And I hear that you aren't suppose to query unless you have a good and sharp product because if it isn't, you will be banned from subsequent submissions?
I'm not sure you will be banned but some prod cos only allow so many submissions a year, and since they put you in a database, they will form very strong opinions about you based on that first submission. But when you feel your script is ready then feel free to submit to agents and prod cos. But perhaps you should have someone other than yourself read it before you deem it ready for those next steps. Hence:
But I'm the only one who has read it!
I usually think pretty highly of my own scripts as well, but you really do need someone else to read it. You have been with it for so long and know it so well that you have no objectivity whatsoever. Don't take every review as gospel, but get a couple and see if certain things keep coming up. Any bits they can't follow or don't understand.
Either make friends on boards like these and ask some one the people you respect to read it (generally people will do this if they have the time and with the understanding that you will return the favor). Or you could put it up on script review sites like Zoetrope or Triggerstreet. I don't use Triggerstreet but have heard only so-so things about it. I do use Zoetrope and there are some good folks there (as well as bad of course), but you probably won't get that many reviews unless your logline is killer or you make a bunch of friends over there. My last script over there got 10 reviews, but at least half of those were from people I knew, some scripts go by without a single review (although that is unlikely, usually you'll get a couple).
Also, you can give it to people you know to read. They don't always give the best critiques, so if you know someone who will be honest with you then all the better. But regular people are your audience, so it's always helpful to get a read from a 'regular' person (i.e. not a screenwriter).
But the cheapest and most quality script consultant charges a little over 200 bucks and that is a lot of money to the poor. And I have no friends, so I guess I'm shit out of luck.
Script consultants are generally a waste of time and money and people generally give scripts to them and pay them in an attempt to get some validation as a writer. There are plenty of people online and that you know (or could easily know with some people skills) who will give you as good a critique for free.
As noted above, I find getting at least a little feedback to be essential. Then when you do think it's ready it's all contests and querying. Not much else to be done. While waiting to hear back from contests and readers, write your logline (this may take you as long as the entire screenplay did), synopsis and query letter. And like the others said, work on the next screenplay. Agents generally want to see that you can do more than one thing. Also if you manage to sell a screenplay, people are going to be looking for what else you have, if you don't have something else to sell then you will not be able to capitalize on your one sale. You'll have one sale (and unless that film is made and is successful) that'll be the end of your career. No one will be interested in you in one year when you finish something else. So yeah, write more scripts.
I'm sure I have a movie up to par with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (never seen it but heard it's good) and would like a big fat Greek check in my pocket. I mean if "I Heart Huckabees" can get made, mine can, can't it?
Those people both made their own movies. Nia Vardalos wrote MBFGW and then produced it herself. David O Russell wrote and produced Huckabees (and had a track record as a director, and got big names attached). So those are not very good examples. And this is not how screenwriting works in general. Just because bad movies get made does not mean yours will because it's better than them. Just because a bad movie was made, doesn't mean there was a bad script behind it. There's an excellent
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