Some Advice (novel adaptations)

Hmm, well, since you don't hold the rights to the work, I'd start by going back to the original author - if he indeed is interested in your version - and asking him to read it.
If he likes it, you can ask if it would be okay to contact agents/producers stating that he has endorsed your script.

Technically though, you don't have the right to do anything, let alone ask for money from it, so you're in a very difficult position. Still, it could work out as a good writing sample for you...

Hi Locator,

Basically what you have here is a script with only one potential buyer - that is the person who holds the film rights to the book.

It's hard enough to get an agent under any circumstances, but trying to hook one with an adaptation of a book that someone else holds the rights to is close to mission impossible.

Your best bet would be to try and get the producer to read your adaptation, and if he's interested in optioning or buying it, it'll be much easier to get an agent at that point.

Can I ask what you're basing your assessment on that the screenplay is ready to go? You say it's essentially completed, I'm not sure what that means, but if you're saying your first draft is just about complete, that doesn't mean that the script is ready to go.

Even pro screenplays need more than one pass. Producers and agents are looking for scripts that are at a professional level.

Good luck.

Oh, and what he said.
Sorry, it was late here when I replied and didn't absorb that whole bit about it being "essentially ready to go".
I've done the newbie thing and sent out work that's not 100% (or very far from it, sigh), so can tell you from experience that unless your script IS 100% ready (tweaks and alterations can be made on a producers behest, WHEN he/she's optioned it), all you're doing is unnecessarily risking closing doors on both your project, and yourself.

Get all your work down, then query. My original advice still stands, but maybe DevelopmentExec's strategy is better.

locater16 said:

I have a screenplay, adapted from a best selling novel essentially completed and ready to go. I know who owns the movie rights and have contacted him. He's confirmed that the property is still being shopped around and that a brand new script would definitely be considered. Now my problem at the moment is obviously getting representation from an agency, so I can get the proper attention of said Hollywood producer.

Thanks in advance

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Didn't you already have his ear, as in 'a brand new script would definitely be considered.'

So why then would you need representation by an agency at this stage of proceedings? Way I'm reading it, you did the first part of the agent's job by interesting him in the script.

locater16 said:

I'm hoping you guys here will have some help for me. My situation is as follows:

I have a screenplay, adapted from a best selling novel essentially completed and ready to go. I know who owns the movie rights and have contacted him. He's confirmed that the property is still being shopped around and that a brand new script would definitely be considered. Now my problem at the moment is obviously getting representation from an agency, so I can get the proper attention of said Hollywood producer. Only since I'm new to this (the whole getting representation thing anyway) any advice would be extremely helpful.

Thanks in advance

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Okay, I can give you advice, but I'm afraid the advice I have to give will only be helpful in a very broad way. It won't help you do what you want to do, which is to sell this screenplay.

That, I'm afraid, is essentially impossible.

This is why. You did something that you had no right to do. You wrote an adapation of a movie for which you did not own the *right* to write or have written a movie adapation. You then tried to sell that adapation to the only person who, in fact *had* that right. The guy who actually owned the movie rights.

Nobody is going to represent this script because, as others have indicated, the guy who owns the rights is the only one who is in the market for a screenplay based on this novel.

And no matter who he told you, he is not in a position to buy your script.

Now, before you start insisting that I'm wrong about this and why wouldn't he buy it, considering how great it is -- I'm not even going to debate the quality of your script.

What I am going to do is refer to something from your own post -- the fact that the producer is "shopping the project around."

That means that he doesn't have the money to make the movie or even the money to hire the writer to write the script.

He's got to go to a studio with this best-selling novel and get the studio to underwrite the development costs.

And the only way that any studio, or any financing entity will ever agree to something like that is if they get above-the-line approvals. They get say who writes it, who directs it, and who stars in it.

And for a movie based on a best-selling novel they will not, under any circumstances, go with an unsold uncredited writer.

They're not going to look at your script. In fact, they will, for legal reasons, do everything in their power *not* to look at your script.

What they will do, if they agree to finance development on this project with the producer, is to work up a list of possible writers -- that is *guild* writers with recent produced credits who've made movies that are similar to this one in order of desirability and if they have some really top choice they may offer it to that writer first. If he passes, then they'll bring in the other writers to "pitch" on the project -- to give their takes on how they plan to adapt the novel and based on what they like best, they'll then hire the writer to write the adapation.

They won't invite you to pitch. They won't read your spec script.

And if the producer brings in a studio, which it seems to me based on what you've said, that's what he's looking to do, it's going to be up to them, because their money is going to dictate how this process proceeds.

If not, then why wouldn't have already said -- sure, here's a release form, send us the script?

If he really wanted to see it. If he was willing to look at it, there's nothing that would prevent him from doing it.

I know this sounds like a great big heap of pessimism, and I guess it is, but there is a lesson to be learned about starting on a very long, arduous journey without adequate preparation.

And you are far from the first writer who has embarked upon the journey of writing either an adaptation to a novel for which he did not own the rights or a sequel to an existing movie or the next sequel in an existing franchise and only after the work was done, discovering that he had invested a lot of time and effort in a work that could not be sold.

NMS

I know this sounds like a great big heap of pessimism, and I guess it is, but there is a lesson to be learned about starting on a very long, arduous journey without adequate preparation.

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On the other hand, you've achieved a lot.

You've completed a screenplay.

You've learned some of the pitfalls with development.

You've had a darn good practise run with adapting novels, and hopefully improved a lot along the way.

Sure - this particular project is unlikely to go further. So what? You could say that about almost any project .. particularly the first script you ever wrote.

In fact, since the first script you ever wrote is unlikely to sell, it kinda makes sense to adapt an existing property for it as a great learning experience. That way your own (very sellable) ideas will come out even better when you adapt them.

Good luck - just move on to your next project and make sure you've learned plenty with this one.

Have a great day,

Mac