John August

Producers

When to talk about your idea

Monsterpocalypse, Preacher, Producers, Psych 101

Last night, I moderated a panel with eleven of the writers nominated for WGA screenwriting awards. By any normal standard, it was way too many people to have on a stage, but we managed to make it work. My thanks to the panelists, the WGA and the Writers Guild Foundation for putting it all together.

The organizers had already decided there wouldn’t be a Q&A afterwards, but I wanted to give the audience a chance to participate a little. So I told them to tweet their best question to @johnaugust. I would pick one to ask before the end of the session.

I chose one by @oHaiZZ:

> Lawrence Turman suggests asking random people for their opinions of your concept. Any panelists do this or is mums the word?

Aaron Sorkin cautioned that talking about what you’re planning to write can easily sap your enthusiasm for it. Stuart Blumberg agreed, noting that even one ‘meh’ response might scare you off your dream project.

Lisa Cholodenko said that while they were working on The Kids Are All Right, they hadn’t talked to many folks about the plot. Only after the movie was finished did an executive mention that she’d read a couple of scripts with similar storylines over the years. Had Cholodenko known there were competing projects, she might have had second thoughts, worried that someone would beat her to the screen.

I largely agree with these opinions, but I also agree with Turman. I think the difference is that Larry Turman is a producer, not a writer.

A producer serves several functions, but one of the most important is pitchman. He needs to convince directors, actors, studios — and ultimately audiences — to invest their time and money in a movie. So he’s constantly testing and refining his message. He doesn’t have to write “Wuthering Heights with mummies” — he just has to gauge if there’s interest. If no one sparks to it, he has very little at stake.

The writer, on the other hand, has spent days, weeks or months thinking and writing. It’s so easy to get derailed and never finish. So my advice depends on your job title:

Producer – pitch constantly.

Screenwriter – zip it and write.

The 20-page threshold
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Several panelists mentioned how valuable they found it to get feedback from trusted colleagues at around the 20-page mark. By that point, you’re far enough into the script to feel you have a handle on it. You hopefully like what you’ve written. But you’re wondering if it’s actually any good.

That’s a good time to get feedback.

It doesn’t have to be 20 pages. For Monsterpocalypse, I shared the first act. For Preacher, it was 45 pages. In both cases, enthusiastic feedback gave me a nice bounce of energy to help me finish.

Yes, you’re taking a risk that you’ll get a bad reaction. But if it’s not working at this stage, it’s unlikely the problems would magically resolve themselves by page 120. Very few good movies have bad first acts. It’s worth stopping forward progress to get the beginning right.

The One-Month Manager

Film Industry, Producers, Psych 101, QandA

questionmarkWhat’s a reasonable amount of time to give your manager to read a draft of your script? It sometimes takes mine up to a month.

It seems long to me and I have been losing faith in his desire to get me work or sell my scripts. I’ve been with him for two years now and got a lot of meetings with the first script we went out with, but in the last year and a half nothing. At first he was very hands on and now it seems he has pushed me to the very bottom of his to do list.

I’ve stayed in touch with some of the producers I’ve taken meeting with and was wondering if it’s crossing a line to ask them to help me get a new manager or an agent?

— Mike
Hollywood

Don’t worry about firing your manager. He’s already fired you, but doesn’t have the guts to tell you.

Substitute “manager” for “agent” and follow my advice on [How to leave an agent](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/how-to-leave-an-agent). You could have the Big Talk with him, but in the end I strongly suspect you’ll need to move on.

If you’ve kept up relationships with those producers you’ve met, it’s absolutely fair to ask their input on a new manager and/or agent. But it’s going to be really awkward if your only contact was the meet-and-greet months ago. They need to be colleagues, not contacts.

Ask yourself whether you’ve done everything you could to make your screenwriting career happen. As I put it before:

> The biggest change shouldn’t be who is representing you, but how you’re representing yourself. As you take meetings, make them understand that you will work your ass off to land assignments, then work five times harder to deliver. Say it and mean it.

I wouldn’t bother firing your manager until you have something new and shiny with which to attract attention.

**UPDATE:**

Reader James points out I never really answered the question of how long is too long to wait.

If you hand your manager a script on a Monday or Tuesday, you should expect to hear back by Friday — or get a call/email saying that he’ll read it over the weekend. A script delivered on Wednesday or later will probably be weekend reading as well.

He should get back to you by the Monday afternoon with word that he’s read it, or an explanation if he hasn’t. If you haven’t heard back, take the initiative and call/email.

How many times can a meeting get pushed?

Film Industry, Producers, Psych 101, QandA

questionmarkMeetings get pushed all the time. General meetings aside, how many pushes merits cause for concern regarding interest in you/your idea?

— Matt

Things in Hollywood are never rescheduled. They’re “pushed.” ((Pushed is always “pushed back.” The reciprocal idea of “pulling up” is less common, but you do hear it in terms of release dates.))

AGENT

You heard about ANDERSONVILLE? They’re pushing to April in order to get Brad Pitt.

Anything with a date attached can get pushed. That includes meetings. Yesterday, I finally sat down for a meet-and-greet lunch that had been pushed six times. That’s not a record for me, but it’s close. The lunch wasn’t a particular priority for either the executive or me, which is why both of us felt okay letting it slide.

Meetings get pushed for many reasons, most of them benign. Executives get sick. Unrelated projects go into crisis mode. Particularly with a general meeting, you just have to roll with it.

If your meeting on a specific project keeps gets pushed back, that can signal waning interest. The second time it’s pushed, you should expect an apologetic phone call from the second-highest person who was supposed to be in the room. If that phone call doesn’t come, you can commence worrying.

If you have an agent or manager, it’s her job to investigate. Otherwise, sack up and call. Invent a reason why it’s very important that the new date stick.

Meetings sometimes get cancelled without setting a new date. For me, that starts a 24-hour clock. If a full day has passed and there’s not a new date on the calendar, I will assume the worst.

Should a screenwriter pay for notes?

Education, Producers, QandA

questionmarkWhat weight do you give professional reading services? You know, the dudes that read your script, mark it up, make suggestions, tweak it, and send it back? Do you recommend anyone or company in particular?

— Chance

Other than my assistants, I’ve never paid anyone to read my scripts. All the notes I’ve gotten have come from friends and colleagues, many of them producers or screenwriters.

Reciprocity is a big part of relationship-building. When I was starting out, I would give hours of notes to friends, working through several drafts with them. In turn, they would read my scripts. I got my first agent through one such screenwriter friend who was interning for a producer at Columbia.

I was fortunate in that essentially all of my LA friends were from film school, and many of them were really smart. But you actually only need one or two smart people. One set of brilliant notes is more helpful than a dozen mediocre ones.

If you can’t find that one great note-giver amid your circle, it’s possible that you’d benefit from paying someone. I don’t have any names to recommend, but if I were in your place, I’d look for a few things:

1. A sample set of notes. I wouldn’t pay anyone who didn’t write clearly and logically.

2. A face-to-face meeting. Good feedback ends up being a conversation. In addition to written notes, I’d want an hour to talk through the issues and options.

3. No producers/managers. I want insightful feedback, not connections. Some producers and managers can give great notes, but I shouldn’t be paying them upfront to do it.

4. Someone who can say ‘not for me.’ Every person has genres that simply don’t click. Before taking my money, a reader should ask what my script is about, and respectfully decline if it’s outside of her domain.

I’m certain there are good paid readers out there. A few will probably leave comments. So let me stress, *I’m not recommending or endorsing any of them.* Caveat scriptor.