Advice

Dear Gatekeeper: I've finished my spec script, entered a couple of contests and sent out a zillion query letters by mail and email. The only response I received was from an agent who will represent me if I shell out $25 for every submission. I'm willing to invest the time and energy, but just don't know what 'creative' steps I can take next. Help. Suze Q., Santa Monica, CA This Week's Gatekeeper Howard Meibach responds: Dear Suze, what you need to do next is what I like to call 'Selling your screenplay outside the box.' I'd like to make a...

Question: The first five pages of my script contain a lot more movement than speech. Because of this, it's exceeding the one-page-per minute rule. It just seems to take me more pages to describe action than it does for dialogue. Is this a common problem? Do readers take this into account? Can you give me a bit of advice to either put my mind at ease or teach my to overcome this? G.K. Brothers, KS Jeffrey Schechter responds: Don't get too hung up on the one page per minute rule. While you're right that description can sometimes read slower (or...

Comedy has always taken a supporting role to the more serious Hollywood genres. During this awards season, it's easy to recognize the year's great dramas and epics; however, 2003 was a good year for well-written comedy and romantic comedy. And the one upstart film that defied critics, warmed audience hearts, and filled distributor coffers was a comedy about a big fat Greek wedding. If anything, its success proves that during this time of economic uncertainty and global tensions, we need a well-told tale that makes us feel good about ourselves. But is comedy's sole purpose to entertain the audience? And...

WGA REGISTRATION vs. COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION For screenwriters who use the latest version of Final Draft ® to help write their script, one nifty feature is the ability to register the screenplay with the WGA-West Intellectual Property Online Registry with the touch of a button. Many (if not most) screenwriters register all of their scripts with the WGA Registry, and, believing that they have done all that is necessary to protect their script, they neglect to register the script with the U.S. Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.Imagine their surprise when someone steals their screenplay and they learn for the...

1. Your First Five Scripts One of the most frequent questions I am asked is Is my script ready? Whether or not a specific script is ready is open to interpretation, based on who is reading the script. However, here are some guidelines I have developed based on my own experience as a development executive and after talking to producers, managers and agents. How do you know when you are ready? The first three to five scripts you write are usually for yourself -- they are your experiments. They are often not yet good enough to be submitted to a...