Another question: non-American foreign type of people

[mattie]

I was also wondering if there are any problems for people outside of the US (i.e. me) to send their scripts to the US? (I would make sure to write the script in English before sending it out, of course)

[dpaterso]

Sending your scripts to the USA isn't a problem -- assuming that your query letters make people ask to see your scripts.

"(I would make sure to write the script in English before sending it out, of course)" -- the fact you even said this as if it's something that is subject to thought or debate, worries me. There is no other option.

What's the state of the film industry in your own country?

-Derek
My Web Page - naked women, bestial sex, and whopping big lies. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)

[IWrite]

Not only write it in English - but make sure you have it looked over by someone who has English as a first language before sending it out.

I've gotten some submissions from other countries and more often than not the dialogue is stilted and the slang is missued. and sometimes literal translation from another language does not work.

Dpat brings up a good point about the film business in your country. The U.S. film industry may be the largest, but it is also by far the most competitive so the odds of getting anywhere are quite small. 50,000 scripts are registered each year with the guild (and many, many more are written but not registered) maybe 500 films are released in the U.S. and the bulk of those are written by writers who are already established.

But first and foremost I suggest you take the time to learn the craft. Take classes or workshops if you can. Read books about screenwriting structure. Read produced scripts - lots of them. Only then will you be ready to even start writing.

Remember, even those who have success rarely get anywhere on their first script, 2nd or even 3rd. Pursuing a career in screenwriting is not something you can do on a lark. It takes dedication, persavearance and passion.

Good Luck.

[JustinoXXV]

We do have some Spanish language channels and prodcos in the United States. So it isn't impossible to send them a screenplay in Spanish. Hey, it's a much smaller market but it certainly isn't impossible.

And you don't always have to send out query letters. Sometimes the big studios like Fox offer certain fellowships in which you can submit screenplays and/or teleplays. Winners are award cash prizes and then they hook up with an industry job. And said fellowships are free.

One person who sometimes post here, Boobsie Malone, won the Disney Fellowship. (another similiarly free type fellowship).

Occassionally, film producers and agents will allow you to pitch to them via telephone.

[mattie]

Thanks. My lame comment on sending the script in English was actually just me trying to be funny by stating something terribly obvious, but I failed and confused everyone instead, sorry.

Actually, the reason why I want to send it to the US (or any English speaking country really) is because I'm much more comfortable with writing in English than in my native Swedish language, and not so much because I think my odds will increase. My English is better than my Swedish, so I will be writing in English anyway, it wouldn't be translation. And Spanish is completely out of the question :)

I was more concerned with if people would want a personal meeting in case of a good script and the difficulty I may have with travelling, if Americans won't give my scripts a chance because they dislike Swedes for being better hockey players (or whatever), international copyright issues, and such things. But I'm not expecting anyone to be interested in my scripts soon (if ever) anyway, so maybe I'll start learning how to actually write first.

[IWrite]

We Americans don't care enough about hockey to hold it against Swedes for being better at it.

[Mac H.]

There are a few of us foreigners here.

One summary you might want to consider is: http://www.betweenborders.com/usscreenplays/ (http://www.betweenborders.com/usscreenplays/)

It mainly discusses the inability of the USA to follow international standards (eg: Paper Sizes) - and what that means for us poor sods trying to sell screenplays to them.

[Start of whinge/sarcasm.]
Do Americans know that the only 3 countries in the world that DON'T use metric are Liberia, Burma and the USA ?? Liberia and Burma. Wow. You guys are sticking with the world leaders ...
[End of whinge/sarcasm.]

A good option is to email the PDF to a friend in the USA and get them to print it out in their obscure 'letter' size paper, and use their 'brads'..

You also need to think about some different words that the US may use.
I've had to change words like 'bin' to 'trash can' and 'mobile' to 'cell phone', along with changing the spelling of words. If you having any references to km/h etc, you'll need to change them to miles/hour, etc as well.

Other references might not be understood, or modified - you'd be surprised how many and how obscure they are. For example, the classic children's book "Where's Wally" is called "Where's Waldo" in the USA. If someone gets 'knocked up', it means they are pregnant, not that they've been beaten up. etc etc

Run your script by a friend in the States to get them to 'localize' it before submitting it ....

Mac

[JustinoXXV]

" Run your script by a friend in the States to get them to 'localize' it before submitting it ...."

Localizing a script who almost mean rewriting the dialouge. And why would a "friend" do something like this for free?

This is assuming he knows people in the US.

[Rose]

" Run your script by a friend in the States to get them to 'localize' it before submitting it ...."

Localizing a script who almost mean rewriting the dialouge. And why would a "friend" do something like this for free?

This is assuming he knows people in the US.
Just my two cents...

I edit my friends' work all the time, for free, and they do the same for me. Some of them are native Spanish speakers/writers, and while it's not exactly "localizing," I often suggest alternative word choices when they are writing for an American audience or trying to write dialogue for an American character. I believe Mac H. is suggesting something along those lines.

I'll come clean and admit I have no experience with scripts, but I wanted to stick up for those of us who edit/review/comment on the work of our friends!

[JustinoXXV]

" I edit my friends' work all the time, for free, and they do the same for me."

On the other hand, some friends who have harshly critiqued the works of others have found themselves terminating a friendship.

It's not always a good idea to mix your friend in your personal business. Your script is your responsibility.

I once helped a friend who was trying to translate some work from English to Spanish. He offered to do a favor for me. But when his favor didn't work out the way I wanted it to, I had a falling out with him and our friendship never totally recovered.

I've also known people who begged me to hook them up (upon finding out I was able to get people to read my work on the basis of my queries). Of course, I did no such thing and most of those people I no longer interact with.

A friend of mine wrote a book and I recently did a review of that in an online magazine. He was pretty happy about it. But his book was an excellent book and stood on its own.

But back to my point, by come to your friend and constantly asking him/her to localize your scripts, the original poster will almost certainly lose friends, because that puts a strain on the friendship.

A friend doesn't have to, and shouldn't be asked to, take responsibility for your career!

[Rose]

A friend doesn't have to, and shouldn't be asked to, take responsibility for your career!
I agree wholeheartedly that we are each responsible for our own careers.

In my case, taking responsibility included working hard to establish a core group of friends I could rely on to edit and critique my work (and vice versa). In over two years, I haven't lost a friend yet. Am I'm just lucky? I don't know. I do know that all but one person in my core group is now published, some of us are full-time freelancers, and we all want all of us to succeed. Oh, and we are all in charge of our own careers!

[NikeeGoddess]

Canada has a strong film industry and they play hockey as good as the Swedes.

[Mac H.]

Localizing a script who almost mean rewriting the dialouge.
I was just meaning having them read the script with the aim of checking for wrong words. ('Bin' .v. 'Trash can' etc)

Just a quick read through with about half a page of quick notes of the things that seemed 'odd'.

This is assuming he knows people in the US.
I was just assuming that he has access to message boards on the internet. There are plenty of people who'd be happy to do that as a favour. (If someone asked me to read their script and comment on anything that didn't seem right for Australia I'd be happy to do it.) It doesn't take a lot of skill - they could know almost nothing about style, format or storytelling.

Mac

[IWrite]

A friend doesn't have to, and shouldn't be asked to, take responsibility for your career!

Asking a friend to help you out, is not having them "take responsibility of your career" - it's asking them to be a friend.

While I don't necessarily think that friends and family are always the best resources for feedback - in many cases, they don't have the objectivity or the knowledge base to give you the most useful type of criticism - each friend is a unique individual and each friendship a unique relationship - and giving advice, support etc is often an essential part of a friendship.

My friends ask me for feedback on their work all the time. I give it happily and have never even thought about asking for money - even though some of these friends don't have the story sense to give me the same type of help in return. The friends I do approach for feedback have never expressed anything other than a total willingness and eagerness to do what they can to help me In fact, some of my friends get upset when I DON'T ask them to read an early draft.

One of the spec projects I've been working on has a high fashion photographer as a protag. I know nothing about high fashion photography and have turned to a photographer friend of mine on many occasions for information. This friend has never expressed anything but delight at the chance to help me out and share her war stories. If I offered her any more than picking up the tab for a meal - she'd be insulted - she's insulted when I insist on picking up the tab for the meal.

In friendship mutual support is a quid pro quo. If your writing is important to you - what kinda friend wouldn't want to help you out in any way they can?

[firehorse]

We Americans don't care enough about hockey to hold it against Swedes for being better at it.The problem is that Swedish hockey players speak English far better than most American and Canadian players! http://www.coolsmilies.net/music/hockey.gif

Sorry, I seem to be on a hijack roll today. Carry on...

[JustinoXXV]

"While I don't necessarily think that friends and family are always the best resources for feedback - in many cases, they don't have the objectivity or the knowledge base to give you the most useful type of criticism - each friend is a unique individual and each friendship a unique relationship - and giving advice, support etc is often an essential part of a friendship.

My friends ask me for feedback on their work all the time. I give it happily and have never even thought about asking for money - even though some of these friends don't have the story sense to give me the same type of help in return. The friends I do approach for feedback have never expressed anything other than a total willingness and eagerness to do what they can to help me In fact, some of my friends get upset when I DON'T ask them to read an early draft.

One of the spec projects I've been working on has a high fashion photographer as a protag. I know nothing about high fashion photography and have turned to a photographer friend of mine on many occasions for information. This friend has never expressed anything but delight at the chance to help me out and share her war stories. If I offered her any more than picking up the tab for a meal - she'd be insulted - she's insulted when I insist on picking up the tab for the meal.

In friendship mutual support is a quid pro quo. If your writing is important to you - what kinda friend wouldn't want to help you out in any way they can?"

I'll tell you a story about two friends I know.

One friend had just been dumped by her boyfriend, fired from her job, and kicked out of her apartment. She turned to another friend and asked her if she could stay with her.

The other friend said yes. But the girl, upon moving in with her, apparently was depressed and slept a lot. So the girl who owned the apartment told her, "you've been hear one week and you've not made progress on finding an apartment or a new job" I'm kicking you out.

That friend felt that the depressed girl might end up staying with her for months and she didn't want the responsibility.

The point of the story is that your friend's patience and tolerance have limits. I do indeed have friends who are other writers. But I generally make it a rule not to critique their stuff. In part because I'm not really interested in it.

I certainly wouldn't help anyone with their English on a major project unless I'm paid $$$$$$$$. I see no reason to take out the time to help someone else with their work when I could be doing my own work.
It's my experience when dealing with friends the less you ask people for help the better. No one wants to carry anyone.

I had another so called friend who asked me to help him out query letters. And I told him to go to the library and get a book on it, and to go the post office and get some stamps. I saw no reason to help him on something he could easily do for himself. That would have been simply wasting my time.

Now don't get me wrong, I've read the work of some friends whose work I genuinely enjoyed reading. And a couple of friends of mine have read my work.

But asking someone to rewrite (localize) your dialoug is a JOB. You should PAY someone for that kind of work.

If someone who's language isn't English gets that kind of help from me or an another American, we could possibly save the drafts and sue them for a percentage of the script sale.

And yes, that is the only way I would help someone at that level, is if I were paid upfront and getting a percentage of the deal. Every other writer I've met has had the same attitudes, and many of these people are published and produced.

I'll also say if your work really needs more development, you might benefit from taking classes or attending seminars taught be produced screenwriters. That will be a lot more help than non professional friends could ever give you.