The 9 Deadly Sins of Selling Movie Ideas: a topic based blog discussing the top of producer’s most hated and despised habits.
“Many people are trying to sell their movie ideas. And some people are very successful at it, but there are many more who have tried and failed. Why? Most people don’t understand what producers want and how they think, which is why we put together this basic guide so that you will have a better understanding of how to sell your movie idea to Hollywood.”
The 9 Deadly Sins of Selling Movie Ideas: a topic based blog discussing the top of producer’s most hated and despised habits.
Everyone has a story to tell. But even if you have an amazing idea for a movie, you can’t just sell it to a studio. There are rules to getting these ideas heard.
The 9 Deadly Sins of Selling Movie Ideas: a topic based blog discussing the top of producer’s most hated and despised habits.
The Blogs main purpose is to teach the art of selling movie ideas, by breaking down the key element’s that make up a good movie idea. The blog will be based on the authors book “How to sell your movie idea” which is available on Amazon. To coincide with the release of the book I will be publishing chapters in a podcast format as well as video clips, interviews, and how to guides.
The first two chapters discuss the two most common reasons why people fail to sell their movie idea. These are:
1) They have an idea but no story
2) They have too many ideas (and not just one good one)
The third chapter discusses how to generate a story from an idea. And the fourth chapter discusses how to take multiple ideas and combine them into a single great story.
I’ve been in the business for a long time and I’ve talked to a lot of producers. Some are very good and some are very bad. But they all share one thing in common: they hate it when you do any of the following things. So if you’re an aspiring writer, take note: the Nine Deadly Sins of Selling Movie Ideas!
1. Contacting producers directly.
2. Contacting production companies with only a logline or paragraph description.
3. Contacting production companies without any credits to your name.
4. Calling producers trying to set up a lunch meeting or “coffee”.
5. Cold calling producers who don’t want to be bothered by writers looking for representation or wanting to pitch an idea – i.e., Spielberg, Cameron, Bruckheimer, etc..
6. Sending only your script or book with no cover letter or short synopsis attached!
7. Sending your script as an attachment rather than as a hard copy – even if it is accepted by other producers as an attachment, it will not be read.
8. Asking a producer if they will recommend your script to their agent or manager-friends so you can get representation that way — this will ensure that your script is never read!
**The 9 Deadly Sins of Selling Movie Ideas**
1. You or your representative try to sell me an idea over the phone, before we’ve met and you know if I’m interested.
2. You pitch a logline. (This isn’t a pitch.)
3. Your pitch is unclear or unfocused.
4. Your pitch is about something already made into a movie, TV show, book, video game, etc., where the rights are owned by someone else.
5. Your pitch is unoriginal or clichéd.
6. You send a script with no letter and no cover page telling me what it’s about. (I don’t read scripts that aren’t submitted properly.)
7. You send a script with no title page telling me who wrote it, who optioned it (if anyone), what your representation is (if any), and/or who referred you to me (if anyone). (I don’t read scripts that aren’t submitted properly.)
8. Your script contains non-standard formatting or layout — for example, your action paragraphs are in ALL CAPS instead of sentence case, or you have more than one space between sentences — which makes it hard for me to read on screen or print out on my printer
You can’t just go around pitching your idea to everyone. It’s like trying to sell a car with the hood up, engine running and keys in the ignition.
You’ll find out soon enough that people will steal ideas from each other, but that doesn’t mean you should make it easy for them.
If you want to sell your idea, you need to protect it first and foremost. Register it with the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The WGA has a registration form and they charge $20 per submission; however, if you are a member of the WGA, then it is only $10 per submission.
Keep in mind that this is not the same as copywriting your material. It’s more like a receipt which states that on this date you submitted this material for consideration and here is a copy of said material. There are very few benefits to registering with the WGA, but it does create a paper trail that can be used in court if worse comes to worse.
It is important to note that the WGA does not review or comment on any registered material submitted for registration. These registrations are confidential and are not disclosed to anyone outside of the WGA, nor are these registrations published or indexed for any type of search (i.
