Donât try and sell your sci-fi special effects script to a producer whose company only makes small character-driven films like âThe Station Agent.â Have a budget range in mind and research production companies to learn about the genres and scope of productions these companies favor. The lesson here is to match your script with an independent producer who has both an appetite for your story and the chops to get it made. The script was finally used as the basis for âGhostbusters: The Video Game.â Not a bad outcome. Apparently Oliver Stoneâs screenplay for âPlatoonâ was his eleventh script, but only the first one that was marketable.ĭan Akroydâs script for âGhostbusters IIIâ was optioned and it made the rounds with producers for years. Screenwriting is like any other craft: The more you work at it, the better you get. These kinds of odds suggest the obvious: if you want to sell a screenplay, write a really, really good one.Ĭhances are youâre not going to sell the first script you write. Thatâs not counting all the screenplays that are not registered. Keeping it Real and Other OptionsĪccording to âThe Unknown Scriptwriter,â a popular web portal for screenwriting tips and tricks, approximately 50,000 spec scripts are registered with the Writers Guild of America every year and sent out to agencies, studios and production companies. We sifted through this pile of advice and kept an eye out for the dos and don’ts of making that first sale. The last 30 years or so has seen a proliferation of how-to literature, college programs, screenwriting expos, conferences and podcasts about best practices for writing screenplays and getting them into the hands of a producer.

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