FOR SALE: Low-budget supernatural horror feature script

[directorik]

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

Sound about right?

I didn’t see the original post. It seems he was asking for three
large. We are open to a purchase price of three times that - not
three times the WGA rate. My company is not a WGA signatory.

 

[baoliun]

@directorik Ok,than,this is a case of misunderstanding on several levels. I have re read it again and I do agree that that wasn't a nice welcome to the forums. I am sorry for that. peace and tranquility in Middleearth

 

[IndiePaul]

rayw, I tend to agree with you on most things but this chap was trying to sell his screenplay.

Most of the links you posted were for those ass**** who say they have a production company/agency/marketing machine, are looking for scripts etc etc - the reality: they simply want to rip writers off. I hate those folks too.

I don't think the OP was that at all. He just sounded like some inexperienced newbie trying to sell his screenplay.

 

[rayw]

I don't think the OP was that at all. He just sounded like some inexperienced newbie trying to sell his screenplay.

I agree whole heartedly.
I think that's exactly what he was in addition to being a drive-by poster.

Every time I gotta hassle my little kids about ditching their used and abandoned toys from yester-year they get some fruity notion that we should have a yard sale and then they start fabricating outrageous prices out of the clear blue sky to sell their defunct toys.
Pfft.

Same.


"I have a used action figure/new horror screenplay. I will sell it to you for $15/$1,500."
Seriously: GLwiddat approach.

 

[directorik]

baoliun, it’s all good. No apology needed. We each have our
own way of communicating. Mine is different than yours. Not
better - just different.

rayw, I think this is a slightly different issue that what your
kids do with their toys. I don’t quite understand the comparison.
I know, personally, several producers who are looking to spend
$1,500 to $10,000 for a screenplay. Not an unrealistic number.
Especially for a script you did not read.

You do a lot of research. How many drive-by posters return,
comment and then remove their post? I always think of the
drive-by is someone who posts then never returns - like the
ones you linked to.

I get the impression Pete offered script for sale, was put down
by the first three people who responded then took down his
post and left. Possibly because he felt attacked.

 

[rayw]

I didn’t see the original post. It seems he was asking for three
large. We are open to a purchase price of three times that - not
three times the WGA rate. My company is not a WGA signatory.

Understood.
I was just cooking some numbers based upon industry standards as reference.
No big whup.
Ya gots what ya gots.

Correct; $1,500 to $3,000 is what he was ransoming/offering his pi... screenplay for.
How on Earth that number was fabricated I have no idea. Whatever. Doesn't matter.

I'm looking for an excellent high school comedy. "American Graffiti",
"Fast Times at Ridgemont High", “Ferris Bueller” good. A script that
will attract the top young talent of today, something that will make
them want to sign on based on the excellent writing, hysterical scenes
and iconic characters.

I'm looking for then next big idea in horror. Something that will change
the direction of the genre the way "Night of the Living Dead" did in the
late 60's - the way "Halloween" and "Texas Chainsaw" did in the 1970's
- the way "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" did in the
80's and the way "Saw" and "Paranormal Activity" did more recently.

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.

Hmm...

Who's the distributor and I'll do a little IMDB digging on my own as to what they're already carrying.
PM me if you'd prefer.

Is there any particular sub-genré you or they would prefer - or - prefer to avoid?
I don't mind developing a point-me-in-the-right-direction script, but I'd prefer to avoid a absolute spec script. That's just crazy to me.

I'm all for exploiting fresh territory, but what one considers "new" another considers "a variation of."

Samples of my short screenplays: https://docs.google.com/document/d/102RTM1rP_jkJP1NhoFiZkQRxATOK5xiymO5V_FYM0Jo/edit

Do you have a timeline/deadline in mind? Festival(s) to catch? If so 2014 at the soonest, of course. 2015 likely.

 

[rayw]

You do a lot of research. How many drive-by posters return,
comment and then remove their post? I always think of the
drive-by is someone who posts then never returns - like the
ones you linked to.

Not too many.
Pretty infrequently do people delete their own posts, and when they do it's often a poor sign.

EDIT: In fact, almost always the well intentioned snake oil salesmen tend to actually stick around to defend their claim while other's here give them a good Q&A scouring.
Truth can stand harsh questioning.
BS washes away PDQ.
So, double poor sign for the un-self-represented OP.
Someone with some real salt would hold their ground, even if Quixotic.

There you go, you've drawn a distinction between the two whereas I've lumped them together.

No worries.
If I contributed to running him away, then I apologize, have learned the error of my ways, and will begin turning a blind eye to such folly which will sure as the sun rises return here again and again. And again.

If he is indeed a drive by then... still doesn't matter; I'm still gonna ignore them.

I get the impression Pete offered script for sale, was put down
by the first three people who responded then took down his
post and left. Possibly because he felt attacked.

I get the impression he was a drive by ingenue that believes you price your products according to some unbeknownst-to-me metric and offered them as such, irregardless of any potential or actual planned production costs.

And my "GLwiddat" was sincere. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. Doesn't mean anything other than exactly what it says.

At this point, if he comes back and engages in a real live conversation I will be proved wrong without question.
However, if he doesn't come back I believe our individual POVs will be at an impasse where neither can be proven or disproven. Chicken or egg? Big enders or little enders? Left Twix or right Twix? To be or not to be?

Whatever. Whichever.

 

[directorik]

If I contributed to running him away, then I apologize, have learned the error of my ways, and will begin turning a blind eye to such folly which will sure as the sun rises return here again and again. And again.

Again, I see my intent was unclear. It isn’t a wrong or right
issue. I’m sorry I gave that impression. No one owes an
apology. Please allow me to make myself more clear:

I know each of you responded in the way you felt was needed.
I do not want to change the way you respond. I only expressed
my disappointment. It it I who owes an apology - I clearly
did not express myself well in that first post. For the record
I do not want any of you to change how you reply to people.
If I don't like the responses I will continue to express that.


To business:
I have a standing deal with Maverick Entertainment, Asylum and
Brain Damage. I have a personal contacts at LionsGate and
Shoreline. I bring the right project and it gets made.

No sub-genre preferred or avoided. And no deadline. When I
find the script I get the money. The criteria is pretty standard
and spelled out in the above quote. What I don’t have is the
money to pay a writer to write. I wish I did. It would be nice to
find someone I could work with for a few months until we got
the right script. I’m afraid it needs to be written on spec.

 

[Sweetie]

Where are you guys posting for submissions for these?!

I don't.

What is your team looking to shoot?

Low budget is key for us right now. It's tough to say. It's really all over the place. The next is a horror flick, then after that we have a family picture that we're working on developing. The key thing is the marketability.

I strongly disagree that 81 pages is a script a new writer should write or try to sell.

If it is a solid 81 pages, it's fine. If it's full of fluff or filler, then 81 pages leaves very little room for error. The less pages, the cheaper it typically is to produce.

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.

I personally have a reader. I ask them to read particular scripts and talk to them as they're reading it. When you're dealing with low budget, it doesn't pay to be picky about formatting, though it is a red flag. If my reader gives it the thumbs up, she sits me down to read it. It's quite frequent though that a script gets tossed at about page 10 to 15 if the story is poorly executed.

In fact, almost always the well intentioned snake oil salesmen tend to actually stick around to defend their claim while other's here give them a good Q&A scouring.

Or he/she could be practicing the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your results come from 20% of your actions. Why spend your valuable time in an area that you're obviously not welcome and unlikely to yield any results?

 

[trueindie]

Hey Rik,
Let's say you spent 10k on the script, how much would you then spend on the production?

I'm asking because I've got a 142 page college seniors comedy, that I've been sitting on for a while. It's low budget. I don't wanna sell it. I'd want to collude. Would your company be interested, if the script was any good?

If interested I'll send you the script in December. The beginning needs a little polishing I think, and I can't polish it right now. It has one hell of a marketable name too.

 

[CraigL]

Not too many.
Pretty infrequently do people delete their own posts, and when they do it's often a poor sign.

EDIT: In fact, almost always the well intentioned snake oil salesmen tend to actually stick around to defend their claim while other's here give them a good Q&A scouring.
Truth can stand harsh questioning.
BS washes away PDQ.
So, double poor sign for the un-self-represented OP.
Someone with some real salt would hold their ground, even if Quixotic.

I think I disagree with this. If they were FoS, I'd say they're more likely to hang around and try and defend said pile; or realize they've been called on it and just leave. Someone who actually cares I think is more likely to clean themselves up and walk away.

This is a tough issue. It gets very tedious to see the same things posted over and over by newly (and by not-so-newly) arrived people. 5 or 10 minutes of searching even just on these forums would give many of them the answers they were looking for, or better questions to ask.

CraigL

 

[directorik]

I think I disagree with this. If they were FoS, I'd say they're more likely to hang around and try and defend said pile; or realize they've been called on it and just leave. Someone who actually cares I think is more likely to clean themselves up and walk away.

I look at it that way too. Every link rayw posted was a true
drive-by. One post, never returned. Benkie returned, noticed
the sarcasm that greeted him, admitted his price may be too
high and removed his original post.

Hey Rik,
Let's say you spent 10k on the script, how much would you then spend on the production?

They way this deal works on my end;

I find a script that I think will work. Then I put together a
budget. Based on that budget I make an offer to the writer.
So I can’t tell you how much the budget will be before I read
a script. In general I budget 3% of the BTL for the script.

How you need to be attached is important and we would have
to agree before I even read the script. You list your occupation
on your profile page as “director”. If you want to be attached
as director it’s no deal. I’m looking for project for me to direct.
Let me know when you have a script you know meets the
needs I have mentioned. As you can see what I’m looking for
is an excellent high school comedy.

 

[rayw]

Eh, we're all good.

To business: Please. Can we... ?!
I have a standing deal with Maverick Entertainment, Asylum and
Brain Damage. I have a personal contacts at LionsGate and
Shoreline. I bring the right project and it gets made.

No sub-genre preferred or avoided. And no deadline. When I
find the script I get the money. The criteria is pretty standard
and spelled out in the above quote. What I don’t have is the
money to pay a writer to write. I wish I did. It would be nice to
find someone I could work with for a few months until we got
the right script. I’m afraid it needs to be written on spec.

LOL, again.
Small world: http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=340084&highlight=Maverick#post340084
Already on my "to do list."

And: http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=339215#post339215
+ http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=339267#post339267
Have already started working on these guys.

The Asylum's works are under a nebulous general knowledge base of mine.


Umm... Any preference for practical effects over CGI?
Miniatures?

With no real deadline burning down the wire I also ought to do a fair bit more homework on $500k to $1M indie films.
As you may know I've been cruising the >$100k 'hoods for a while, now: http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44510
Time to move on anyways from the street brawl indie films to those with indoor plumbing.


Yeah, BTW, I probably won't be considering a teen comedy, just in case you were wondering.

No real preference for supernatural vs. creature feature vs. slasher, eh?
Hmm... too much freedom. Hmm...

 

[trueindie]

How you need to be attached is important and we would have
to agree before I even read the script. You list your occupation
on your profile page as “director”. If you want to be attached
as director it’s no deal. I’m looking for project for me to direct.

Cool! I'll be in touch.

 

[ChimpPhobiaFilms]

Sent a PM. He responded saying no problem and gladly emailed it to me.

It's a pretty awesome screenplay. I wasn't very hopeful upon reading the log-line in Peter's original post, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the script well written and entertaining. Felt like a good old fashioned 70's haunted house film

 

[Benkie87]

I would like to thank everyone that stood up for me especially Directorik! To the rest - no hard feelings!

Sent a PM. He responded saying no problem and gladly emailed it to me.

It's a pretty awesome screenplay. I wasn't very hopeful upon reading the log-line in Peter's original post, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the script well written and entertaining. Felt like a good old fashioned 70's haunted house film

Thanks Chimp! I'm really glad you liked it.

 

[IndiePaul]

Nice one Chimp.

Good to see you back OP (Benkie87)!!!

 

[mus]

GLwiddat.

Ah, Ray never fails to make me laugh. Probably because I tried saying it this way out loud (And will from now on)

 

[payperfilm]

Correct; $1,500 to $3,000 is what he was ransoming/offering his pi... screenplay for.
How on Earth that number was fabricated I have no idea. Whatever. Doesn't matter.

Yes, the price of a screenplay is usually in direct proportion to the total budget of a film. But
not always.

One of the studios paid 3.2 million for the Snow White and The Huntsman screenplay.
What would I have paid for it? Nothing. Not even ten cents. Because it's worthless to me.
I simply don't have the resources to make a film like SWATH.

Would I pay 3k for for this supernatural thriller? If it could be shot at my 3 bedroom house
in the suburbs and if it were mildly engaging, I would certainly entertain the idea. If my ten year old
son who is an actor could play the role of the child, that would raise its value in my eyes.
Conversely, there are filmmakers who might be adverse to a screenplay with a child in it. There are
no rules at Indietalk.

The most intriguing aspect of this screenplay is that it seems like it happens in one location which
means less production costs and headaches. Spend more on the screenplay but save in the production
even if the screenplay represents thirty percent of the budget.

 

[Benkie87]

I think rayw took me for an amateur or a first time screenwriter. I'm not an amateur which chimp can attest to and he was one of the guys that was flaming my ass.

Sent a PM. He responded saying no problem and gladly emailed it to me.

It's a pretty awesome screenplay. I wasn't very hopeful upon reading the log-line in Peter's original post, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the script well written and entertaining. Felt like a good old fashioned 70's haunted house film

I agree the logline could use some work.

'A troubled 10 year-old boy and his single mother unknowingly moved into a haunted house; and, are soon terrorized by its current ghostly occupant, who believes the boy to be her son.'

The most intriguing aspect of this screenplay is that it seems like it happens in one location which means less production costs and headaches. Spend more on the screenplay but save in the production even if the screenplay represents thirty percent of the budget.

3 Locations - 1 house (95% of the script) - 1 Classroom (3%) - 1 house (2%)

I tried to limit the number of locations and keep the budget as low as possible.