(How) can you convert a spec into a comissioned?

[victortiti89]

I'm sorry for the title, didn't mean to be arrogant or something, I just didn't want to have a very long title...
It was supposed to be :,, How can you convert a spec screenplay into a commissioned one, and is this thing possible"?. I mean, can a producer/studio hire you to rewrite your own screenplay, or a script based on your own ideas, even if you wrote it before as a spec script(that you didn't show to anyone yet.)? If so, would it still be considered a spec script or become a commissioned one? I'm asking because, based on what I've read on various webpages and blogs, it seems like spec scripts are regarded very badly by the filmmakers and have a very low chance of success...

 

[Birdman]

I mean, can a producer/studio hire you to rewrite your own screenplay, or a script based on your own ideas, even if you wrote it before as a spec script(that you didn't show to anyone yet.)?(

I guess if a Producer traveled back in time using a time machine ....they could retroactively have you rewrite your own scrip (that nobody has ever seen yet).

...Anything's possible!

-Birdman

 

[directorik]

It was supposed to be :,, How can you convert a spec screenplay into a commissioned one, and is this thing possible"?.

A “spec” is a script written on speculation – meaning the writer writes is
speculating that it will sell.

A “commissioned” script is a script a writer is paid to write.

The “spec” and the “commissioned” script are not different formats. It's
how the writer is paid. “Spec” paid after the script is written. “Commissioned”
paid before the script is written.

I'm asking because, based on what I've read on various webpages and blogs, it seems like spec scripts are regarded very badly by the filmmakers and have a very low chance of success...

You misunderstand what you are reading. Scripts written on speculation
that it will sell - the "spec script" - has a very low chance of selling. A script
written on commission has been sold before the writer writes it.

Side note: relax Birdman, I did NOT say a spec script cannot sell. Many
spec scripts do sell.

 

[Inarius]

Commissioned script is when you are hired write someone else's idea, isn't it?

P.S. BTW, about Spec Scripts. What do you guys think of the InkTip site? Is that worth to pay them?

 

[Birdman]

Side note: relax Birdman, I did NOT say a spec script cannot sell. Many
spec scripts do sell.

...I'll drink to that!

-Birdman

 

[directorik]

Commissioned script is when you are hired write someone else's idea, isn't it?

Not always. A commissioned script is any script someone pays a
writer to write.

A writer has an idea; they pitch that idea to a producer; the producer
hires the writer to write the script.
A writer pitches an episode of a TV series; the producer hires the
writer to write the script.
A producer reads a spec script; loves the writers style but cannot buy
that spec and make the movie; the producer asks the writer if they
have any other ideas; the writer pitches; the producer hires the writer
to write the script.