more Thrillers sold in April (4 out of 16) than in March and February combined (1 out of 9 and 2 out of 12, respectively). Surprisingly, none of the 10 sales included a major star or filmmaker attachment (with apologies to Elizabeth Banks, who was attached to star in and produce “Forever 21,” out from CAA and purchased by Dreamworks). Between 3 and 5 of April’s sales were ostensibly preemptive, and just one reported multiple bidders (“Odysseus,” out from CAA, which Warner Bros. secured over Paramount).
Each of the sales went to a different buyer. Of the major studios, Paramount and Universal did not buy a spec in April (though the buyer for “Family History,” a script by Michael Punke supervised by The Wibberly’s, was unconfirmed at the time of this writing).
In the rep race, William Morris had the best month, with 3 of the 10 sales (out of 5 scripts taken out), followed by CAA and Original Artists, with 2 each (CAA took out 6 scripts, and Original just the 2 it sold). Art/Work Entertainment and Brillstein each had one sale, as did ICM (out of 4).
About The Spec Market Roundup:
The Spec Market Roundup is an analysis of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. It does not include pitch sales nor the film rights to underlying material.
About Jason Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a manager and partner at Protocol, a Beverly Hills-adjacent literary management and production company. He represents writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol’s founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland. After getting his start in the entertainment business as an assistant at ICM, Scoggins became a TV Literary Agent at The Gersh Agency, followed by a stint at Writers & Artists Agency and several years in the wilderness. He returned to the business in 2007, just in time to be impacted by the run-up to the WGA strike.
When one walks into the Disney Headquarters, it’s easy to pass him as he sits there with a notepad remembering each name enshrined in the studio’s Wall of Legends courtyard. You won’t notice as she is the first to pull from the daily stack of Variety that arrives on the first floor of the MGM Tower. You may even laugh in derisive dismissal as he stands there in shiny spandex glory at the premiere of Warner Brother’s "Watchmen".
But we are EVERYWHERE.
We are the brains behind every massive San Diego Comic exhibit, holding up every blockbuster film tentpole, pushing the massive broom of every television sweep.
Who are we you ask? We are the studio analyst. What do we do, you ask?
The answer is EVERYTHING.
There's a sad and all too common misconception among many circles in and out of the entertainment business about us.
A few winters ago I saw Sony Picture’s "The Holiday" and was throughly entertained by the witty and charming dialogue written by Nancy Meyers. At the film’s climax, the character of a legendary Hollywood screenwriter played by the equally legendary Eli Wallach talked of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He claimed that he “was here before box office results were reported like baseball cards on the nightly news" implying that the analyst is a mindless number cruncher who took the beauty and glory of motion pictures and television.
I have news for Nancy Meyers, as long as there have been studios, there have always been analysts. Louis B. Mayer, the mastermind of the greatest movie studio of the Golden Age had a trusted team of analysts. Although they lacked Box Office Mojo or Nielsen to guide their efforts, national and regional tallies were reported back and compiled weekly from Loew's Theaters and popularity polls from major newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and magazines like Good Housekeeping directly influenced the contract player era or "star system."
Even as far back as the 1930's and 1940's when MGM had "more stars than in the heavens," many shooting stars were caught, a precious few were lifted high into the heavens, and others were brought back down to earth...all at the beck and call of the studio analyst.
What then is the nature of the studio analyst? While it is true that he or she may hold a lofty business degree or have mastery over difficult statistical computer programs, the single greatest quality the analyst has is love for his work. And what better work, may I ask you, is there than movies and television? If you're reading this article, then you yourself most likely agree. Do you have what it takes to walk in an analyst's shoes?
Have you watched every movie in the entire Warner Brothers catalogue, named them in chronological order, and listed the director and principal cast of each? Do you know the names of every principal animator in every major Disney feature length hand drawn animated film from "Snow White" to "The Princess and The Frog" and know where to find an art sample from each one? Can you name every comic book or strip that has been adapted to film or television internationally and who distributed these films or shows?
These are a few of the trivial tasks brought forth to good analysts' desks and snuffed out before morning coffee because they're already committed to memory.
So if you happen to open your eyes to our world, find one of us. Give us a few friendly words, a warm handshake, or even a kind embrace. If you play your cards right, you may end up with having one of the most valuable living resources that one can find in the entertainment business.
About Mark Lagrimas:
Mark Lagrimas has worked as a market research, sales, programming, and marketing analyst for the Walt Disney Company and MGM Studios. He has started his own production company, Rare Breed Entertainment, and is currently developing his first film.
Any questions, comments, and virtual high fives can be sent to:
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Screenwriter John August on "The Best Business Advice He Ever Got":
"The best overall advice I got was criticism. It was essentially like 'No, that doesn't work, and this is why it doesn't work, and don't delude yourself in thinking this is something that it's not.' The best criticism acknowledges what you were trying to do, what worked if anything worked, and what needed to work. Generally when you're sensitive with somebody, you want them to say, 'That's fantastic, you're awesome, this is great' – most people want validation. And to actually go in seeking criticism is a lot tougher, but it's generally by far the most helpful. And picking who it is that is giving you criticism is useful. Because a lot of people can be negative, but that’s not good. You need to choose the people who say, 'honestly, this is what needs to change...'"
The Screenwriter's Success Newsletter, May 8 2009
When John Rade, a legendary fisherman from Montauk, NY, was asked how he managed to successfully and routinely catch more fish then all the other fisherman in Montauk he replied, “I think like a fish, not like a fisherman”.
"The best overall advice I got was criticism. It was essentially like 'No, that doesn't work, and this is why it doesn't work, and don't delude yourself in thinking this is something that it's not.' The best criticism acknowledges what you were trying to do, what worked if anything worked, and what needed to work. Generally when you're sensitive with somebody, you want them to say, 'That's fantastic, you're awesome, this is great' – most people want validation. And to actually go in seeking criticism is a lot tougher, but it's generally by far the most helpful. And picking who it is that is giving you criticism is useful. Because a lot of people can be negative, but that’s not good. You need to choose the people who say, 'honestly, this is what needs to change...'"