Screenwriting Tips

brevity, logline, spec script - June 01, 2023

THE WHOLE BREVITY THING

The short version: screenplays read best when they are lean and mean. The longer version… The standard length of screenplays used to be 120-ppg. It has been a long time since that has been the case; decades, in fact. It isn’t against the law or anything to write a 120-ppg screenplay, but we have to ask if there is a 90-ppg version of the same story to be told. If the project is something like an adaptation of a novel, it’s fine to go long. But if we’re looking at a spec script, then it’s best to lean toward a...

When To Let A Script Die

Letting a script die is probably the single hardest thing for a screenwriter to do. You’ve spent months, maybe years working on this material. The dream of what this script could be has fueled that process. But some scripts are in trouble from the point of conception, because their inherent nature makes them an uphill battle. This has become especially true in the feature realm, in a post-Marvel age. The overwhelming majority of big-budget films are based on pre-existing intellectual property. For writers with a big-budget spec script, this presents a significant problem. What it means, practically-speaking, is that a...

Do Scripts Really Still Sell? A Case Study

Do screenplays still sell? Is it actually possible to simply write a script, turn around, and sell it at a high level? With the decline in the feature spec market from its high point in the 1990s, it can sometimes feel like nothing sells, and specs exist primarily as a writing sample. To illustrate how this isn’t the case, we’re going to look at Aaron W. Sala’s script THE BEAST as an example. Per Deadline, in a preemptive mid-six figure deal, The H. Collective acquired Aaron W. Sala’s horror thriller spec THE BEAST. That’s a high-level sale. It’s also the...

Screenplay Sale: How Much Money Do I Get?

Unfortunately, the economics of screenwriting are challenging for most people who do it, and that includes working pros. Let’s take an example sale and walk through it, and sadly observe the money get chopped away on that screenplay sale.

Earlier this year, Global Road bought the spec screenplay “Rawhide Down” from screenwriter Alex Cramer. Deadline reported the deal as six-figures. So, let’s say, for argument’s sake, this sale was for 350 thousand dollars or more.

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THE WHOLE BREVITY THING

When To Let A Script Die

Do Scripts Really Still Sell? A Case Study

Screenplay Sale: How Much Money Do I Get?

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