Hello World!

jokerone · Apr 17, 2014

I wanted to write a screenplay, but after looking at the films being made by large Hollywood studios in the last ten years I decided I'm going to try and write a novel first, and then see what happens.

Any suggestions will be appreciated (even crude ones).

thanks!

Jorshington · Apr 17, 2014

Welcome to the forums ^^

Victor Clairmont · Apr 17, 2014

Piff...novels are better anyways...

Welcome!

PorterStarrByrd · Apr 17, 2014

Welcome aboard

Shaba · Apr 17, 2014

Welcome! Good idea. Don't even get me started on what happened to Hollywood over the last ten years. I'll rant your ears off

.

jokerone · Apr 17, 2014

Shaba said:
Welcome! Good idea. Don't even get me started on what happened to Hollywood over the last ten years. I'll rant your ears off.

thanks everybody!

Yes, I read and started to do some research which pretty much verified my reading. Hollywood doesn't really want to spend millions taking a chance on an unproven screenplay. The will on novels that have a proven success record, and then turn those into screenplays.

I read that last year about 60,000 spec screenplays were written, and only about 90 were made into movies by large studios. So for me instead of playing powerball, I thought i would shoot for "Little Lotto"..

If nothing else a few people will by my novel when I self publish on Amazon or something.

rwm4768 · Apr 17, 2014

Welcome. I'd have to agree on some of the recent stuff to come out of Hollywood. You see a lot of remakes and sequels these days. There are still plenty of ideas out there. I wonder why studios aren't pursuing them.

RhodaD'Ettore · Apr 17, 2014

hello and welcome... would you consider writing a TV sitcom??? My book "Goin Postal: True Stories of a US Postal worker" would make an excellent sitcom.. but i admit i have no clue how to do the script for it

regdog · Apr 18, 2014

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jeffo · Apr 18, 2014

Hello and welcome!

thehairymob · Apr 18, 2014

jokerone · Apr 18, 2014

RhodaD'Ettore said:
hello and welcome... would you consider writing a TV sitcom??? My book "Goin Postal: True Stories of a US Postal worker" would make an excellent sitcom.. but i admit i have no clue how to do the script for it

Yes, I would consider it, and it should be slightly easier than a film because it would be shorter (30 minutes vs. 2 hours).

There are multiple script writing contests. I can't say I would recommend them. I've only entered one and lost out on the first round. Plus they want you to pay an entry fee, which on the surface sounds understandable, but I'm always wondering how many of these things are just devices to harvest money from you.

I believe MS-Word has some sort of script/screenplay writing format template. If you don't mind spending some $$$ FinalDraft is the industry standard for scripts.

Keep in mind, If I knew what I was doing, I would have already done it..

jokerone · Apr 18, 2014

rwm4768 said:
Welcome. I'd have to agree on some of the recent stuff to come out of Hollywood. You see a lot of remakes and sequels these days. There are still plenty of ideas out there. I wonder why studios aren't pursuing them.

I believe it is one problem. $$$$

Go to this link, and drill down to see what the production budget is for some of these movies. Some list it, some don't.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/?yr=2014&wk=14&p=.htm

you will see that the studios have to cough up a lot of money to make something that might end up being box office death.

Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Sin City, etc.) made his first film (el mariachi) for $5,000 partially funded by farming himself out for medical experiments (he still has the biopsy scars to show from it). He ended up winning all sorts of awards and getting his work recognized by Hollywood.
If you are interested, I highly recommend watching the director's comments from the film el mariachi on DVD. He also wrote a book on the tale of how he filmed, cut and sold it. Very interesting. He did every thing CHEAP! I mean CHEAP!

Griffin Hayes · Apr 18, 2014

Welcome!

jokerone · Apr 18, 2014

Griffin Hayes said:
Welcome!

Thanks!

Shaba · Apr 18, 2014

jokerone said:
I believe it is one problem. $$$$

Go to this link, and drill down to see what the production budget is for some of these movies. Some list it, some don't.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekly/chart/?yr=2014&wk=14&p=.htm

you will see that the studios have to cough up a lot of money to make something that might end up being box office death.

Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Sin City, etc.) made his first film (el mariachi) for $5,000 partially funded by farming himself out for medical experiments (he still has the biopsy scars to show from it). He ended up winning all sorts of awards and getting his work recognized by Hollywood.
If you are interested, I highly recommend watching the director's comments from the film el mariachi on DVD. He also wrote a book on the tale of how he filmed, cut and sold it. Very interesting. He did every thing CHEAP! I mean CHEAP!

True. I spoke a little about this recently. Unfortunately, publishers are slowly going the way of Hollywood, which is why once a genre becomes hot, you see a wave of books following that trend. Hitting a home-run in writing is almost as hard reaching blockbuster status for a movie. Even very successful books sometimes stumble on the big screen. Hollywood is still in the sequel, prequel, blockbuster trend and I don't see this trend changing any time soon. Let's hope writing doesn't descend completely into that trend.

jokerone · Apr 19, 2014

Shaba said:
True. I spoke a little about this recently. Unfortunately, publishers are slowly going the way of Hollywood, which is why once a genre becomes hot, you see a wave of books following that trend. Hitting a home-run in writing is almost as hard reaching blockbuster status for a movie. Even very successful books sometimes stumble on the big screen. Hollywood is still in the sequel, prequel, blockbuster trend and I don't see this trend changing any time soon. Let's hope writing doesn't descend completely into that trend.

Problem is sometimes they end up re-making a movie that sucked in the first place.

dantefrizzoli · Apr 19, 2014

I don't really know much about writing screenplays. But in my somewhat old fashioned opinion, novels are better. Good luck and welcome.

jokerone · Apr 19, 2014

dantefrizzoli said:
I don't really know much about writing screenplays. But in my somewhat old fashioned opinion, novels are better. Good luck and welcome.

me either..

jokerone · Apr 20, 2014

Here is a good example of my point. The film “Transcendence”. It cost $150M and opened to a $12M box office this weekend. It was on the "Most liked" screenplay list which is what helped get the film made, but it appears Hollywood took a gamble on this one and lost big.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/04/1...mil-friday-career-imperiled-after-lone-ranger

Shaba · Apr 20, 2014

Yea, I'd say poor Johnny D, but I'm sure he's happy with where he is happy in his life now.

Thuro · Apr 20, 2014

My Arch-Enemy has arrived

jokerone · Apr 20, 2014

Shaba said:
Yea, I'd say poor Johnny D, but I'm sure he's happy with where he is happy in his life now.

Don't know how much is him, and now much is the story. I haven't seen the movie.

I know some very good actors seem to fall off the earth. I go to look on IMDB and they seem to have taken some really crappy roles. I'll bet that after a few that's all they are able to get.

Shaba · Apr 21, 2014

Yea, Johnny's had a rough go at it his last few films. I give him the benefit of the doubt.

Gwoof · Apr 22, 2014

Good choice. A novel is YOUR work. A movie rarely ends up looking much like what you wrote.

Hello World!

jokerone

Jorshington

Big Daddy

Victor Clairmont

PorterStarrByrd

nutruring tomorrows criminals today

Shaba

jokerone

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

RhodaD'Ettore

regdog

The Scavengers

jeffo

thehairymob

If I had a brain I'd still be dumb

jokerone

jokerone

Griffin Hayes

One evil little baby step at a time

jokerone

Shaba

jokerone

dantefrizzoli

jokerone

jokerone

Shaba

Thuro

I'm Batman

jokerone

Shaba

Gwoof

This is my No Fear Year. Bring it!