FOR SALE: Low-budget supernatural horror feature script

rayw · Oct 9, 2013

DirectorRik, you're a good guy.

I promise to turn a blind eye to subsequent first time (usual string of adjectives) posters selling their various products and services of (usual adjective) merit.

Benkie87, there's an established proper protocol for providing a product or service.
If you're ghost cruising this thread please return and the members of this forum do the utmost in providing you with practical advice on selling your screenplay to director/producers.
If you did actually sell 'Maternal Instinct' for $1.5-3k in under a day then congratulations are DEFINITELY in order.
If you were drive-by spam-posting then... sincerely "Good luck widdat."

ChimpPhobiaFilms · Oct 9, 2013

directorik said:
I would love to see indietalk be the place where we don't do
what is easy, but what is harder. And more polite

A place on the internet where there's no sarcasm, fighting, and flaming? That would be cool

Hopefully OP isn't gone. I feel like a jerk now.

rayw · Oct 9, 2013

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
I feel like a jerk now.

Ur twelve yrs old. u can get away with it. :yes:

Some of us are <clears throat> supposed to be more mature about this stuff.

sfoster · Oct 9, 2013

directorik said:
What I used to love about indietalk was the support almost
everyone gave to new members. Now it seems more and more
you guys immediately deflate all expectations. Yes, I know you’re
right. Yes I know it’s unrealistic for expect anyone here will buy
a screenplay. But was this response really helpful? Was it needed?
Was the sarcasm a good welcome to our on line community.

Indietalk was once a very welcoming, supportive community. The
comments to Pete show it has changed since I first started posting
here.

FWIW I'm still relatively new here, and I think everyone has been really great and supportive. Loving it here

directorik · Oct 9, 2013

ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
A place on the internet where there's no sarcasm, fighting, and flaming? That would be cool

Dominic, for several years this place was surprisingly good about
that. The majority of members were polite and helpful to all first
timers. The obvious exception were clear spamers and the “Look
what I found! What do you think?” types. Even then the moment
a newcomer got sarcastic the gloves were off. It seems that in
the last year or so more and more people are starting with sarcasm
and flames when newcomers don’t post the “right” way. It disappoints
me to see the change.

Maybe I’ve just been here too long. Times and people change. The
first four people who responded didn’t even give Pete the benefit
of the doubt. That just maybe he was quite new to this - not just
selling a screenplay but posting on a message board - and finding
an open, helpful, respectful forum could really help him.

You all know me. I’m up for a good fight. I love a strong disagreement
and even a battle of words. I love exposing frauds and even poking
trolls. I feel bad for Pete.

Sweetie · Oct 9, 2013

I was rude. I do feel bad about that now. I judged the film only by it's plot-line. I should keep an open mind.

Chimp, it looked like a typical horror genre film. I didn't see his original post (it seems that I came late to the party) but the plot line that was quoted later in the thread looked fine. The question really came down to the execution of that plot, characters and dialogue. I saw someone trying to sell a script here a while back. If I received the plot line first, I may have passed. I read the script. Now I have to admit, it has some problems, and needs work, it's one of the better low budget feature film scripts that I've read in a long time. If we can iron out the script and production issues, we're planning on shooting early 2014.

You can just never tell a book by its cover.

A script that sells for 3K+ I believe will be filmed to get distributed,so why would you not comply with the general requirements of distributors

I would have thought that it'd be rather silly for independents to insist on general requirements that distributors would. Isn't it the distributors requirements that cause us to be independent filmmakers in the first place?

He's probably a writer without an agent, without a marketing representative. For this bargain price range, are you really expecting high end professionalism and all industry standard requirements be followed?

Edit: On top of all that, there really should be a better relationship between filmmakers and writers... isn't the most important element a great script? If we scare off all the writers, where are these great scripts going to come from?

baoliun · Oct 10, 2013

I thought there was a link to the script? Or did I confuse it with the other thread?
Anywayz.
We have different views on the internet forum life, you believe in good things and I believe in cynicism.
Democracy at its best ;p

With all due respect

Sweetie · Oct 10, 2013

Between you and me, I'm not looking to live life on a forum. I'm here to learn and perhaps make contacts that could help my career and everyone I work with. I think it's fairly sad if your goals here include hassling writers.

His script may indeed suck, or it may be pure genius.

I think you're at a loss to what democracy is. These forums aren't a democracy. There are no votes. The mods and the owners rule the roost. With all due respect

baoliun · Oct 10, 2013

If "democracy" in your country doesn't involve the top x% of population fkng up everyone else,I am truly happy, the wealth distribution in the most western countries is pretty depressing. But I was referring to "freedom" of opinion.

My goals are def not "hassling writers",where did you get that from?
When people in screenwriting sub forum ask for advice or opinion, if I have something to contribute I do. But when a person is selling a product with delusional pricing, cmon.

As I said if someone would offer u to buy canon t3i for 10K,would you not ridicule him? Honestly? There is a big difference between a question, no matter how stupid it is and trying to sell crap.

Anywayz,this has gone way offtopic.
I didn't want to offend anyone and if I did I apologize. Peace out!

mad_hatter · Oct 10, 2013

baoliun said:
But when a person is selling a product with delusional pricing, cmon.

As I said if someone would offer u to buy canon t3i for 10K,would you not ridicule him? Honestly?

I didn't see the original post, so I don't know what's what. But if you haven't seen the product, how can you know the value of it?

We all know what a t3i is, we all know the value. So if somebody offered me one for 10K, I'd question it. I'd ask why the price was so high. Was it a mistake? Perhaps it used to be owned by somebody famous? Maybe they're throwing in a load additional stuff that they forgot to mention? I'd ask. I wouldn't ridicule them.

IndiePaul · Oct 10, 2013

baoliun said:
We have different views on the internet forum life, you believe in good things and I believe in cynicism.

Fair enough but cynicism can destroy the newbies, people's hope etc... And they could have been a valuable member to the forum - eventually, who knows...

Anyway, various parties have apologized. Maybe the OP will read those, maybe he is gone for good. It would be a shame if the latter.

rayw · Oct 10, 2013

8salacious9 · Oct 10, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5HOt0ZOcYk

directorik · Oct 10, 2013

baoliun said:
As I said if someone would offer u to buy canon t3i for 10K,would you not ridicule him? Honestly?

Honestly. I would not ridicule him. I might suggest he lower the
price. I would not send money. On a forum like this I would
simply ignore him.

However, a new writer offering to sell a script for an unreasonable
amount should not be open to ridicule. Clearly an opinion you do
not hold.

baoliun said:
There is a big difference between a question, no matter how stupid it is and trying to sell crap.

If you read the script and it was crap I would respect your views
on what he was selling. I can't figure our how you know that the
script was crap. You didn't like the log line. Fair. You feel 81 pages
is immediately unworthy of even reading and is unprofessional.
Not fair. You say his script was poor without reading it. Not fair.
You ridiculed him without reading his work. Not fair.

But life, the industry and message boards are not fair.

rayw said:
If Benkie87 doesn't chime in in the next week I think it's safe to say he/she was a drive-by forum spammer, like a bazillion others, and all you thoughtful folks just got your legs pulled.

Or...

He could have been a young writer who was scared off by your
cynicism, sarcasm and flaming. I noticed that in none of the
threads you posted did you (or anyone) even challenge them.
A few legit questions, but you, rayw, didn't do what you did to
this writer. This isn't about getting ones leg pulled. None of you
read his script before you put him down. I would not have expressed
my disappointment if you all had read the script and found it
terrible.

Once again, I am not going to change the way you respond to
new members. You have your reasons. My posts here are not
intended to change any of you. Those of you who feel ridicule,
sarcasm and flaming makes this place safer or better should
continue.

BTW: My company is offering three times that for a low budget
horror or comedy script. I would have at least read his script.

Sweetie · Oct 10, 2013

As I said if someone would offer u to buy canon t3i for 10K,would you not ridicule him? Honestly? There is a big difference between a question, no matter how stupid it is and trying to sell crap.

I wouldn't. I doubt I'd waste my time.

The difference between selling a t3i for 10k and a script for 1.5-3k is the t3i is a commodity, the script has a subjective value depending on a lot of variables. Subjective deals depend on the purchasers situation. For instance, if I had distribution ties that would distribute anything and a particular level of pre-sales for a package that was properly put together, that $1.5-3k script may be worth 5 or 6 figures to me. It makes $3k a steal.

I'm now looking for a script for the latter to late half of next year. If I find that fits my needs and it's within my price range, I'll grab it.

rayw · Oct 10, 2013

Fair enough.

FWIW, I wanna be wrong.

directorik said:
BTW: My company is offering three times that for a low budget
horror or comedy script. I would have at least read his script.

I would like to know more about what your company is looking to shoot for that low budget horror or comedy script.
Where's your shout-out for that?

Sweetie said:
I'm now looking for a script for the latter to late half of next year. If I find that fits my needs and it's within my price range, I'll grab it.

Gah?!
Where are you guys posting for submissions for these?!
What is your team looking to shoot?

Ya'll are killin' me.

baoliun · Oct 10, 2013

directorik said:
I can't figure our how you know that the
script was crap.

You feel 81 pages is immediately unworthy of even reading and is unprofessional.
Not fair. You say his script was poor without reading it. Not fair.
You ridiculed him without reading his work. Not fair.

.

I thought there was a link but I might have confused it with another thread,hence the remark about "we see" etc. My original comment was "81 pages. now thats pro". Yes,it is a bit of sarcasm,but is it really insulting?

I strongly disagree that 81 pages is a script a new writer should write or try to sell.
Sid Fiel,Terry Rossio,Ted Elliott etc. etc. mention if you want to write a screenplay,write it within the rules. Some even suggest,if the script falls under the page limit,add blank pages saying a love scene should be written out here just to meet that benchmark. 90 pages for comedy,120ish pages for drama.
http://johnaugust.com/2004/page-count-and-tight-formatting i.e. and there are many others.

You mentioned you have a production company,I don't know exactly how you deal with scripts and feel free to correct me if I am wrong,from my understanding prod.co get tonnes of scripts. And it is humanly impossible to read them all. So what do PA or interns or w/e do? They discard badly formatted scripts.
That is it. In the bin it goes.

I don't say 81 pages means it is a bad script. But it is def not a pro way to start a screenwriting career. Because it goes to the bin 99.9% of the time without even reading. That's why "we see",camera directions can be accepted from notable writers/directors,but are not advised for novices.

EDIT: Once again,no insulting was implied. I agree that being nice is much nicer,but killing sarcasm off completely would be a bit dull,wouldn't it? Good cop,bad cop? No?

directorik · Oct 10, 2013

rayw said:
I would like to know more about what your company is looking to shoot for that low budget horror or comedy script.
Where's your shout-out for that?

I don't have a thread for it. What I do is contact and read script from
writers who post here. I'm sure you've seen my replies to writers
who offer to write a script. The most recent was in August.

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=43280
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=46838
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=46693
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=16781
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=49821

I've been looking for a long time and haven't found the one my
investors and distributor are looking for. I don't have a specific shout
out because the thread would soon drop away. And since I do not
have a staff of readers all coverage falls to me and my partner.

rayw · Oct 10, 2013

Okay, with the most basic of goog searches I find this:
http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/contracts/min2011.pdf
Pages 1-4

C. Original Screenplay, Excluding
Treatment or Sale/Purchase of
Original Screenplay $42,930 $87,879

THEATRICAL BUDGET THRESHOLDS
LOW BUDGET - Photoplay costing less than $5,000,000
HIGH BUDGET - Photoplay costing $5,000,000 or more

That's about 0.8%

and this: http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/LBA2011.pdf
WGA THEATRICAL LOW BUDGET AGREEMENT
FOR FILMS BUDGETED AT $1,200,000 AND BELOW

So, if OP's script rates something close to that OP's anticipating a production budget of $150-300k.

And DirectorRik, if you're looking for three times that amount then you're shooting for a quarter to full million.

Sound about right?

directorik · Oct 10, 2013

baoliun said:
I agree that being nice is much nicer,but killing sarcasm off completely would be a bit dull,wouldn't it? Good cop,bad cop? No?

I'm sorry you got from my posts that I was saying no one
should ever get sarcastic on a message board. I guess I'm
not as clear a writer as I hope to be. I get sarcastic, I fight,
I'm condescending, I argue. I have no issue with anyone
doing that. None at all. My point here was putting down a
first time poster who didn't deserve it - in my opinion, of
course. You feel he deserved it. Had you read his script and
then posted you opinion (even sarcastically) I would never
have said anything.

As I said previously I didn't get the impression this guy was
offering the script to the major prodCos or studios. It seems
he came to a place where he though there might be low budget
filmmakers looking for a script. My company is small - me and
one partner - we do not get hundreds of scripts, we do not
hire readers. I do discard badly formatted scripts but I'm very
open to 80 to 85 pagers. The gurus you mention offer advice
to writers looking to sell to the big companies. There are many
more avenues open to beginning writers. I personally know
several producers and directors looking for scripts in that page
range.

FOR SALE: Low-budget supernatural horror feature script

rayw

ChimpPhobiaFilms

rayw

sfoster

directorik

IndieTalk's Resident Guru

Sweetie

baoliun

Sweetie

baoliun

mad_hatter

IndiePaul

rayw

8salacious9

directorik

IndieTalk's Resident Guru

Sweetie

rayw

baoliun

directorik

IndieTalk's Resident Guru

rayw

directorik

IndieTalk's Resident Guru