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Hollywood_Guy
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20 Jul 2018, 10:23 pm

Are there any movie or television screenwriters on here? I am not writing myself, but I think screenwriting is very interesting and I admire that. Can you tell me about it?



Mangrove
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01 Aug 2018, 7:32 pm

Screenwriting was my first job. Although I wrote for Portuguese TV so nothing too glamorous. It's really nice to create stories and let characters develop and become more interesting as you write their lines. There is, however, a negative side to it. Scripts are subject to approval and alteration by lots of people above the writer so, sometimes (many times), you'll have to live with an end product that may not have a lot to do with what you created.



redrobin62
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04 Aug 2018, 5:57 pm

As we speak I'm currently shopping three screenplays. They're "Tears of a Clown," "Crystal Mine," and "Strung Out." I have a fourth ("The Black Cumin Cure") waiting in the wings but I haven't completed it yet.



AnonymousAnonymous
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05 Aug 2018, 6:02 pm

As we speak, I am currently shopping three screenplays too.

"Pieces Of Truth" (Psychological Thriller)

"The Doodler" (True Crime)

"Vanport" (Historical Drama)


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Hollywood_Guy
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05 Aug 2018, 11:01 pm

AnonymousAnonymous wrote:
As we speak, I am currently shopping three screenplays too.

"Pieces Of Truth" (Psychological Thriller)

"The Doodler" (True Crime)

"Vanport" (Historical Drama)


What are the typical odds for these stories to be put into production and released?



redrobin62
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06 Aug 2018, 8:30 pm

I don't know the exact odds, but from what I've seen, it's easier to get horror, drama and comedies made because they're significantly cheaper than thrillers and Sci-Fi's as they have little to no special effects. For instance, just a cursory look at Blumhouse Film's horror catalog and you'll see numbers like this:

Paranormal Activity - Budget: $15,000. Gross: $193.4 million
(In fact, all the Paranormal Activity's had the same kind of return).

Sinister - Budget: $3M. Gross: $87.7 million.

The Purge - Budget: $3M. Gross:$89 million.
(All The Purges did similar box office).

Get Out - Budget: $4.5 M. Gross: $255 million.

Split - Budget: $9M. Gross: $278.5 million.

And so on.



Spooky_Mulder
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08 Aug 2018, 12:39 am

I work in the industry. I’m a paid script reader and I have mentors within one of the top film studios (Disney, Universal, Warner Bros, etc - won’t say which one) who have shown a continual interest in my work.

I’m also in the process of taking my experience as a screenwriter and from working with various companies as a coverage writer to start my own script coverage company as well.