Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Script
Options
-
24-05-2009 11:26am#1Apologies if this is in the wrong forum but anyway i wrote a scrpit...now what? who do i send it to? do i send it to directors, producers, film companies to see if they're interested or who would i contact?0
Comments
-
Its pretty wide open what you do next.
Depends mostly on the script, where you feel it would be suited best.
What sort of story is it?
Do you have a treatment?0 -
johnnysmack wrote: »Apologies if this is in the wrong forum but anyway i wrote a scrpit...now what? who do i send it to? do i send it to directors, producers, film companies to see if they're interested or who would i contact?
Firstly ensure you have copyright and treatment covered. The cheap way is to print a copy of the script/treatment and post it to yourself, with a copy of todays newspaper, in a sealed envelope, and when it arrives, keep it sealed. The postmark, paper and sealed envelope could be valuable if you show the script to someone, and they go on to develop something similar.
It's not full proof, and open to exploitation. But if you don't have any other recourse.
If you have a solicitor I'd leave a copy with them this would be slightly more substantial if any copyright conflict occurs.
Remember a script is just your idea, it's only valuable if it's unique, or original.
If you're looking to have it made, Both Filmbase, the Irish Film Board, offer script writing awards and bursaries.
You could also shop the idea around production companies in Ireland, iftn.ie has list of the majority of these companies.
Keep in mind you need to in mind that you need to match your idea to your market. Theres little point in trying to pitch your Matrix/Fast and the Furious combo onto an Irish market, the anual budget for the irish film industry wouldn't cover their catering bill. If on the other hand you have a sharp intelligent short film script, well the Film Board, RTE, and TG4 have several schemes available to you.
Really saying "I have a script what do I do with it" is completely impractical, is it a short? Do you want to direct it?
You need to provide alot more information about the film, and your ambitions about it. I understand ou want to be cautious about revealing the plot/ideas behind your film, but you need to balance pragmatism with asking for help.0 -
thanks for replying guys.
what do you mean by treatment?
i know nothing bout production side of things. i never wrote anything before but got an idea one day, wrote couple lines and before i knew it i had pages and pages flying outa me. its probably bit on the short side at min, somewhere round 40-45 min mark but i wanna flesh out some of the other characters too so that should bring over hour mark at least. its supposed to be funny but has some heart break but not much. defintely leaning a lot more towards funny side.
its bout a guy in a job he hates, plays in a tone deaf band, and cant get the girl he likes. thats probably best description. its mostly set in ireland.
for all i know the whole thing could be complete rubbish but wheres the harm in trying anyway. if no proper film companies/people have any interest in it il just get a camcorder and few friends to make regardless!0 -
A Treatment is a short layout of the story a 2-3 page (depending on the length of the film) explanation of the plot and the characters and the film itself (depends if you are applying to make the film or just trying to sell the script)
THe reality is nobody would have the time to read your script so they use treatments instead to sell the premise and then if they like it they would read the script.Remember a script is just your idea, it's only valuable if it's unique, or original.
Actually ideas in film are worthless, you cannot copyright an idea and simply having an idea wouldnt appeal to most filmmakers. Its more important (in copyright terms) how that idea is presented, the structure built around it and the characters that promote it.
You cannot sue someone for stealing your ideas, if that was the case I could sue FOX for stealing my idea for alien 4 (half human alien hybrids) that I wrote down when I was seven. they need to steal something alot more substantial (character designs, specific plot mechanics etc.)its bout a guy in a job he hates, plays in a tone deaf band, and cant get the girl he likes. thats probably best description. its mostly set in ireland.
It sounds like something that might fit in with an independent filmmaker, you'll need to do up a treatment and show it around, consider working with a more experianced director and/or producer in applying for a grant (art council or film board). If its located in a specific setting, such as an out of way county, then local council grants are surprisingly genorous if you are aiming for a low budget project.
But yes, first thing right now is to put together a treatment.0 -
BlitzKrieg wrote: »Actually ideas in film are worthless, you cannot copyright an idea and simply having an idea wouldnt appeal to most filmmakers. Its more important (in copyright terms) how that idea is presented, the structure built around it and the characters that promote it.
They're not worthless, it's valuable to you. It's the only thing you have. If you shop around a script without making any attempt to protect it, you don't have any fall back if they reject your script but develop the idea separately.You cannot sue someone for stealing your ideas, if that was the case I could sue FOX for stealing my idea for alien 4 (half human alien hybrids) that I wrote down when I was seven. they need to steal something alot more substantial (character designs, specific plot mechanics etc.)
You can sue, it's just that you won't be very successful if you can't prove that you came up with the idea of an alien human hybrid on board a space station, with a cloned ripley, and a hardy ban of smugglers.
Also you don't have intellectual property over the "Alien" concept.It sounds like something that might fit in with an independent filmmaker, you'll need to do up a treatment and show it around, consider working with a more experianced director and/or producer in applying for a grant (art council or film board). If its located in a specific setting, such as an out of way county, then local council grants are surprisingly genorous if you are aiming for a low budget project.
But yes, first thing right now is to put together a treatment.
I'd also recommend that you flesh out the script, and ensure it's correctly formatted before you send it anywhere. a feature length script that only runs to 45 pages is likely to be thrown out unread by any serious script editor, as it will seem you don't understand or aren't professional.0 -
Advertisement
-
They're not worthless, it's valuable to you. It's the only thing you have. If you shop around a script without making any attempt to protect it, you don't have any fall back if they reject your script but develop the idea separately.
But thats the issue, what you are protecting is not the idea, its the context of the idea. If someone read a script by me, say to take a real example a house haunted by an obsessive woman who keeps ringing and drives the residents mad, I cannot copyright nor protect the idea of an obsessive person ringing a house, I can protect its context, who that person is and their character and the series of events that happen. But even with copyright I cannot stop someone from developing a different script from the same idea.
If I pitched the above idea as a comedy to a studio and they didnt like it, but they thought it had potential as a horror, I have no power to stop them from taking the basic phone call mechanic and having a new script done up with new characters with it as a horror. Its still my idea, a house haunted by someone constantly ringing, but instead of playing it for laughs like I did, its done as a tense psycho horror.
My idea gets me nothing, the context I put it in though is everything.
Also under European law the simple act of writing the script copyrights it, its different in the US where you need to send it to a copyright office, but in europe when you wrote it, it is automatically copyrighted.0 -
BlitzKrieg wrote: »But thats the issue, what you are protecting is not the idea, its the context of the idea. If someone read a script by me, say to take a real example a house haunted by an obsessive woman who keeps ringing and drives the residents mad, I cannot copyright nor protect the idea of an obsessive person ringing a house, I can protect its context, who that person is and their character and the series of events that happen. But even with copyright I cannot stop someone from developing a different script from the same idea.
If I pitched the above idea as a comedy to a studio and they didnt like it, but they thought it had potential as a horror, I have no power to stop them from taking the basic phone call mechanic and having a new script done up with new characters with it as a horror. Its still my idea, a house haunted by someone constantly ringing, but instead of playing it for laughs like I did, its done as a tense psycho horror.
My idea gets me nothing, the context I put it in though is everything.
I'm not saying it's not a grey area, however all I did is raise issues of protecting yourself before you send the script out into the ether.Also under European law the simple act of writing the script copyrights it, its different in the US where you need to send it to a copyright office, but in europe when you wrote it, it is automatically copyrighted.
However the true trick is proving that you wrote the script before anyone else did.0 -
Only just caught up with this now.
LOL at the old send a copy with today's newspaper gig. You really do not need to do that these days as email records when and where something was sent email the script to yourself and it's prrof enough.
The official stance on copyright is you cannot copyright an idea only a format.
To give an example - some time ago I was pitching a film idea called Rewind about a man who ages backwards. Is born during the blitz as an old man and progressively gets younger. He has relationships but can't hold on to them, as his lovers age, he doesn't. He has an early friendship / love that really develops when their ages are more appropriate. He then meets his own daughter by this woman later in the film.
It sounds like Benjamin Button. I actually thought someone had stolen my idea until I discovered. Benjamin Button is based on an old F Scott Fitzgerald short story. So nothing is new.
- By all means write a treatment and a logline. Format it correctly and try to get an agent. But only if you are serious about being a writer.
The industry is crap right now and ironically it's a good time for new writers as they are cheap. But don't bother your hole unless you are serious about being a writer.
Your idea is not original or creative enough in and of itself to inspire anyone. - However for all I know the dialogue might be sparkling and the character's incredible and you might be a genius. So it all depends.
It's like pitching a new detective or police series - What makes this different?
Think about that when pitching.0
Advertisement