John August

Pitches

Producers and pitching

Episode - 55

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Follow Up, Pitches, Producers, QandA, Scriptnotes, Three Page Challenge, Transcribed

What’s the difference between a reader and a producer? Much more than one high-profile online analyst seems to believe. John and Craig discuss what producers do, and how one plausibly gets started.

From there, we talk pitching. Beyond the plot points, you need to be able to show why you’re dying to write this story, and why you’d pay money to see it.

In follow-up, we talk about visas, HSX, and find out how often the screenwriter is actually mentioned in negative reviews vs. positive reviews.

The first-ever Live Scriptnotes is coming this October in Austin. Follow the link for more details.

And we’re opening back up submissions for the Three Page Challenge. Follow the link and follow the rules, please.

All this, and Craig takes umbrage at sweet tea, in the new Scriptnotes!

LINKS:

* Tim Miller’s report on our perceived [negative screenwriter bias](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/scriptnotes_critics.pdf)
* [HSX](http://www.hsx.com/about/)
* My [original issue](http://johnaugust.com/2009/how-scriptshadow-hurts-screenwriters) with Scriptshadow
* Scriptshadows asks [What the hell does a producer do?](http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2012/09/screenwriting-article-what-hell-does.html)
* [Tejava](http://www.tejava.com/), pretty good bottled tea
* How to submit a [Three-Page Challenge](http://johnaugust.com/threepage)
* Scriptnotes Live at the [Austin Film Festival and Screenwriting Conference](http://www.austinfilmfestival.com/)
* INTRO: [Star Trek The Animated Series Opening](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhQFGH527PE)
* OUTRO: [Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXIlbw4sh8) cover by Pacific UV

You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_55.m4a).

**UPDATE** 9-20-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-55-producers-and-pitching-transcript).

When you only have one sample

Pitches, QandA, Television

questionmarkMy writing partner and I recently completed a feature spec we are very proud of. Friends who work as assistants to producers/agents/managers have been generous with praise and kind enough to pass the script up and onto their bosses.

If we are lucky enough to get a meeting with an agent or producer, I am positive they will ask to read additional material from us. But we don’t have anything — at least not anything we wrote together.

In the next month or two while our script is being read, should we focus on trying to bang out another spec? Or should we put together multiple treatments for the various other ideas we have? Looking to get insight on what an agent or producer might ask for from the writer if they like a spec they’ve read.

— Jason
Los Angeles

answer iconSpend the next week figuring out three possible feature scripts. Flesh out the ideas enough that you could elevator-pitch them.

Pick the one that excites you most. That’s the one you’re going to write. But not quite yet.

That’s because first, you need figure out your plans for television. If you have any interest in writing for TV, you need to get cracking.

Pick a well-regarded show in its first two seasons and write a great spec episode. Some will argue that writing an original pilot serves you better than a spec. I’d counter that in your situation, you simply need more material with both your names on it. A script for Justified or Good Wife or Mike & Molly will be relatively quick to write.

Assuming you are interested in writing TV, here’s your syllabus for the next few months:

1. Brainstorm three features. Pick one to write.
2. Pick and write a TV spec.
3. Outline the feature. Start writing the screenplay.
4. Once per week, revisit your other feature pitches and refine them.
5. When the second feature screenplay is written, start showing it to trusted readers.
6. Rewrite/polish the TV spec.
7. Brainstorm a TV pilot script. ((Alternately, consider a low-budget indie you could make yourself.))
8. Either write the TV pilot script, or rewrite the second feature.

Whatever you do, don’t confuse “waiting for people to read” with “waiting to get started on something.” It’s great people like your script. That’s your cue to write more.

Pitching Prince of Persia

Pitches, Prince of Persia, Projects

[Jordan Mechner](http://jordanmechner.com/blog/2009/10/prince-of-persia-movie-pitch-trailer/) has posted the game-footage trailer we used when we pitched the feature film version of Prince of Persia to the studios six years ago.

Most movie pitches don’t involve video, but with PoP, most of the studio executives weren’t familiar with the game at all, so it became an important way to introduce them to both the franchise and the world. As Jordan notes in his post, this trailer doesn’t really tell the story of the movie, but it does give a sense of the characters and style: the dashing prince’s acrobatics, the devoted priestess/princess, the dagger with its time-reversing slickness.

Jordan and I pitched seven studios over two days. Each time, the presentation was pretty much identical.

1. Introductions. Apologies for keeping us waiting. (1 minute)
2. John hyping Jordan’s prestigious videogame background. (1:00)
3. Play the video. (2:10)
4. Jordan describes the world of the Persian empire, using artwork. (:30)
5. John pitches Prince Dastan, using artwork of him. (:30)
6. John and Jordan alternate pitching story, introducing character/prop artwork as new things come up. (6:00)
7. Questions about story, tone and scale. “Somewhere between Pirates and Raiders. It’s not Lawrence of Arabia.”(3:00)
8. Promises that they’ll follow up. (1:00)

Altogether, we could get through the pitch in less than 20 minutes. Disney liked it, and sent us to Jerry Bruckheimer’s company, who bought it from Jordan. The film comes out next May.

Here’s the trailer we used for the pitch. The actual trailer for the movie is ridiculously good, and should be out before too long.

Prince of Persia movie pitch trailer (2003) from jordan mechner on Vimeo.

Setting is not story

Film Industry, Genres, Pitches

[This article](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-paradise-prison26-2009jul26,0,3103335,full.story) from Sunday’s LA Times makes a great case study in the difference between an interesting setting and an actual movie idea:

> Pagasa may be a 75-acre speck of sand and rock, but that hasn’t stopped a swarm of countries from battling over the hundreds of specks of sand and rock that make up the Spratlys, which may be the most disputed island chain on Earth.

> So, in 2002, the Philippines decided to establish a small colony of hardy civilian settlers on the island, augmenting the two dozen military workers who earn special “loneliness pay” to live on the far-off spot — and bolstering its claim that possession is nine-tenths of the law.

> The result is sort of “Cast Away” meets Plymouth Rock.

It’s worth reading John Glionna’s entire article, because it’s quickly clear that Cast Away is only one of many different kinds of movies you could set on the island.

Here are some elements I found compelling:

* **Isolated, together.** The “volunteers” are far from home, but never alone. In fact, the island is so tiny you can’t get away from someone.

* **Primitive and modern.** Despite the airstrip, most of their food comes from fishing. A bad typhoon can destroy them. Yet they keep blogs.

* **An international dispute over an unimportant piece of dirt.** Is it really the airstrip the Philippines wants to protect, or its ego?

What is a Pagasa movie?

Is it a thriller? Most thrillers rely on something to isolate the protagonist, either literally (Panic Room) or figuratively (The Bourne Identity). Islands work well for this. In 2002, I pitched a version of Alien v. Predator set on an island in Maine during a massive storm; Pagasa could work similarly.

Is it a comedy? Pagasa is a military installation, so it’s not hard to envision a version of Stripes, cast with a bunch of funny younger actors.

Is it a romantic comedy? Given its isolation and lop-sided male-female ratio, it’s a natural and cinematic setting.

My point is that there’s a big difference between the world of a movie (the setting, the rules, the background color) and the movie itself. And that bridging that gap is what screenwriters do.

When you’re a newish-but-working writer in Hollywood, you get sent articles like this all the time. The producer or creative exec will say, “We think there’s a movie here. Come in and pitch your take.” Generally, they’ll give you some kind of direction, like, “We see it as The Piano, but, you know, funnier.”

As the screenwriter, your job is to come up with the characters, conflicts, goals, themes, reversals and set pieces that make the story worthwhile. (In TV, you call this breaking a story.) You’re not getting paid for this, even though it may take a week of your time. Rather, you’re auditioning for a job. You want them to hire you to write it.

Most of the time, you won’t get the job. But breaking story after story is amazing practice, and each pitch helps you figure out not only how plot works, but how the movie industry works.