So You Wanna Be in the Movies?

Bob Sanchez opened a discussion on writing that began, "...a number of readers of When Pigs Fly have commented that my novel would make a funny movie. Does anyone out there have any thoughts about how to get my book into the hands of the right people in the movie biz?"


Kelli Mix, author of the Game Day Alamanac Official Rules of Poker, replied My husband owns an independent film company. Check out its website. They are always searching for scripts. Most production companies will not consider a book manuscript. It must be in script format. So if you are serious about your manuscript being transformed, you should contact a scriptwriter. As a slush pile script reader, I will give you the following pointers to consider before attempting this monumental task:

1. A large production company such as Universal will not typically touch such a project. They have an arsenal of multi-million dollar scripts and writers constantly cranking out scripts. So, unless you are a cousin to Julia Roberts, stick to small independent film companies. It's not impossible, but similar to getting a Random House deal.

2. Period pieces are very expensive so most independent film companies will not touch them. It is preferable to have a film set in current times (1980 - 2009).

3. It is best if your setting is nowhereville. Can it be produced in any city or is it set in Rome or NYC - also costly & nearly impossible to recreate.

4. Consider your genre when soliciting. Just like the book industry,independent film companies have targeted genres where they make the most money. If a company has produced four horror movies, they will likely not take on a romance.

5. Does your book have any high action scenes such as cars blowing up or bombs exploding - if so the cost of your production will be very high.

6. You can sell the rights to your book and have the film company hire scriptwriters, but you will lose all say in how the script is written.

7. The "funny" market is good right now, but do consider that humor scripts are one of the hardest sells because they do not typically sell well to the international market, who makes up a good portion of profit for film companies. Humor does not translate well across cultures. On the flip side horror markets are huge overseas because
action and blood are internationally understood.

Those are a few that come off the top of my head and have been drilled into me when forwarding a script up the line of readers. Let me know if I can answer any other questions. Again, check out my husband's website because he just finished a television project (The Dukes of Hazzard 30th Anniversary) after doing a movie set here in Georgia and he just commented to me that he was ready to take on another film project if he could find a good script.

IWW member Nick O'Connor continued the discussion with "I should probably shut up, because Kelli may already have told you all you need to know by introducing you to her husband. But what writer can shut up?

Essentially, I agree with Kelli. I worked as a script reader and story editor for a TV movie company in Hollywood for a year and all of what she says is standard truth.

However, a couple of other thoughts for you: Projects, especially feature films, get made in Hollywood because someone with influence is passionate about it. I mean, much as you probably lived and breathed your novel for a long time, someone has to be willing to give up a big chunk of his or her life to make it happen. That means they have to fall in love with the project. If you've got a "good story well-told," you're way ahead of the game. Although every movie company is literally wading in scripts, about 95 percent of them, including those submitted by supposedly professional writers through big agents, do not bear reading. It's amazing how much bad stuff is cranked to script readers, and amazing how much of it is from those who should know better.

Hollywood is run by accountants who are afraid to take chances, who would much rather put $100 million into a sure-fire sequel than an unknown newcomer's crazy concept. But what really keeps Hollywood alive are the surprises, the films made by outsiders (relatively speaking, perhaps) on a shoestring that prove again and again that you can't formulate creativity.

So, think creatively. There's a famous story (I think maybe in William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade) about some screenwriters who wanted to get a script to Frank Sinatra. Nobody could get to Sinatra. They parked a moving truck on the street in front of his securely gated house, with the big back door open. Inside the truck was a table, chair, and a working reading lamp (and maybe a bottle and glass). On the table was the script. A ramp lead up to the truck. There was some kind of sign making it clear that this setup was for Mr. Sinatra's reading pleasure. Sinatra read the script. I forget what script, or what else happened. The point is that Sinatra read the script.

Do some research. If a working director (like Kelli's husband) likes a project, he's one of the best people to take your novel the distance. There are lots of directors out there -- most of them, even some good ones, needing work and therefore looking for projects. It's not hard to find out what kind of movies they've already directed and even what they're looking for. The Director's Guild lists members and their contact info. IMDB gives credits information. Netflix has the movies. Get your hands on The Hollywood Creative Directory. You can work up a list of directors to submit to.

If there's a star who would be perfect for the main character, you can try submitting to the star through her agent. Visit the Screen Actors Guild website.

Or find a screenwriter. The Writer's Guild has members' contact information. Or check out the Scriptwriter's Network, which is where a lot of new screenwriters are getting their feet wet.

I must dispute the assertion that producers don't read books with the idea of making movies from them. Some do. And some specialize in finding books as a producing niche. You can figure out who some of these people are by starting with a movie made from a book and tracking its evolution.