AboutRoger S. H. Schulman Expertise I can answer questions on the creative aspects of writing for features and television comedy: brainstorming, character development, plotting, story structure, dialog, rewriting, editing, etc. I can also address the business side of show business: pitching, writing and presenting treatments, "taking" meetings, common pitfalls, etc. I'm also well versed in the relationship between screenwriting and computers: software for scriptwriting, brainstorming, presentation, outlining, an d general organization. I'm also a producer, and so can answer questions regarding the ins and outs of television production, specifically the half-hour arena. Visit my scriptwriting blog at http://scriptwriting.blogspot.com.
Experience I have been working in Hollywood as a screenwriter for both TV and features for many years. I'm an Executive Producer and "showrunner" who has run several prime-time and cable comedies. I've written several featurs and contributed to many more for several major studios.
Organizations Writers Guild of America, West
Publications Newsweek, BusinessWeek, GQ, Connoisseur, UPI, New York Daily News, please visit my blog at http://scriptwriting.blogspot.com
Education/Credentials I have a Masters of Science in Journalism from Columbia University.
Awards and Honors Academy Award Nomination, Best Adapted Screenplay
British Academy Award, Best Adapted Screenplay
NAACP "Image" Award, Best Television Comedy
"Annie" Award, Best Animated Film
First and foremost I would like to say thank you for donating your time to inform us about this wonderful world of screenplay writing.
I have a two-part question:
1)I have searched all of your previous posts regarding obtaining representation, and wanted to make sure that I am not missing anything. From what I distilled the process is: have your script ready, submit it to agencies (preferably ones that accept unsolicited material), include a cover letter, include some form of signed legal disclaimer saying you will not sue. Hope someone accepts it! Also - work network contacts using the ever-popular "six degrees of separation" principle. Does this sum it up? Any places beyond the web/WGA to find agencies to submit to? I work in the audio post industry in LA, so hopefully my network will pay some dividends when the time comes!
2)My second question is regarding spec scripts. From my understanding, a spec script in the TV realm is basically an original idea of an existing series. Through my agent searches of your responses, I came across several people mentioning spec scripts in the feature area. I'm not sure what the equivalent would be? Aren't most feature scripts one would sell an original idea/adaptation in their own right? Just wanted to clarify what a spec feature script is considered, since I am looking to sell a feature screenplay.
Thank you again so much!
John
Answer You've got it right. But I would expand my horizons as well. Consider finding producers as well as agents (assuming your work is in the feature field). Try to get your piece, or some portion of it, actually made. Nowadays, video samples are working at least as effectively as written material. And you have the added bonus of having lots of regular people watch your stuff (YouTube) and the remote possibility of it actually selling, or leading to a sale of another piece. If it's a short film, you might consider making it yourself, with the help of some of your talented buddies in show business, since you're already in entertainment. If nothing else, it will have great sound!
Which reminds me: you being in the post industry, I should think you work with the right kind of talent every day. Be polite, but bold!
A spec script in TV can be one of two types: a sample episode of an existing series, or an original pilot concept script. It's best to have both. Agents generally send out on behalf of a client two scripts, one of each. The former tells a prospective employer whether you can write to someone else's direction; that is, live in someone else's world. This is key if you're to be on staff. And the latter tells a studio whether you've got good original ideas and can execute them commercially. These two types of scripts feed one another too: the EP of a TV series wants to know you've got original ideas, because then you'll be of more use at "the table;" and the studio wants to know if they can put you on staff somewhere should your original concept fail in series, or not sell in the first place.
In the feature world, a spec script is an original, fully-executed screenplay. It usually winds up serving merely as a sample of your writing, but that's not its intent. It's meant to be sold, as is, to a studio, to be produced. Every once in a while you hear about some huge "spec sale," in which a writer has sold a spec screenplay for millions of dollars. This does happen, but the hundreds of no-sales aren't mentioned in the trades -- just the big ring-ups. But there are plenty of reasons besides poor writing that a spec script doesn't sell, so a failed spec can serve as a perfectly fine sample. And as I say, that's what they usually end up being.
The huge upside of a sold spec script isn't the money, by the way, but the power. If you sell an IDEA to a studio, they can tweak it to their heart's content before, during and after you write it: the very idea is their property. But if you're offered money for a completed script, you get to say under what conditions you'll sell it. "I have right of last rewrite." "I get to direct." "If it's not produced in two years, I get it back." Most of the time, studios will just walk away from such demands. But in the case of a spec script, YOU have the right to walk away before the sale, too! And if you can get studios into a bidding war over a spec script -- well, you've reached Show Business Nirvana. If there is such a thing.
