Dear Friend,

Happy Friday! As you get ready for the long holiday weekend (if you're here in the US), I also wanted to make sure you got your weekly dose of insider screenwriting knowledge as well.

And that's what we've got for you in this week's insightful Screenwriter's Success Newsletter.

The amazing thing is that the newsletter continues to get better and better, with even more advice from industry executives, and business wisdom that you can't get anywhere else (believe me, I've checked).

So while you fire up the grill and get ready to watch some fireworks (or just get ready for another weekend) check out the newsletter and keep your eyes on the prize. =)

Here's what we've got for you this week:

ABN: is this week's article by yours truly. This piece is about the need for you to network... ESPECIALLY when you don't need to! The same way a wise man digs a well before he gets thirsty, a wise screenwriter doesn't finish 12 scripts and then plead with executives to read his work. There's a much better way to go about this, and here it is...

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 Asshole Shield: is this week's article by mc foley. mc is an active writer and regular contributor to this newsletter. The title of her column is "Lessons Learned: One Writer's Journey".

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.

From Writer to Exec, Changing the Way You Read: is this week's article from our newest contributor, Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions, Daniel Manus. The title of his column is "No B.S. for Screenwriters - The Executive Perspective."

Best Business Advice for Screenwriters: is dedicated to asking a top executive or successful screenwriter the absolute best advice they could give an aspiring writer. This month's contributor? Ligiah Villalobos, writer of the highest grossing crossover film in history, "La Misma Luna".

The Scoggins Report: is our bi-weekly 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...

The Business of Show Institute Recommends: is the weekly screenwriting product or service that our staff has personally reviewed and feel you would benefit from. This week? An in-depth intereview with screenwriting legend and teacher, Blake Snyder.

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

ABN

by Marvin V. Acuna

Gerard J. Arpey, president and CEO of American Airlines said the best business advice he ever got was, "Borrow money when you can, not when you need to." This is sound advice that can be translated and applied to networking.

About a month or so ago I met with the executive director of a writing school in NYC. Their only focus is to breed great writers. I was surprised to learn how little value they place on networking. The perspective was that until they had material to present, and by that they meant great material, there was no value in bridging those relationships. No need to waste people's time... they are not ready.

Additionally, they proclaimed that the business of writing could be a distraction from the craft of writing. It's more important that they hone their craft. There will be plenty of time for networking once they have those well crafted projects under their arm.

WTF! In my humble opinion... that's crazy talk. You should Always Be Networking. Always!!

I don't disagree that you should be working on honing your craft. Malcolm Gladwell’s book, OUTLIERS, points to numerous examples of people who vested the time necessary to hone their craft in their chosen field. But, you should always be networking.

Networking ONLY when you need to is foolish and sets the wrong tone. Relationships take time, building rapport requires patience, and people in the business are naturally cautious - if not fearful - of those that are simply taking, rather than giving.

Listen carefully: It's pretty easy to spot those that are just joining the network purely to take - not to give. Therefore, be part of a network before you need anything from anyone.

To start with, you must understand all your strengths and weaknesses. Then always seek opportunities where your abilities contribute enormous value to others. The result: others will want to be a part of your network if they know that you will add value. And more importantly, your existing relationships will be strengthened if you can consistently add value to those in your network.

Your mission: to be the first person everyone remembers and suggests when others ask, "Do you know anyone who..."

Start now, and become a trusted node and connector, not a fragmented meteor that is visible as it enters the atmosphere.

The Box Office Report

Lessons Learned: One Writer's Journey

The Asshole Shield

by mc foley

It's a summer day in Los Angeles. I'm at a busy lunch spot with a friend when a guy in a red shirt passes the table and stops. My friend drops his fork, jumps up to greet the buddy he hasn't seen in awhile and they compare quick notes on recent projects, what's up next, troublemakers/people to avoid working with, good actors and when they should get together.

The guy strolls away, my friend returns to his lunch, and comments on how much his buddy's changed. "Once he knocked the first film out of the ballpark," he tells me, "he put up the shield."

The asshole shield? ... I think to myself.

"The asshole shield," my friend says.

Suddenly, my brain zips to an image of Mr. Red Shirt (what we'll call him, to protect the innocent) standing next to the captain's chair in his own embattled star ship, shouting "Fire photon torpedoes! Shields up! Warp ten Mr. Sulu!"

According to my friend, the problem was that after the first big success and the numerous premiers and wire image photos that followed, Mr. Red Shirt started to get harassed. Even stalked - by the hordes of zombie assholes.

There he'd be - at a friend's barbecue, on the elliptical machine at the gym, talking to his girlfriend's cousin, nodding 'good morning' to a neighbor or grabbing a drink at a bar - and somehow, his name or his films would pop up in conversation and the hordes would ooze out of the woodwork moaning:

"Oh yeah?... Wanna read my script?"

"I've got this awesome movie idea - it's about a..."

"Soo... there's this project I've been trying to make for awhile..."

"Need any writers? Assistants? Crew? Hey, can you get me Taft-Hartley’d?"

"You know, my son would love to work in the industry..."

The situation got so bad, Mr. Red Shirt began to use an alias. "No, no," he'd say, "I'm not that guy - I just look like him."

My friend finishes the story, steps away to use the restroom and I start to recall my own zombie-mistakes. Sure, there were a few, initial LA encounters when I'd been one of the assholes. There was that night at an event when an acquaintance introduced me to his friend, a director of development at XYZ company, and within fifteen minutes from the initial handshake, I was pitching my 'hilarious will ferrell comedy.' There was that chance encounter with a rep from a well-known comic book label who I badgered with my idea about a foul-mouthed, alcoholic aardvark (wait, Cerebus fans, I'm kidding! - but I did have anthropomorphic animals in my storyline).

Luckily, I learned pretty quickly. Only a few people suffered from my momentary lapses into zombie-dom, and I still breathe a sigh of relief that, during those lapses, I never blasted too many half-realized scripts out at every industry email I could find.

However, when my friend returns from the restroom, I ask him - "So, did anyone manage to impress your buddy?" (ie: get hired).

"A few," my friend replies. "Especially some people he'd known for a long time. But only when it was organic."

Again, my mind floats back to that star ship...

I imagine it landing on a faraway planet for a rest-stop, and Captain/Mr. Red Shirt getting some much needed R&R amongst alien friends. He meets a cool, young alien who chats him up, debates recent sports events and the newest means of interplanetary travel. Red Shirt thinks the young guy's relaxed enough, so they exchange emails and keep in contact over the next few years, sometimes meeting up over a beer or a quick lunch.

Then, one day, in the midst of talk about writers and projects, the young guy slips in that he's been hammering away at scripts and has a pile of them next to his bedroom table. Red Shirt nonchalantly, or rather - organically - responds...

"...oh yeah? Tell me about your best one."

-mc foley


About mc foley:
Melinda Corazon Foley was born in Cebu, Philippines, raised in Virginia and currently resides in West Hollywood, CA. In 2005, MC Foley was named East West Players' James Irvine Foundation Mentee affording her the privilege to craft a new original stage play, the result: "Down and Out." It debuted at the Union Center for the Arts. Foley was then awarded the Asian American Writers Workshop Scholarship, which she utilized to re-imagine the aforementioned play into a web based series incorporating verse, motion graphics and comic book illustrations. Recently Ms. Foley completed work on a debut YA novel, The Ice Hotel. The novel is a fantasy adventure written especially for readers experiencing the profound pain of loss. In the book, a family, reeling from their eldest son's death, escapes to the Ice Hotel, where an age-old, arctic magic connects this world to the next.

The Video Screenwriting Tip of the Week

Tip #31: Should I Pay for Representation?

No B.S. for Screenwriters - The Executive Perspective

From Writer to Exec, Changing the Way You Read

by Daniel Manus

In my first article, I talked about how I became an executive and mentioned how different my perspective is now than when I started. When I was interning, and even for the first few years as an assistant and junior executive, I was still looking at scripts as a writer - because that's what I considered myself. But somewhere along the way...that changed. And now, I can appreciate both sides of the equation. Because not only do I understand what the writer was thinking when they wrote it, but I know how to make it better and make it sellable. Because the real shift in perspective from writer to executive revolves around one easy question – can I sell it?

I'm not suggesting writers concentrate on how "an executive thinks" while writing a first draft, but I do think it's an important thing for writers to learn before they try to submit or sell or pitch their project. Thinking like an exec opened my eyes to how to really evaluate scripts and read them in a different light. And so, I want to share with you some of the differences between how a writer and an exec approaches a script.

Now there are two types of scripts that are sent to executives - samples and submissions. Samples are sent just to get a feel for the writer's voice, how they handle tone, character, dialogue, scares, comedy - whatever a company might be looking for at the time. Samples are usually scripts that someone writes not because they think it will sell, but because they think it shows their talents off nicely and might get them in the room and hired on a different project. Or perhaps it went out as a spec but didn't sell, so now you're using it as a sample. Knowing if your script makes a better spec or a better sample is a great thing to realize. If you pitch your script to 100 execs and they all say they like the writing but the script isn't for them...it's a sample.

Submissions are scripts written to (hopefully) be sold. Representatives submit these to production companies and studios and hope for the best. Executives look at submissions creatively as well, but with three questions in mind – Can I sell it? Who can I sell it to? When can I sell it?

'Can I sell it' means - is it commercial? What demographic is it right for and is that demo big enough to matter? Is it what the marketplace is favoring right now? Is it what buyers are looking for? Can it sell internationally? Is it something that is already in development elsewhere? Can I picture the poster? The trailer? Is there a great logline and tagline?

'Who can I sell it to' – Are there enough places out there looking for this type of material or is it a one-stop shop? Is it something that only a Participant would go for or is it broad? Can I package it? Can I get an actor or director interested in this material? Can I sell agents on why it would be a good project for their clients?

'When can I sell it' – How many notes and drafts is it going to take to get it to a sellable place? How much work needs to be done still? Is it the genre that people are looking for at that moment or are we going to have to wait for the next cycle?

Some might argue that looking at a script through those glasses ruins the creative aspects of writing, and when I looked at scripts as a writer, I believed that too. But actually, it allows you to see the script from all different angles, resulting in the ability to find a way to improve the story or character or dialogue, etc. It's about making slightly noncommercial projects commercial enough to sell, and making completely noncommercial scripts good enough to find talent that will like it. When I used to read a script as a writer, all I would ask myself is - is that a better line than what I would have come up with? Is that a better idea than the handful I am working on? It was more about jealousy or dominance or self-re-assurance than it was true analysis.

What else does an exec look for while reading? They look for the all-important "writers' voice." It's an intangible quality in the writing – the dialogue and the actions – that just makes the script pop. "The Hangover" certainly wasn't the first bachelor party in Vegas script ever written (or even sold), but it is the only to gross $200M at the box office. And the reason the studios were interested, wasn't solely the concept - it was the unique voice. The script was hilarious. Execs look for a script that's a fast read, while not seeming slight. They look for something they can easily visualize. And they look for the sure-fire signs that you are an amateur, which is a whole different discussion that I'll address in another article. Finally, if an exec is interested in the script, and they give you notes, they're not that worried about how the new draft actually looks - they want to know how you take, react to, and address notes of every size and importance. This is much more interesting than if you fixed all the typos they found.

At my script consulting company, I always approach scripts from the executive perspective because not only do you get the creative fixes that might be necessary, but you also get the marketing and business perspective, which I think is the best of both worlds.

As I said, writers don't need to worry about all this stuff while writing the first draft, or even the second. But you should try to separate yourselves from the script (maybe a couple weeks after finishing it) and go back to it with a different pair of eyes – those of an executive.


About Daniel Manus:
Daniel Manus is the Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions (Cinderella Story, Sydney White). CWP recently set up a family fantasy/adventure project at United Artists which Daniel is attached to co-produce. He is also attached to produce several projects independently including "Dreams of an Aspiring Romantic," starring Emily Osment and "Strange Fruit," written by J.S. Cardone (Prom Night).

Daniel recently started his own script consulting company - No BullScript Consulting, which can be found at www.nobullscript.net. He has been a freelance script consultant for years, working for companies such as ScriptShark and Script Coach and teaches courses to writers at conferences around the country.

Daniel was previously Director of Development for Sandstorm Films, which had a first look deal at Sony Screen Gems and a development deal with Top Cow Comics. Raised on Long Island, NY, he holds a BS degree in Television with a concentration in Screenwriting from the Ithaca College Park School of Communications.

Best Business Advice for Screenwriters

Feature film and TV writer Ligiah Villalobos on "The Best Business Advice I Ever Got":

Feature film and TV writer Ligiah Villalobos,
writer and executive producer of the highest grossing crossover film in the U.S. "La Misma Luna" (Under the Same Moon), currently in development on the screenplay for the feature film "Diego Ascending" with Salma Hayek, and TV writer for shows like Nickelodeon's "Go Diego Go" and NBC's "Ed"

The Scoggins Report

Spec Market Roundup: June 2009

by Jason Scoggins

June was yet another tough month for the spec script market. There was a small uptick compared to May in the number of scripts on the market as sellers rushed to beat the traditional Summer slow-down, but the results were even worse than May’s. Here are June's raw numbers:

• 39 specs went out widely to producers;
• None of those sold; and
• 7 additional spec sales were reported.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but just one out of the 70 scripts that went out widely in May and June has sold. Let’s pause for a moment of silence as we remember the spec market of years past.

Weekly Breakdown:

Week of June 1

• 6 specs went wide, none of which sold
• No additional sales were reported

Week of June 8:

• 6 specs went wide, none sold
• 4 additional sales were reported

Week of June 15:

• 15 specs went wide, none sold
• No additional sales were reported

Week of June 22:

• 11 specs went wide, none sold
• 1 additional sale was reported

Week of June 29:

• 1 spec went wide and had not sold as of July 1
• 2 additional sales were reported as of July 1

Genre Breakdown, Attachments

There was a counter-intuitive development in the genre breakdown as of the end of June: Despite the widely-reported death of the adult drama in 2009 and the undeniably impressive box office returns of "Star Trek" and "Transformers," Buyers had collectively purchased more Drama scripts (5) than Sci-Fi/Fantasy scripts (4). Here's the breakdown:

1 - Action
3 - Comedy
1 - Drama
2 - Thrillers

On the attachment front, just two of the 7 sales had meaningful filmmaker elements attached, and a third had Ron Howard reportedly interested in directing ( “The Originals,” by Bryce Dallas Howard & Dane Charbeneau, which Imagine bought from ICM and Management 360). None of this month's sales reported multiple bidders, and only one was a reported preemptive purchase ("Hellified," by Andy Burg, which Paramount bought from ICM and Justin Silvera Management for Lorenzo di Bonaventura in the same week as his "Transformers 2" crushed its opening box office, and just days after a regime change at the studio).

Buyers and Sellers

No one buyer bought more than one spec script in June. Of the studios, CBS Films, Paramount and Screen Gems each bought one. The other buyers were Chockstone, Imagine, Intrepid and Relativity. This makes three months in a row that Intrepid has bought a script, a virtual buying spree in this market.

Of the agencies, CAA and ICM had the best month, with 2 sales each, though ICM had the better on-base percentage (2 sales out of 2, compared to CAA's 2 out of 4). The other agencies with reported sales in June were The Alpern Group and Original Artists. Both of the latter are testaments to perseverance: Original's sale ("Tapped Out," by James Sommers & Grace Church, to Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz's Chockstone Pictures) was of a script that originally went out wide in February 2009. Alpern's ("Divers," by Diane Ademu-John, to Intrepid) was based on the writer's unproduced spec pilot script. Elsewhere, WME had trouble getting out of the gate in its first month post-merger -- the firm sent 5 scripts out wide, with no takers -- and APA continued its dry spell, going 0 for 4 (2 went out wide, 2 went just to select producers).

Four management companies were involved in June’s seven spec sales: Justin Silvera Management, Kaplan/Perrone, Management 360 and Underground Films. Undergound's ("The Wedding Doctor," by tyro Jonathan Abrams, to Relativity with Dark & Stormy Entertainment producing) was the only one sold without agency involvement.

About The Spec Market Scorecard:
The Spec Market Report and the Spec Market Scorecard are terribly unscientific analyses of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. They do not include pitch sales nor the film rights to underlying material. Past editions of the Report and the Scorecard are collected at http://www.lifeonthebubble.com and in the BOSI archives at http://www.thebusinessofshowinstitute.com/newsletter/past-newsletters.html.

About Jason Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a manager and partner at Protocol, a 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 then 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.

The Business of Show Institute Recommends:

If you'd like some screenwriting advice from one of the most successful spec script writers in the business -- whose screenwriting method has single-handedly changed the entire landscape of Hollywood, then here's your opportunity...

"Attention Ambitious Screenwriters: Screenwriting Legend and Teacher Blake Snyder Wants to Talk to YOU!" (click here for more details...)