How to Sell a Screenplay

How to Sell Your Screenplay

Since the title of my blog is “Selling Your Screenplay,” and I want that to be the focus of my blog, I figured an obvious first post was to write a simple guide to getting your screenplay sold.
Keep in mind that this blog is not an exhaustive list of ways to get your script sold. It’s just a few ways that I’ve tried and had good luck with. Always be on the lookout for other ways to get your script sold and realize that some of the things I’ve done may not work for you. Hopefully if you see exactly what I’ve done and how I did it you will be able learn from it and apply it to your own situation.
To sell a script the first thing you need to do is write a great screenplay. I know this sounds obvious, but really, it’s got to be great to get noticed.
I would guess that for most of us to write a “great” screenplay you’re probably going to write a half dozen (or more) not-so-great ones. I read once that Platoon was Oliver Stone’s 11th screenplay – but the first one that actually got him any recognition. So don’t be ashamed about being a novice, everyone is at one time or another, just keep writing, and with each script you’ll get better and hopefully you’ll eventually start churning out scripts that are up to industry standards. Just because your first one (or first ten) are terrible doesn’t mean you’re not capable of writing a great screenplay, it just means you’ve haven’t acquired the skill yet.
Once you’ve written a great script write two more so that you have at least three solid screenplays ready to go. It’s very common for a producer or director to read one of your scripts and think it is well written but not quite right for them – that’s when you’ll want to pitch them one of your other “great” scripts.
Don’t be too eager to start sending out your first few scripts if they’re truly not up to industry standards – and if you haven’t written at least half dozen scripts or more they most likely are NOT!
There are lots of books on how to write a good script. Ream them. I personally recommend Screenplay by Syd Field and The Art Of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri for starters.
You can learn more about Field’s Screenplay by checking out my post Syd Field’s Screenplay
So how do you know if your script is up to industry standards? You’ll never know for sure. But as a screenwriter you should be interacting with other screenwriters, reading their scripts, and reading scripts from produced screenwriters. So by the time you’ve written a few solid scripts you should have some idea about where you stand compared to industry standards. If you’re not doing any of these things your script probably isn’t ready and neither are you – so start reading other people’s scripts while you’re working on your writing.
Make sure you protect your work by getting a copyright on it or sending it to the WGA for registration. Check out my post How do you protect your work? Screenplay copyrights and WGA registration to learn how to protect yourself and your script.
Okay… so now you’ve written several great scripts and gotten them all copyrighted. Now what?
You’ve got to get your script to someone who can turn it into a movie. While this may seem obvious (and easier said than done) it’s all you have to do.
Who do you know that could turn your script into a movie?
Perhaps you have enough money to produce the movie yourself. I’ve done this and it allows a lot of creative control over the final product.
Or perhaps you have a rich relative or friend who might be willing to invest in your project.
In this day and age you can produce a feature film for very little money and if you’re looking to get your first project off the ground this is going to be the easiest way to do it so seriously consider it.
But if you’re goal is to simply sell your script then you’ve got to find a producer who will raise the money and make your movie. While this is very difficult this is precisely what most screenwriters are looking to do.
Many novice writers assume they need an agent to help them sell their script. While a good agent can help I recommend going straight to the produces themselves. In my experience when you have no credits finding an agent that can really help you is actually harder then finding a producer who will make your movie so you’re better off spending your time trying to find a producer than an agent. Check out my post How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!) to learn more about finding an agent.
Many of the trade publications (The Hollywood reporter, Daily variety, Backstage West) will often have ads in them placed by producers or directors seeking screenplays. Over the last few years I’ve noticed that there are fewer and fewer of these sorts of ads in the trades as they have moved to Craig’s List. Read my post about submitting to Craig’s List. While you do have to be very careful, it is a great resource for writers, especially beginning writers. I recently optioned a script to a producer I met on Craig’s List so it can be done.
I actually began my screenwriter career by submitting to Reader’s Digest Writer’s Market. They have a section for screenwriters and have filtered the list a bit so that most of the listed production companies will read scripts by unproduced writers.
The Hollywood Creative Directory (HCD) is a comprehensive list of every single production company in the United States with addresses, phone and fax numbers, and sometimes email addresses. While this isn’t an easy road I have optioned screenplays through unsolicited submissions this way. It’s going to require a lot of letter writing, faxing, emailing, and phone calls, but if you do it on a large enough scale you will eventually get some of these companies to read your material and hopefully option it from you. There’s well over 2000 companies listed so you have plenty of places to submit.
No matter who you submit to you’re going to need to write a good query letter and synopsis for your script. A query letter introduces yourself to the producer. You want to list any writing credits you have and a logline (one-sentence synopsis of your script) about your script in about half a page. Then you’ll also include a 1 page synopsis about the script you mentioned in the query.