supernatural horror RSS

Writing commercially viable screenplays does not have to mean sacrificing your passion for their stories. Something we encounter repeatedly at ScriptArsenal are scripts that are inherently difficult to finance, making them a more challenging project, within the field of screenwriting where every project is already incredibly challenging. To break that down a bit, today we’re going to walk through a hypothetical example of a non-commercial script, and how the author could tell the same essential story within a more commercial genre frame. Let’s say your passion is period pieces. You love period pieces. Therefore, you’ve written a lavish, expensive, period...

We thought it might be interesting, now having nearly 60 producers signed up (new producers are added every month), to breakdown what common features we’ve seen amongst the producer needs. These most popular commonalities are, within this sample, “commercial scripts." 

The data here reinforces long-held beliefs in the spec market. High concept is king, contained is a plus, and contained action or supernatural horror is an even bigger plus, with sci-fi an increasingly commercial niche here as well.