Sort of Confused (but whats new)

[bobothemovieguy]

I have been trying to write a script for about 5 years now, and I just seem to kill it everytime. I have so many ideas, but am unable to sit down and write out the ideas into something readable. Does anyone know how to pitch an idea, or where to begin? I think I have some pretty great ideas, taht could become somthing pretty fantastic. Any help would be appreciated! Has anyone pitched an idea, and made money?
sigh........... pleases help!!

 

[directorik]

Ideas are not sellable.

I'm sure several people will point out that established screenwriters pitch ideas all the time, and often they get picked up. But the key is "established".

An idea can be so many things:
A young man leaves the farm after the death of his parents to fulfill his dream of becoming a pilot.

Hand that to 10 different writers and you'll get 10 different scripts. Only one of them will be Star Wars.

I know that's not much help.

Maybe you could write all your ideas down - or write down 20 of them - and then pick the 5 best. Contact small agents who represent up and coming writers and ask if you can pitch your ides to some of their clients.

Hook up with a writing student at a nearby University. Maybe you'll find a writer who doesn't have that great idea, but can finish a screenplay.

Just be careful. You cannot copyright an idea. So get an agreement in writing before you pitch.

 

[Hyphenate]

Five years and no script? You, my friend, are not a writer.

If you want to make movies, why don't you find a writer who can turn your ideas into a screenplay and then make it?

 

[spinner]

...maybe the problem you are having is that you are TRYING to write THIS script. For everytime I have ever tried to MAKE myself write something, I have ALWAYS destroyed what I was working on which started out as a good idea. Try this:

Begin writing something that has nothing to do with the one you've been working on for 5 years. If you are a writer you have probably got more that just that one idea. Work on something else and stop fretting about the script you never finished. The only thing that is going to do for you is depress you and that doesn't do anything for anybody.

The script you started 5 years ago: Start at the beginning and READ it. You are not (I would think) not the same person you were when you started it. Therefore, your perspective is different, your attitude is different, how you would do things will be different. You may find that you may not even know these characters anymore. You may need to 'hang out' with them again.

...there is a saying that everyone has one great american (or wherever you are) novel in them. I think it could be true for screenwriting. But the objective is not to just write one script. Don't chain yourself to only one idea to the exclusion of everything else.

...I bet you have a coupla other ideas in there....

--spinner

 

[samurai]

Take heart!
It took Bram Stoker a complete 10 years to research AND write Dracula. However, he knew that he was a writer anyway...
If you've been writing (or attempting it) for 5 years, then you should have some experience of ypurself and your weaknesses from this personal odysey? Where are you with it? Do you have hundreds of pages of notes and sketches? Do you have the essential mass of work but nothing will fit together?
You could be an ideas-man. I know loads. It's always the people they tell who make the money and not them.
Just speed up on it, because once you hit 30, the latest is that the Hollywood studios won't entertain you anymore (as a 1st time writer).

 

[Hyphenate]

Just speed up on it, because once you hit 30, the latest is that the Hollywood studios won't entertain you anymore (as a 1st time writer).

This is a myth, but a popular one. When you submit a script to Hollywood companies, they care about one thing - what's on the page. They might be more willing to take a chance on a younger writer, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, but they won't know your age until you're already in the room. And if you can work a room, they'll want to work with you, assuming the loved what's on the page. Many successful writers, directors, and actors have broken into film late because they had other careers first. Hell, I didn't start writing screenplays until I was 31 (spent my 20s earning an advanced degree in a practical field), yet my first Hollywood read received a "recommend" at a mini-major. The reader liked it so much that she emailed me to personally thank me for submitting, saying it was the first script pro or amateur that she'd actually enjoyed in over a year, and wants to do everything she can to get me repped. That's not to toot my own horn, but to show that even for a 34 year old unsold screenwriter, it's what's on the page that matters.

 

[Boz Uriel]

Bram Stoker a complete 10 years to research AND write Dracula

and that's all he wrote that was any good.

Five years and no script? You, my friend, are not a writer.

Harsh, but I tend to agree with this statement. If it pisses you off you'll sit down and prove him/her wrong. Works for some. I'd add a qualifier though, you may not be a 'screenplay' writer. Besides, if you stop writing because one person said "you suck" then you will NOT make it as a writer anyway.

To me, it sounds like you're having trouble either 'doing the work' (nose to grindstone) or you have trouble organizing your thoughts. Can't help you with the first one because I think lazy people use too much air and fresh water as it is, but the latter is fixable. Best book I ever bought, Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. Not geared for screenplay writers but a wonderful book on how to organize your story. There's a companion wookbook that's worth it's weight in gold for people who can't organize their thoughts. My other suggestion would be Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee.

My best suggestion would be to either get into a good writer's workshop or at the very least, gather some of the best creative minds you have for friends and let them help you flesh out ideas. I get a lot of my creative energy right after a workshop meeting.

 

[rrk1962]

Here's the first question I'd ask you: Do you write every day?

If you wait for inspiration, good luck. Write every single day and if 90% is crap, in a year that 10% will add up. There are times when the creative process is a grinding, depressing, tedious monotony of lonley dedication. It's something feels good to have done, not something that feels good doing.

 

[Boz Uriel]

Word rrk!

If it was easy everybody could call themselves a writer. Uhm, no, wait, scratch that last statment. If it was easy to be good, then everybody would be J.K. Rowling.