Good writing vs. the idea
If your screenplay is good enough will that guarantee it recognition or is it more in the selling of the idea?
–Brett
A screenplay that is "good enough" won’t get any recognition at all. Unless it has an ingeniously compelling (and marketable) idea, a script has to be ungodly well-written to attract much attention. Of course, the best scripts have both a brilliant idea and brilliant execution, but that’s not your question.
Let’s say you decide to write a family drama. Unless it’s about a family of killer robots, the "idea" of the story is not what will make it sell. So you better have some fantastic writing in there to make it compelling.
On the other hand, the family-of-killer-robots script could conceivably sell even with some sub-par writing, if it does a good job presenting the idea and studios happen to be in the market for killer robots with a twist. Here’s the big difference between the two kinds of scripts: if you write a extremely well-written script that no one buys, you’ve still written a great script. On the other hand, if you write a crappy script (even with a great idea) and no one buys it, all you have to show for it is a crappy script.
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