Joe Calabrese
07-15-2005, 11:11 PM
SUNDAY MORNING SHOOTOUT, July 10th 2005
OPENING TITLES
BART (VO): On today's Shootout: how can an outsider get attention for his
scripts? Are tentpole pictures still that seductive? And we'll shoot it out
with two industry icons: Bob Evans and Dick Zanuck.
GUBER: Hello, I'm Peter Guber.
BART: And I'm Peter Bart.* Welcome to Shootout.* So, Pete, we discuss a lot
of exotic subjects here, but I find when you talk to people who watch the
show, very often the question that's most on their mind is simply this: I've
written a script.* What do I do with it?* And you know and I sympathize,
because when you do a first script, you know, how do you get the thing read,
how do you get it sold, if you can sell it?* When we have agents on the
show, they all profess that they read zealously all the screenplays that are
submitted to them, even blind.* We know that's not true.* If a neophyte
screenwriter is lucky, the assistant to the assistant to the assistant may
or may not read the script.* And no one - an actor, no actor nor producer
nor studio will accept submission of a script unless it's represented by an
agent or maybe attorney, right?* So that first step is you gotta get that
agent or that lawyer to represent your script.* How do you do that?
GUBER: You know the first step is not that.* The first step is intention.
You have to have the intention of getting it made, getting it seen, getting
it done.* You gotta be unconditionally committed to it.* It requires an act
of passion.* Yes, you're right, there's real daring do in getting through
the system, but it starts with your own passion and belief and conviction.
So you're committed to it with that intention.* The architecture of
Hollywood isn't democratic.* There's a filtering system.* It has to be.
There's so much trying to get in you need those filters, those agencies,
those folks that filter the material for the studios and financiers.* So
your trick is to get somebody to give you momentum, celebrity, somebody to push the presence of your project to the forefront.* Because an agent, even if you go that way, is deciding which things to read, or which things to
have covered, and then which coverage to read.
BART: And we should point out that during your famous course at UCLA, one of
the first things you tell your students is, "Don't give me a script.* I won'
t read it."* Right?
GUBER: Yeah, well, there's a reason.* When you move up the food chain, you
become more successful, you decide you can pay a higher price for the better
material and you let the filtering system sort out the things that will just
waste your time.
BART: So, how do you get a script read?* If you're a neophyte writer, what
the hell do you do?
GUBER: Well, what you do is, you find somebody, in essence, that vouch-safe
for the material.* It can be a producer, it can be an executive, it could be
an agent, it could be an attorney, it could be somebody in the media, it
could be an actor, it could be a director; somebody to give it celebrity and
momentum.* Somebody to vouch-safe for it so that when you give it to a
financier they, in a sense, have that credibility from somebody that they
respect and support.* The trick, though, is to recognize that you could
start low.* You don't have to start very high.* You don't have to try to get
to the chairman of Universal or Warner Bros. to be read.* And usually they
won't read it.* So, what you want to do is find those resources,
resourcefulness in the marketplace and the networking of young people, in
schools and film schools to get -
BART: Networking is so important.* Networking is the key.* But there's
also -- there's a whole array of on-line support systems now.* Ways to get,
to get your script covered and to get advice from other writers.* My
favorite is called Scriptpimp.com.* And, organizations like that have helped
a lot of writers and - many of them claim - many of these on-line services
claim that they have gotten representation for writers out there in Des
Moines or Debuke.* They've gotten representation for them and,
therefore, got the script shown to studios.
GUBER: You know, there are a lot of young producers and a lot of young
talent that's looking for material.
BART: That's right.
GUBER: You've gotta turn over every rock.* You say I'm a writer, but the
trick is you have to be a producer, too.* You have to produce your career.
You can't - no one else is gonna do that, so you have to be active in your
own rescue.* You have to find a way to create an environment that'll support
your skill and your art.* And that means, being out there, socializing,
networking, that means creating a format for your material.* I think today,
creating a script is maybe the easiest way, in a sense, into the business
because you have a product you can show.* If you can get it written into a
form that people will at least acknowledge, then you have a frame of
reference for your talent.
BART: So, let me try a Guberism: To sell a script is a triumph of will
rather than a triumph of skill.
GUBER: Sure.
BART: Would you agree with that?
GUBER: Very good.* Certainly, equally measured.
BART: The neophyte scriptwriter, I think, should prepare himself - should
steal himself for two experiences.* Experience one is: coverage.* I mean,
the first time you read coverage of your script, it is a shock because often
the coverage has absolutely nothing to do with what you wrote.* The other
thing you've got to steal yourself to is when that producer or actor or
whoever says, "I've got a small change.* The small change is you take this
character and you make him a woman instead of a guy."* Now, these small
changes always cause a complete rewriting of every word in the script.* Isn'
t that true?* I mean, no one ever says, "I've got a little idea."* The
little idea always is massive and they don't know it.
GUBER: Well, a young writer has to recognize that their film will go through
a metamorphosis, and if they can't really collaborate, they're going to have
trouble creating an execution.* Now, they might sell the screenplay
outright, the way Shane Black did and make a bonanza of a, of a windfall
when he did with - Lethal Weapon, I think, was his first project?
BART: Yup.* That's right.
GUBER: Right out of film school?
BART: Right.
GUBER: But the idea is you still have to recognize that each one of those
attempts at writing a screenplay is furthering your career, even if you don'
t sell it.* Because you're improving your craft, you're learning how the
system works.* Ultimately, if you persevere, you will win.
BART: But once you sell it, if you're so lucky, it's no longer yours.* And
what may emerge, if you're lucky enough to see it on screen may have very
little to do with what originally was in your head.
GUBER: Yeah.* But, you know something?* You gotta start somewhere.
OPENING TITLES
BART (VO): On today's Shootout: how can an outsider get attention for his
scripts? Are tentpole pictures still that seductive? And we'll shoot it out
with two industry icons: Bob Evans and Dick Zanuck.
GUBER: Hello, I'm Peter Guber.
BART: And I'm Peter Bart.* Welcome to Shootout.* So, Pete, we discuss a lot
of exotic subjects here, but I find when you talk to people who watch the
show, very often the question that's most on their mind is simply this: I've
written a script.* What do I do with it?* And you know and I sympathize,
because when you do a first script, you know, how do you get the thing read,
how do you get it sold, if you can sell it?* When we have agents on the
show, they all profess that they read zealously all the screenplays that are
submitted to them, even blind.* We know that's not true.* If a neophyte
screenwriter is lucky, the assistant to the assistant to the assistant may
or may not read the script.* And no one - an actor, no actor nor producer
nor studio will accept submission of a script unless it's represented by an
agent or maybe attorney, right?* So that first step is you gotta get that
agent or that lawyer to represent your script.* How do you do that?
GUBER: You know the first step is not that.* The first step is intention.
You have to have the intention of getting it made, getting it seen, getting
it done.* You gotta be unconditionally committed to it.* It requires an act
of passion.* Yes, you're right, there's real daring do in getting through
the system, but it starts with your own passion and belief and conviction.
So you're committed to it with that intention.* The architecture of
Hollywood isn't democratic.* There's a filtering system.* It has to be.
There's so much trying to get in you need those filters, those agencies,
those folks that filter the material for the studios and financiers.* So
your trick is to get somebody to give you momentum, celebrity, somebody to push the presence of your project to the forefront.* Because an agent, even if you go that way, is deciding which things to read, or which things to
have covered, and then which coverage to read.
BART: And we should point out that during your famous course at UCLA, one of
the first things you tell your students is, "Don't give me a script.* I won'
t read it."* Right?
GUBER: Yeah, well, there's a reason.* When you move up the food chain, you
become more successful, you decide you can pay a higher price for the better
material and you let the filtering system sort out the things that will just
waste your time.
BART: So, how do you get a script read?* If you're a neophyte writer, what
the hell do you do?
GUBER: Well, what you do is, you find somebody, in essence, that vouch-safe
for the material.* It can be a producer, it can be an executive, it could be
an agent, it could be an attorney, it could be somebody in the media, it
could be an actor, it could be a director; somebody to give it celebrity and
momentum.* Somebody to vouch-safe for it so that when you give it to a
financier they, in a sense, have that credibility from somebody that they
respect and support.* The trick, though, is to recognize that you could
start low.* You don't have to start very high.* You don't have to try to get
to the chairman of Universal or Warner Bros. to be read.* And usually they
won't read it.* So, what you want to do is find those resources,
resourcefulness in the marketplace and the networking of young people, in
schools and film schools to get -
BART: Networking is so important.* Networking is the key.* But there's
also -- there's a whole array of on-line support systems now.* Ways to get,
to get your script covered and to get advice from other writers.* My
favorite is called Scriptpimp.com.* And, organizations like that have helped
a lot of writers and - many of them claim - many of these on-line services
claim that they have gotten representation for writers out there in Des
Moines or Debuke.* They've gotten representation for them and,
therefore, got the script shown to studios.
GUBER: You know, there are a lot of young producers and a lot of young
talent that's looking for material.
BART: That's right.
GUBER: You've gotta turn over every rock.* You say I'm a writer, but the
trick is you have to be a producer, too.* You have to produce your career.
You can't - no one else is gonna do that, so you have to be active in your
own rescue.* You have to find a way to create an environment that'll support
your skill and your art.* And that means, being out there, socializing,
networking, that means creating a format for your material.* I think today,
creating a script is maybe the easiest way, in a sense, into the business
because you have a product you can show.* If you can get it written into a
form that people will at least acknowledge, then you have a frame of
reference for your talent.
BART: So, let me try a Guberism: To sell a script is a triumph of will
rather than a triumph of skill.
GUBER: Sure.
BART: Would you agree with that?
GUBER: Very good.* Certainly, equally measured.
BART: The neophyte scriptwriter, I think, should prepare himself - should
steal himself for two experiences.* Experience one is: coverage.* I mean,
the first time you read coverage of your script, it is a shock because often
the coverage has absolutely nothing to do with what you wrote.* The other
thing you've got to steal yourself to is when that producer or actor or
whoever says, "I've got a small change.* The small change is you take this
character and you make him a woman instead of a guy."* Now, these small
changes always cause a complete rewriting of every word in the script.* Isn'
t that true?* I mean, no one ever says, "I've got a little idea."* The
little idea always is massive and they don't know it.
GUBER: Well, a young writer has to recognize that their film will go through
a metamorphosis, and if they can't really collaborate, they're going to have
trouble creating an execution.* Now, they might sell the screenplay
outright, the way Shane Black did and make a bonanza of a, of a windfall
when he did with - Lethal Weapon, I think, was his first project?
BART: Yup.* That's right.
GUBER: Right out of film school?
BART: Right.
GUBER: But the idea is you still have to recognize that each one of those
attempts at writing a screenplay is furthering your career, even if you don'
t sell it.* Because you're improving your craft, you're learning how the
system works.* Ultimately, if you persevere, you will win.
BART: But once you sell it, if you're so lucky, it's no longer yours.* And
what may emerge, if you're lucky enough to see it on screen may have very
little to do with what originally was in your head.
GUBER: Yeah.* But, you know something?* You gotta start somewhere.