Speaker 1: Film Courage We've imagined that you've received your share of screenplay pitches or you've heard about others pitching. What are some of the wrong ways to pitch? What are some of the wrong ways to reach out to someone?

Speaker 2: Mark Sanderson I think there is a right way and a wrong way to present people your work, your screenplays, to approach them. I think if you break it down I think writers need to be just as good if not better as writing a synopsis or a treatment. I like getting those two-page treatments where if it's five acts it's a paragraph per act, a title, a log line, a brief synopsis and then the breakdown. I think if you can do that and you can basically summarize what it is you're trying to say I can tell in two minutes that this is a story I want to read. I don't need to see a script. But it's really important that you know the craft of writing too because writing is a gift, writing is a craft and a lot of people don't understand the importance of good storytelling and because they've spent a year and a half writing a script doesn't mean it's good. And they have to respect a lot of people get hit with so many scripts that they take it personally if you don't want to read it. We all have lives. We're busy. We have business life, personal life, social life. We have all these things in our own work life. And if somebody is kind, considerate and they reach out I always try to say okay well look at a synopsis but only if it's copywritten and you see the copyright registration receipt. I don't take anything without that. So make sure you have your work copywritten and be kind and considerate and realizing that you're not the only person who has a script that needs read and reading a script does take people a couple of hours out of their day and how many people do you know that you don't know that would take two hours out of the day for a stranger to just read your script. So I just think it's about the presentation, it's about knowing how to write a synopsis or a treatment that can lure a reader or a decision maker to want to know more about what you're doing is really important.

Speaker 1: Film Courage How often do you receive cold pitches?

Speaker 2: You know it's not that often. I get a lot of inquiries which I really appreciate. I don't mind people asking. I'm an open book. Anybody can email me info at shanestanley.net. I mean I don't care. It's how it's done. It's for me when I just get an email and I know it's shot, I don't even look at it. I just write back and say I don't accept unsolicited material and I cc my lawyer, I cc my manager and I write them back and I say hey you sent this to me unsolicited, I am not interested in seeing this. This is not how to do it. I appreciate it if you have somebody who reps you, if they want to reach out to my manager or lawyer. That's a different story. I never hear back from them again. That's just the end of it. People who reach out genuinely because I do so much work with ecologists that I'll encounter a writer three years ago and then they'll write and say Dear Shane, you gave a workshop at my class in Florida a few years ago and I finished a screenplay and I really enjoyed your…may I send it to you? I always write back and say I'm not going to read your screenplay right now but if you want to send me copyright everything, I need to see that. It's been registered, certified, copywritten with the USCO. Once that's done I will gladly look at a treatment and we can go from there and usually they're pretty cool about it. I don't mind reading those. I don't. I'm not going to read scripts. I just don't have the time. And I know that's terribly heady to say but I just don't. I'm a slow reader. Film Courage.

Speaker 1: Shane, what are the top five reasons you will reject a screenplay? I would say it's well-written, it's formatted but there's just something that's not working for you.

Speaker 2: You know in rejecting a screenplay the first thing writers should never take it personally. Art is nothing but opinion. I mean you think about how many great scripts got made years after the fact, after they were turned down or rejected by so many other filmmakers. It's about first and foremost it's about the project connecting with the person you're sending it to. Just because I made a movie about football and had success with it doesn't mean I want to make another movie about football. I also want to evolve as a filmmaker. So what's important is that you never take it personally. I would hope if I do read a script and I think there's something there that I would always try to make it a point to write the writer or contact the writer and say Look, I've got to be honest with you. You're talented. I like what you're doing. I know somebody who I think would appreciate it. Let me help you. I have no problem with that. One of the writers that I work with who is one of my favorites to work with is C.J. Wally. He's the guy that has SCRIPT REVOLUTION out of the UK. And our relationship kicked off by reading one of his scripts that was beautifully done. I would never make the movie. I couldn't sell the movie but it didn't mean he can't write. And I read his words, I read his setups, I read his character arcs and I read his theory on breaking down scripts and doing proper treatments and synopses and this guy had it all together and for me it was like Hey dude, I love your writing. I have a project I'm going to do, I want you to write it. And we were able to work together and we've written several scripts together and that came because I read a script that I would never make but I knew the writer was good. So it's not always about the script. I don't think spec scripts get made much anymore. Filmmakers have an idea of what they want. We have actors that we know what they want to do. We have buyers and sales agents who we know what they can sell at the moment and we have an audience trend that right now doing a drama, living in an apartment is not going to sell. We have all been locked in because of COVID for six months in our four walls. We want to be outside. We want to laugh. I don't want to hear about your problems. I don't want to think about my problems. So if we're selling scripts right now and you're trying to pitch it better be adventure, it better be funny, it better have romance, it better get me out on the water, I want it to get me out in the desert, I want to go on travel. These are the things that you constantly have to think about and writers don't. Writers are very myopic and that's okay. We get in a box and it's all about this. And you have to realize there's actors, there's money that has to be raised, there's directors that have to come on board, there's teams of people that have to capture the vision to make this happen. And after all that said and done is can it be sold? Are there those seven trailer moments in this script that we know we can sell it? Is there an output worldwide or is this just going to appeal to one place? And these are the things that a lot of writers don't think about, the business of the business. It's not just whether your script is good. So much of it is about where is it going to sell? You're still selling a widget. Are you selling a widget that only appeals to one out of every 5,000 people or are you selling a widget that everybody kind of needs? And that's how you have to look at it when making a script.

Speaker 1: Film Courage And what are those seven trailer moments?

Speaker 2: I don't think they're anything specific. I think they're the catchphrases, they're those hero moments if you're telling an action story. Like take any two-minute super trailer that you see and you'll see those five to nine moments that you know are important in the film. They're the tentpoles of the story, they're the catchphrases, they're that huge explosion, they're that great moment in the car chase, it's the sex scene real quick, it's the action running, it's those things. And they're not anything consistent but your story has got to be able to tell the executives who don't read scripts and don't know much. It's got to tell them that I can sell this. That's all it is. And I sell it. Some of the relationships I have with sales agents and buyers, they don't read the scripts, they want the synopsis. They want mock art. They want to see a mock poster that me and a writer make and in two hours on Photoshop and say here's your kind of idea for the image, here's your log line, here's your title and they'll tell you right then and there yeah, I can sell that. That's how these decisions are made.

Speaker 1: Film Courage Wow. So why not even forget the treatment? Why not just come up with a great poster?

Speaker 2: Well I think you still have to have a script to shoot and finance. So ultimately you're going to need the script. But I think that's all part of the package because so many people are…from the filmmaker side I don't write as much but if I have a writer who's done a script I expect the synopsis and the treatment to be as good if not better than the script, it's got to be. Because I know there's always three scripts. The one you write, the one you shoot and the one you cut. The treatment is what you're really selling overall. Executives are not going to read the script. I deal with more executives now, they just want a two-page synopsis and just throw me some mock art so I know what I'm selling. And they'll tell you well tell me in five minutes I can sell it or you're going to find somebody else. I can't do anything with this. It's not my wheelhouse. Okay. And then we make the decision do we believe in this enough to roll the dice and struggle and pull teeth and try to get it somewhere else or do we listen to people we trust and say this is not the one to do? That's our developmental process. It's very quick. We don't go through the years of development or months. Here's an idea, I'll pitch the idea to my buyers. If they like it I say okay they like it, let's do the synopsis and then I get them the synopsis sometimes with some mock art and then they'll either say okay the idea is good, act two I can't, you can't do this in act two, this I can't sell, tweak it this way. And then they'll go oh you know in act four can this happen maybe in act five it's happening too soon or can you bring the villain in sooner. Those are the kind of conversations we have and then the table is set and the writer can go do it. And the spec script is very hard to sell. I think spec scripts are great calling cards if somebody can write or not. Found a tremendous writer through the community college just during COVID who I take a lot of pride in. I got her a manager, she got a job like writing a script for hire for a very substantial production company and this is one of my Zoom students from the community colleges that reached out to me. You were asking the right way and wrong way. She reached out to me, she had taken three or four of my Zoom classes with the community college. Lovely woman, very articulate, kind, no expectations, just I really appreciate it. I would love to share my work with you. She's just where I want to go in my career and she's an older woman, her son is like my age. I mean she's been around and has worked around the industry but never really flourished as a writer. And I finally said let me look at your synopsis and I looked at it and I went Oh my God, I know somebody who is looking for this. So I said I'm not going to read your script, send it to me, I'll send it to somebody who knows this company and the guy who read the script called me up and said Who is this woman? She's really good. And we got her an agent and three weeks later she actually got a work for hire on a Greenlit film. They had Greenlit on the concept and they liked her writing enough to say you are a writer for hire on this. And she's on her second polish on it and they're getting ready to go into production I think in January.

Speaker 1: It's Greenlit. Film Courage How common is that?

Speaker 2: Not very. But I say that to inspire because there are ways and again it came from being kind, it came from being a familiar face, it came from somebody who reached out with a tender heart and a gracious heart to understand and respect my schedule and maybe I didn't want to read it and understood when I said I don't want to read your script but let me look at the synopsis. And when I was like there's something here I said I'm going to send a synopsis to somebody I think would like this and if they do I'm going to need you to have a script ready and that's how it went.

Speaker 1: Film Courage Is synopsis king?

Speaker 2: In this day and age of instant information and being able to get answers quickly I suggest that it is definitely something that is put to the forefront. Going back to people's time and we've developed this instant gratification generation of getting it on the phone and I'll get you an answer, let me ask Siri. I think a lot of us have put that into our workflow. I know what my days are. I hit the ground, I am working by 5, 530 in the morning even when I'm not making a movie and my wife is usually saying alright honey come on it's getting late. This is when we're not doing a movie, I'm immersed in my work so taking two hours a day to read a script, it doesn't fit. I don't schedule read days. So my feeling is if you want to write and you want to get seen by filmmakers who are busy and I suggest you really learn how to build a treatment besides being a good screenwriter. Learn how to do a treatment, learn how to do a synopsis. There is a web platform based in the United Kingdom called Script Revolution. It was created by CJ Wally and I find if you're a writer I suggest you go and check out it's a free site. I think you will be blown away on the way it breaks down how to write not only screenplay but the treatment, the synopsis, the act breakdowns. He's created the turn and burn which is this really cool theory and I think once you understand that as a writer your treatments are going to flourish which are going to make people that are in a position of making movies get more excited about what it is you're doing and what you're trying to say. So I think the treatment and the synopsis is so important. The script ultimately is but if I read a great synopsis and a great treatment I will be more forgiving on the script knowing where ultimately this could go where if I just get a mediocre script and it's done I don't see the vision that you caught me in in a page or two. So I'm a big proponent for the treatment.

Speaker 1: Film Courage I'm sorry just real quickly what is the turn and burn?

Speaker 2: That's a good question. That's for him to answer. I mean if you go on the website, if you go on to scriptrevolution.com there is a whole sub-chapter about turn and burn and it's his theory on how he creates the synopsis and it's a whole map of like 10 different sayings that he has that I could never relay. I don't write anymore but it all makes sense and I know when I've collaborated with him or other writers that are part of his platform it's really about the development, the treatment. Develop the treatment so the script process is easy. It's like as I talk about in my book the most important thing about filmmaking is the pre-production time. I work myself to death during pre-production so production is fun and easy. That's how it's supposed to be. You know pro football players will tell you you work Monday through Saturday and you get paid to play on Sunday. That's how it should be when you write. That's how it should be when you make a movie. And what they've done at Script Revolution is they have basically given you training camp, hell week and practice in the treatment side. So the writing of the script is actually fast, efficient and it's right on point and there's no surprises. And that's what most filmmakers, development executives get concerned about is writers going down rabbit holes they weren't supposed to go down, going off track. If your treatment is in order everything is expected, you're just filling up the pages with witty dialogue. I'll give you an example working on this film. We developed, we've got a six-page treatment. That's the five acts, that's the character breakdown, who everybody is, what the point of the show is, what's the logline, what's the synopsis. We have gotten four acts in seven days. There's not been one surprise except happy surprises because we all know where this is. There's four of us that are involved in doing the film that are from a decision-making capacity. Not one of us have been thrown a bump, a roadblock, a speed bump. Nobody has been like Oh my God, what's going on? And it was because the way the treatment was handled going in. It is so paramount.

Speaker 1: Film Courage And speaking of bumps, I don't know if you're reading my mind but I was just going to bring up goose bumps. It's so funny. That was the next thing I was going to say. Was that R.L. Stein, I guess the creator of Goosebumps, he talked about how he knows the ending and he writes this treatment or whatever and then once he knows the ending then he can go back and he can fool the audience and it's effortless writing but it's just getting that structure

Speaker 2: in place. And I know in the way that they do these treatments they often will have 17 blank pages and start on page 17 and work backwards. It's not uncommon and it's interesting and there's different ways for it to work for everybody but it's kind of just basically a way to think about it and I think once you capture that whether you're a writer or not you see what he's doing and you go Oh, I get it. And too many of us in the way I used to write when I used to try to hack away was I would just sit there and come up with a title and write FADE IN and tell my story. Sometimes I got lucky and sold a few scripts. I did okay. But as I got older my mind wasn't as fast, I wasn't as creative, I kind of burned a lot of that creative energy telling stories and then becoming a filmmaker, an editor, a producer, a director where I wasn't just sitting for weeks at a time writing. So I learned later in life how important the treatment is. It's so important to know what it is you're going to do and it's great when you can surprise yourself as a writer but to know where you're going, to know the purpose of each scene, to know the arcs and the backstories that aren't going to be on the page of each character. I think if you as a creator know all that you'd be amazed at the stories that you can tell. It's just smooth sailing.

Speaker 1: Film Courage Sean, we've heard you say send us treatment. We've heard on our side people say okay I sent them a treatment, it was a 20-page treatment. Is that okay? Is that too long?

Speaker 2: Oh, I think in first pass I think you need to again be considerate of the reader. When I say send a treatment I would like a title, I'd like to know who it was written by, I'd love to see a log line and then I'd like to see a two-page synopsis. Give me a paragraph per act. That's it. That's all I need. And I could either say yeah I like this, I want to see a script or I could say you know what if you have a more in-depth treatment breaking down some things, backstory on the characters, cast size, I'd love to see it. Then I would expect that 10 to 12 to 20-page treatment. It's not that you shouldn't have them. I feel when I say you need to be versed as a writer in writing synopsis and treatments those are two separate things that are equally as important because I'm only going to read a synopsis first. I just want to see a page or two on what you're doing and if that instills not quite enough interest to see the script but I'm intrigued enough to say I want to know more that's when that 20-page treatment or whatever it is that you've done is important. It's not a 90-page treatment then just send me the script but you know what I mean. I think the synopsis is king. Let's ignite that fire, spark the interest and if you get that have the treatment ready but hopefully the script is there and tight and good. That was a great question. It is because some people send you like a paragraph and you're like that's it? I always say your synopsis should just be a paragraph per…you know a treatment is a paragraph per act and then the breakdowns and everything but a synopsis should be about a page and a half, two pages. And if you need more than that to tell the story you've got to re-look at your story. It's too confusing, it's too long, it's too hodgepodge, you've got to tighten it up.