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Hi Todd, I've finished a Friday the 13th script but have run into a problem, I have no idea what to do now. I live (and have lived my whole life) in a very small town in rural Canada, and frankly it doesn't feel like I could be any farther from the industry unless I moved to Mars. Unfortunately my only means of researching the process is over the internet so you can imagine how non-helpful that's been. Basically I have no idea where to go or what to do now. If you could point me in the right direction as to who to talk to about submitting this script I would be *extremely* grateful. I have a bunch of ideas for the "Friday..." series ( and a billion other story ideas ) but how the hell does a townie from the Canadian outback get the chance to tell anyone about them?

I'd greatly appreciate any advice or assistance you can provide, cuz man, I'm lost.

- Jim McDougald

Jim,

You've finished your Friday the 13th script and you are wondering what to do next...well, if I were you I'd chalk that up to experience and move on to the "billion other story ideas" you have.

I don't mean that to be harsh but you have written a script based on content that you do not own or control. What you have done is an impossible sell in normal circumstances...however you have stumbled into a thicket of politics on this one.

Cunningham made the original Friday the 13th then sold the rights to some businessmen in Connecticut. Paramount continued making movies with these gentlemen until Cunningham leased the rights back prior to JGTH. Cunningham then created a "First-Look" deal with New Line. Together they made JGTH, JX and FvsJ.

Thus currently there are four separate entities with ties to the franchise. Paramount controls the first eight films. The Connecticut Businessmen still own the rights although Cunningham is paying for the right to control them. New Line has a first look with any film involving Jason and I think some form of creative control over Jason.

Now, no one has sat me down and explained all this. It's a web I've picked up over the years. I may and probably do have some of the details wrong but it doesn't matter. The facts are simple...this is a political nightmare.

Even if you could get your script read...by whom would be the question. Cunningham, New Line, Paramount?

But you are not alone. I get several emails about this very topic. Many have assumed that I wrote Part 10 then went to Cunningham and/or New Line but that's not how it worked. I already had an established relationship with Cunningham. That's how I got involved. I didn't go to them. They came to me. And that's how it works.

Again, even if you could go to them with your script, sadly you have no protection. They could essentially take your idea, ship you back to Canada and run with it. Because you wrote a script based on content that you didn't own. It's their content. You have no rights to it and therefore no rights.

What I'm saying is that you have a one in a billion chance of getting your script read and if you do...and if it's any good...you'll get screwed. Scientific fact.

My suggestion: get to work on those other billion ideas. Write something that at the end of the day "you" own. Put yourself in the driver's seat.

Shelve your F13 script and build your career.

Move.

I'm from rural Kentucky. I wrote there too. But I didn't get a movie made until after I'd moved to LA...until after I'd run the trenches for a time.

Get yourself to Toronto or Vancouver or LA or New York. Go where they make movies. Dive into the trenches. Get your feet wet and learn the business of writing movies. I suggest LA. Granted they are making movies all over the world now but the deals are still done in LA.

And keep that old F13 script. Who knows, once you have established yourself, once you have made some other movies then the opportunity to step into a F13 role might present itself. Look at Quentin Tarantino. The guy could make pretty much whatever he wants...but he's toying with the Friday franchise.

And now for the crappy news. Horror used to be the redheaded step-child of Hollywood. It was the easiest genre for a writer to break into because you didn't have to go up against A list writers to get the job. But times are changing. Horror makes big bucks and the studios are finally admitting they know it. Now you have Michael Bay playing in Horror. Quentin's always loved it. Kevin Williamson keeps going back to it. Ten years ago a movie like Van Helsing would be a 5 million dollar B movie. Not any more. Same goes for Underworld, for Hellboy and the list goes on.

What I'm saying is that it's getting harder and harder to get a movie made. Harder and harder to get your foot in the door. Don't write yourself out of the numbers game.

If you write a "Jim McDougald" original then you can take that script anywhere. You can actually end up with several studios bidding on it. You may have twenty people tell you no. Who cares? You can go to twenty more. And it only takes one "yes". It's a numbers game.

But if you write a Friday the 13th script. You can only take it to those who control the rights. Those may be split into three entities but if one says no, they all say no. The end. No were else to go but home.

And in all honesty...those who control the rights are never going to read an unsolicited writer's script based on their material. It's just not how it works.

Jim, move to where they make movies.
Learn the business.
Write yourself something original...something "you" own.
Sell it.
Become hugely successful.
Then hire me to write something.

I know this probably isn't what you wanted to hear but I hope in the long run it helps.

be safe,
tf

Heh, yeah I kind of thought it might be something like that. This was just a lark that I whipped up in three weeks, I went into it as a throw-away hoping it might make me a few bucks while I finish some other scripts and my novel. Kind of a shame to shelf it since it came out remarkably good for how much effort I put into it. Of course it's all for nothing, isn't that how it always works when the writing goes smoothly? Bah, it was fun writing this and I guess there's always the chance to recycle it as something else.

I've been toying with another idea, completely original, for the last week. After I get the script done do I join the writers guild? Would an agent be able to help me shop the script around, or would getting one just be a waste of money?

Thanks a million for putting up with my endless questions.

Well, you can't just "join" the guild. Sadly it's not up to us like that. You have to qualify first. You can qualify a number of ways.

-- You can be hired to write a script by a signatory company (a company with a guild contract).
-- You can be hired to write for a TV show or write a TV script.
-- You can write several independent film scripts (non-guild projects). There is a number but I don't recall what it is. Something like three Indies and you qualify.
-- Or you can write a spec that a company buys and makes.

The problem, however, is that companies don't tend to hire non-guild writers. And non-guild writers have no real way of marketing their spec scripts. It is mine field of catch 22s.

You have to write a movie to get in the guild.
But you have to be in the guild to write a movie.

You need an agent to sell a script and get a credit.
But you need a credit to get an agent.

The challenges should be obvious. And there are no real answers.

All of my friends did it differently. You just sort of have to fight your way in.

I've said all along that making it out here is a combination of talent, luck and who you know and that hasn't changed.

For me, I worked three years as a grunt for Cunningham productions. I was non-guild at the time and therefore stupidly cheap. I was affordable. But in three years we couldn't get a movie made. The only movie we had a hope of getting made was another in the F13 franchise and that's how I eventually got in.

But that only got me in the guild. It did not get me an agent. Sadly, the tenth installment to what many considered a dying franchise was not impressive to any Hollywood agent. Remember, this was back before "The Ring" and the A-List resurgence of horror that we are seeing today.

With "Jason X" in the can and apparently floating in a void with no apparent release date and with my having left Cunningham Productions, I was a guild writer without an agent, money or prospects.

So, I wrote a spec. I had an idea and I wrote it.

In the three years with Cunningham I had made some friends in the business...all more successful than myself. When the script was finished I went to them. I asked them if they'd be willing to read it. If they liked it I asked if they'd be willing to pass it along to their agents. BUT only if they felt strongly about the script...only if they felt comfortable doing that. No pressure and no hard feelings.

Because this is a HUGE favor to ask. And a tricky one too. You can only do this with close friends because you are putting them in a tricky situation.

You are asking them to put their reputations on the line for your script. You have to give them a way out. You have to tell them, if they don't like it, "no hard feelings". Because I know there's no way I'm going to give a script to my agent to look at if I don't think it's very good. It would make me look bad. Just be aware that it's an odd situation to put a friend in. You are basically asking them to burn a favor with their agents. Agents read 20-100 scripts a week and now their client wants them to read a friend's script. Ugh.

And don't even dream of asking an acquaintance for this favor. It's too big a favor. That's why you have to get to a city where they make movie. Play the game, make contacts...make friends.

But in my case, my friends did like the script and were happy to hand it off to their agents.

Thus my script went out to four agencies.

-- One passed immediately.

-- One seemed...distantly interested. I got the feeling this was lip service out of respect for my friend who'd passed the script to them.

-- Two were interested in the script and in Todd Farmer.

Of those two I went with the one who seemed the MOST excited about me. The one I felt I had the best connection with. And that's how I ended up with ICM. And Nicole's been great. She's my main agent at ICM but Lazar, Boesky, everyone I've dealt with there has been great.

Nicole later sold the script and now I drive an Audi. So it's all worked out.

Talent, Luck and who you know.

As for an agent being a waste of money...well an agent is a necessary part of the game. You can't do this without an agent. Not starting out anyway. I do know guys who only use a lawyer but these are people who started out with an agent. Their name and their previous success gives them the credibility. But we all gotta start with an agent.

An agent really only opens doors for you. YOU have to sell your script as well as yourself.

An agent will charge 10 percent. If you make 100 grand the agency will get 10 thousand. If you find an agent who requires some form of up front fee then run.

So, what do you do when you get your original script finished?

Well, again, the sooner you can move to a city where they make movies the better off you'll be. The sooner you start playing the game, meeting the players, running in the trenches, making friend, then the better your chances.

Talent, Luck and Who you know.

You may write like a monkey for all I know but we'll assume the talent is a given. The longer you are out here the better you'll become. Because I simply didn't know what I didn't know. I had to be here for a time before I "learned" the tricks. And they can't really be taught...you sort of have to experience them.

So next is Luck and Who you know. You gotta get here in order to meet the right people. Then you gotta get your script to the right person at the right time. Luck.

So, it's gut-check time.

You may be able to sell a script and become hugely successful from small town Canada, but how you do that is beyond me. I can only tell you what I've done and what I've seen done through friends. The one consistency is that they were all in LA and they had all played the game for a number of years before actually getting in the door.

Is this a hobby or this what you do...what you have to do. I'm unemployable at anything else. Writing is what I do. I don't have a choice.

When I came out here I always knew I'd make it. But way down deep, in the dark places of my mind that I wouldn't admit verbally, I knew that if I never made it I'd be content that I'd at least chased the dream. I was willing to embrace the adventure even if I never found the Holy Grail.

Of course, so far I've only found a Styrofoam cup but that'll do for now.

Hope this helps.
tf

Hey Todd, it's all good man. Hell it's nice just talking to someone "on the inside" just to know that it isn't all a figment of my imagination. I've been looking around as to what's available for Canuckians and found some fairly promising info. I think I'm going to put together a TV Movie proposal and fire it off to a couple of the bigger networks, and there are a few government sponsored writers funds available for feature writers so I'll put together something for that as well. I figure if I just start shooting at everything that moves I'm bound to get a kill sooner or later. The industry up here doesn't seem to be nearly the shark-tank you guys have to contend with. Everything they make up here is really bland, I'm guessing because the talented folks all head south for real money. Hey, if someones getting paid to write the shit they make up here it might as well be me right?

Yeah, writing's the only thing I want to do. I've been spending the last year or so working on various projects, the main one being a novel that got away from me and turned into a trilogy. I worked construction for 6 years before that, and not the good kind of construction. I built feedlots. Swingin' a hammer, slogging around in cow shit all day every day. I'm 29 now and it's very much time to start working with my brain. I'm going to be a writer, there is no other option. Not one I'll accept anyways. I know I can do it, shit it's pretty much the only thing I can do right (though I can occasionally be unstoppable at Quake3 online :P) so what would be the point in a different carreer?

I don't even really care that much about the medium, I just want to write. I've got all these different story ideas and I just want to tell them, that's all. Hey a friend of mine from Belgium just got hired as a programmer at UbiSoft, maybe I can ask him who to contact about proposing game ideas. I came up with one watching Paul Sarino's "I'm still seeing Breen" Half-Life 2 music video. Video Link --> http://www.machinima.org/paul_blog/ in case you're interested. The guy did a fantastic job IMO, it's all in game footage and cancer man singing.

Well I just downloaded a bunch of info on funding and submission guildlines so I'd better start reading. Someday we'll be sitting by a pool in California drinking Corona and bragging about who's got the coolest yacht. :P

Oh actually I do have another question about format:

In the scene there's a minivan driving down a gravel road. The next scene is shot through the scope of a rifle that's trained on the minivan. What kind of header do I write for that?

I should really buy some books on the subject but at this point if it's not coffee, milk, peanutbutter or kraft dinner, it's not in the budget.

Well, I can tell you how I can do it although my way is not the Bible. It's just my style.

EXT. A HILLSIDE DIRT ROAD - DAY

A dull colored minivan slowly works its way down a twisting gravel road.

MATCH CUT TO:

POV THROUGH SCOPE

The view pulls tight on a MALE PASSENGER, the cross hairs dancing across the skull tattoo on the man's right arm.

Now I guess I'll say why...

EXT.

Basically you always start with EXT. or INT. Exterior or Interior. You clearly know this.

A HILLSIDE DIRT ROAD

If we're on a hillside with a dirt road then I personally like to put stuff like that in the heading. But for ease of read you'll want to always keep the heading to one line.

DAY

You always add DAY, NIGHT, DAWN, DUSK. Your script will eventually become a blueprint for the lighting guys, the sound guys and so forth. And they'll need these details.

Some writers may choose to put...

EXT. A HILLSIDE DIRT ROAD - DAY - MOVING

...which would denote a chopper or crane shot. Eh...I leave that stuff out for the most part. I may use other elements to break up the read but just be aware that MOVING is a director decsion. That's his or her job. You tell the story, let the director decide how he or she wants to shoot thing thing.

A dull colored minivan slowly works its way down a twisting gravel road.

Action lines can be the dullest part of a script so give a bit of detail. Draw a picture in the reader's mind. And don't repeat yourself. If you used "Dirt Road" in your heading then don't repeat "dirt road" in your description. Use "gravel".

I know it sounds silly but your job is to pull the reader along. Your writing not only needs to tell the story but be an easy read.

And in my opinion writing action is the biggest challenge for some writers. You want enough detail to keep the reader interested. But not so much as you bog them down. It's a gut thing.

MATCH CUT TO:

POV THROUGH SCOPE

Suddenly we are seeing the exact same view but now we're seeing it through the POINT OF VIEW through a scope.

The view pulls tight on a MALE PASSENGER, the cross hairs dancing across the skull tattoo on the man's right arm.

Then you tell what we are seeing through the scope.

Whenever you are introducing a new character (even if it's a dude who's about to get his skull pealed back by a sniper bullet) you always put them in all caps. You are basically saying to the reader, "Hey, this guy's new. You've never seen him before."

So, that's one way do do it. You could lose the MATCH CUT TO: because in truth that's a shot and that is the director's job to decide how to shoot it...but I like breaking up a read with stuff like that from time to time. This too is a gut thing.

But as for setting up a scope shot. POV is the way to go.

Hope this helps,
tf

Yup, it helps Todd, thanks. There are lots of places that explain basic format but if you deviate from that it seems impossible to find out how to do it. Man I'm having a hell of a time finding info on TV movie format. There's a great local program open to zero experience writers but no one anywhere seems to outline the format details. Maybe I'll just get the outlines done and send those in, then they can tell me where the commercial breaks go. $5000 for a writer to get from concept to first draft, DAMN could I use 5K right now....

Hey there, Todd!

As a struggling writer (novels & scripts) I've read your advice with alacrity to the Disastronaut and found it very informative and helpful. Most of it I already knew (live in L.A., it's all connections, network and play the game, etc.) One thing you said in particular resonated on target with me, and that was the part where you posted that you are umemployable as anything but a writer, that is barely even a choice, that you have to do this.

I have known this since I was 7yo that I had to write. I've tried the 'real job' thing and did all that others thought I should do and expected of me for years and it's been miserable. I've never been satisfied or felt that zing for life until I'm at the computer typing out my pages for the night. It is my destiny, it is what I do, and I've never had any doubts that I wouldn't make it someday. I've sold to low-rent indie films but they weren't Guild, and I was wondering if that is something to claim on my resume. Any sale, it seems, looks good, but I wanted to know if the Guild factor is the end-all breaking point of making the 'big' sale.

I've gone back and forth between should I screenwrite or do novels and finally concluded that I don't have to chose. I know I have talent for both mediums. It's merely a shifting of gears in terms of how you tell a story, but a good story is a good story regardless of what form it is in.

Another subject I wanted to tackle is the living in L.A. At face value that seems to be a no brainer. Yet in this electronic age the debate rages whether that is necessary and I've found a lot of scriptwriters split right down the center on this one, half saying yes be in L.A. 24/7 for potential meetings, others saying if your work is solid you'll break in, regardless of where you are and as long as you travel to L.A. on occasion that's enough. I've noted in L.A. on visits that the 'in vogue' thing with writers is that it's 'chic' to hire writers who reside out of town on the basis that a great many number of the ones in town are considered overdesperate 'wannabes' and that like the reality shows they produce, Hollywood's trend now is all about plucking that person from obscurity in their obscure town and giving them that one 'break'. I am curious as to whether you've at least heard anything similar.

BTW, I've watched the Jason X extras and your commentary on it several times. It's what inspired me to seek out your website and your forum, which I've enjoyed a great deal. Thanks!

Dis,

Sorry for the late reply...sometimes it does get hectic around here. Perhaps the best way to pick up on the stuff they don't write about in the How-To books is to grab as many screenplays as you can get your hands on. I used to use Script-o-Rama. Do a Google...not sure if it's still around. And living in the LA area I used to pop into this joint on Hollywood where you could buy scripts for 20 bucks a pop. I think I snatched up three or four hundred my first couple of years. But I'd stick with the net cuz they are free.

But the more you read the more you'll start recognizing those little tricks that all writers use and the differences in style.

Jeff,

I don't have a resume but I have been asked for a Bio in the past. And any sell is a good sell. As you get bigger and better work then your less impressive sells can drop off then. But in the early stages...mention everything that makes you look good. And I wouldn't worry about guild affiliation for those Indie companies. If a buyer's willing to look at you then they are most likely already aware that you are non-guild and won't mind.

If you have talent for both Screenplays and Novels then certainly do both. But I can't advise you in the novel world. I don't have the talent...take that back...I don't have the patience for novels. I can bang out a screen play in ten days and that works well for me.

As for living in LA...it's a numbers game. Sure...you can make it living in Podunk. But it will be harder. If we assume that Talent is a given...well...sadly that means zilch. There are dozens of writers out here far more talented than my dumb ass yet they haven't made it.

Talent, Luck and Who you know.

And for Luck and Who you know to play a part...well...you gotta be here.

I've been out here for ten years. And I'm close friends with several agents, producers, executives and actors. Never yet heard one of them say, "Hey, let's find a writer who lives in Delaware."

Clearly we know where I stand on this issue.

Sure, living here is tough. Sure, for the most part the Producers and Execs don't like writers but as long as you understand the reason then you are fine. We do what they can't. And eventually they'll leap into the mix and start throwing their weight around.

Argue three times then let them have their way. Cash the check and move on.

Glad you enjoyed the commentary. In retrospect I wish we could have laid down a track now rather than then. We were too close back then. Too bitter at some of the politics. We didn't have near the fun we could have were we to cut the track today. Oh well. Live and learn.

Best of luck and write anytime.

tf