Ink Tip

I haven't any personal experience but as you might expect (and probably know), InkTip is keen to announce scripts being found, optioned, sold, films in production, writers given assignments, etc. You see the latest announcements when you sign up to their weekly newsletter and I think they keep a list of successes on the site, too. Screenwriter and company names are right there for everyone to check and verify.

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

I had a good experience. Here's the most recent thread we've had on the subject:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29463

D'oh! <slaps head> Ow!

The Search this Forum function's "the words ink and tip are too short" objection had me scratching my head trying to remember how to get around this... but of course if I search for "inktip" instead of 2 separate words, there are the older threads!

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings.
He who draws the sword from the stone, he shall be king. Arthur, you're the one.

I have mixed views on Inktip.
We have had our script on there for about 8 months (somehow between us and them they forgot to upload the script so lots of potential producers viewed log-line/synopsis but not the script (This has since been rectified)
The site looks Ok but I think it might be over hyped.

OllieP said:

I have mixed views on Inktip.
We have had our script on there for about 8 months (somehow between us and them they forgot to upload the script so lots of potential producers viewed log-line/synopsis but not the script (This has since been rectified)
The site looks Ok but I think it might be over hyped.

Click to expand...

I've been in production offices (story departments, producer's offices) and seen the Inktip monthly report on desks and work tables, dog eared from use.

I think there are definite possibilities and advantages to posting on inktip but your script should really be within the realms of the lower budget producers that make up the bulk of inktip's subscribers. Posting your spec for a 25 million dollar film will probably not amount to much but posting your Fargo-esque, character piece, say, may get the wheels turning faster than querying alone.

If you're worried at all about being conned, I can at least confirm that the site is 100% legit.

clock_work9 said:

I think there are definite possibilities and advantages to posting on inktip but your script should really be within the realms of the lower budget producers that make up the bulk of inktip's subscribers. Posting your spec for a 25 million dollar film will probably not amount to much but posting your Fargo-esque, character piece, say, may get the wheels turning faster than querying alone.

If you're worried at all about being conned, I can at least confirm that the site is 100% legit.

Click to expand...

Well conned is one thing but what about plagarism? Everyone says "oh no one wants to steal your script" but that's just not true. It's not true at all. It's no surprise that movies like Indecent Proposal/Honeymoon in Vegas Armoggeddon/Deep Impact Tombstone/Wyatt Earp ID4/Mars Attacks all get made and released simeoutaneously.
Someone saw a script or a logline and they said "That's a good idea but I can do better" It's probably not even a writer/producer/agent/director who does it but some dumb idiot friend of theirs who passes logline off as his own and then says "By all means use it." to some poor writer who doesn't know his friend with the brilliant idea is just some piece of crap.
And that whole "Well your script will inevitably be better because it was your idea" makes no sense at all and what is even more problematic is that no matter how good your script is, if someone's making the plagarist's movie then your script is now about worthless.
A place to put a screenplay/logline online where actually producers look at it seems a little too good to be true to me.
Anyone know anymore about it?

-G

In order to post something on inktip, your work must first be registered with the WGA which offers some protection.

But no system is perfect. You have to do your research, discover the pros and cons and then make a personal choice as to whether or not this service is right for you.

I say it's easier to option a script for a small dollar amount than try to reinterpret it through another writer. I'm sure people do steal but I don't believe it's prolific enough to be of serious concern to me.

Inktip:

I’ve had three or four scripts posted on Inktip at one time or another, and most of them have generated contacts from various low, low budget production companies I‘ve never heard of. Those posting have also generated interest by big-budget outfits I’ve actually heard of, but what did that interest amount to? Someone from those outfits read the loglines, synopses, scripts, perused my resume, and did nothing more. On a few occasions, though, I received e-mails from directors wanting me to snail-mail them a copy of a script. That also went nowhere. Prior to posting anything on Inktip, though, I dabbled for about three years with a low-budget production company trying to turn one of my scripts into a flickershow, a process evidently fraught with pitfalls within pitfalls. Nothing came of it. It was, however, a slightly more interesting result than those I’ve had as a result of a script posting on Inktip.

That said, Inktip seems to be making a serious and legitimate effort to make themselves a useful industry resource, and a good number of writers posting scripts with them have gotten paying gigs out of the deal. A good number of others have seen their work produced.

Inktip president, Jerrol LeBaron, once called me to correct a minor billing and posting snafu. Very easy to work with. Very pleasant to work with.

You can find a list of their produced films here:

http://www.inktip.com/prod.php

and a list of other successes here:

http://www.inktip.com/success_new.php

Well I don't have any comments regarding the site itself. It looks well put together and pretty organized. But I gotta say the shortline section or the loglines are AWFUL. Just take a glance through them and read a few...

It's incredible to me how poor the majority of them are, I was completely shocked.

Jerm said:

Well I don't have any comments regarding the site itself. It looks well put together and pretty organized. But I gotta say the shortline section or the loglines are AWFUL. Just take a glance through them and read a few...

It's incredible to me how poor the majority of them are, I was completely shocked.

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Shocked? Go to Trigger and read some scripts, you'll really be shocked!

Hey, maybe the competition isn't so bad, eh?

It's just like in the novel world. You don't have to worry about the hundreds of thousands of materials that are floating around there as most of them are crap. At the worst you have to worry about the top 10% and making it into it.

But what do I know, movies like SOAP get made.

Goodwriterguy said:

Shocked? Go to Trigger and read some scripts, you'll really be shocked!

Hey, maybe the competition isn't so bad, eh?

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Lol that was exactly my thought as well when I started reading those. Maybe I do have a realistic chance at this afterall. I guess I will find out soon enough but it certainly gives me a little more comfort in knowing where I stand with the competition.

icerose said:

It's just like in the novel world. You don't have to worry about the hundreds of thousands of materials that are floating around there as most of them are crap. At the worst you have to worry about the top 10% and making it into it.

But what do I know, movies like SOAP get made.

Click to expand...

And that's because there's a whole cadre of producers in Hollywood who see movies the way a used car salesman sees cars, or a green grocer sees heads of lettuce ... nothing but a commodity. These folks will make anything ... as long as they think it has a reasonable chance of making its money back and turning a profit, which "Soap" probably did.

These guys assemble projects, make movies, distribute them, and rake in the moolah ... without ever having a thought about anything related to cinematic art or literary craft or great cinematography or acting. They're one small step up from producers who make the ka-jillions of porno flicks that are released each year, the trailer trash of movie producing. They pay some down and out writer $25K to bang out a script of some idea they have, usually something that's crassly commercial with zero redeeming features ... save for an ability to generate some cash flow.

Often, these folks are members of a movie family, yunno, dad was a television star back in the 60's and 70's, and mom wrote a screenplay that sold, but they ended up a bit short in the brains department and never quite figured it out. But they have the connections and the juice to make their crappy movies.

Obviously, none of us want to work with this kind of producer. We want Ron Howard ...

And we should stick to our guns on this, I think. Pay no attention to the schlock movies that get made and keep your eye on the ball.

and keep writing!

I put up a number of scripts on Inktip last year, and although nothing came out of them, I did have a few inquiries, and one company even sent me a release form (!) ...yes, nothing much happened after that, but I personally felt I got a lot farther than most script comps.

I also do like the newsletters. Gives you an idea of what indie producers are looking for. The majority fall into two areas: dramas set in Russia; horror-suspense scripts in the concepts close to 'Sixth Sense' or 'What Lies Lies Beneath'. This because most in these genres can usually be done for 10 mil or under.

The best responses I got were to 'Crimson Scarab' (horror) and a few noir-thriller type yarns.

I haven't put anything up recently due to a few recent budget crunching on my end...and the site went up those extra 10 dollars.

****

As for "stealing scripts" Gromhard: you can't steal an idea. Granted, someone hears the rival studio has got thier paws on say, oh, a film about The Red Baron. That someone will start digging until they find a script hat either concerns The Red Baron or WWI in general. Studio#3 heard a pitch on The Red Baron, but can't recall who made it, they hire someone to write it.

The goal is to get it out first.

Back in '89, someone heard James Cameron was prepping 'The Abyss"- what gets greenlit? Underwater creature features.

Recently, we have has two films regarding 9/11 United 93 and Flight 93 ...but should we say they ripped off someone's idea? No. You got your 9/11 project, I got mine.

Let's say your sp is WGA registered and/or copyrighted, originated by you. Nobody is going to "steal" that script. So you put it on Inktip. Well, let's say you get 5 production companies to look at the script. I don't just mean look at the logline, I mean read the script, in whole or in part.

That's five different pairs of eyes.
and...before you put it on Inktip, did you workshop it on Trigger, Helium or Zoetrope? Did you get together with a group of fellow aspiring filmmakers/writers and read each other's stuff? How many eyes are we talking here?

Gromhard -- what he said. A good example: the movie Normal Life, with Ashley Judd and Luke Perry. Based on the real-life story of a cop who started robbing banks for his manic/depressive/schizo girlfriend. Came out in 1996.

Within a year, a TV movie starring Bruce Campbell called "In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory" aired. It was the exact...same...story.

Can't copyright an idea; only its execution.