Question: When they say your first draft of a film script is bad, what do they mean, and how many drafts do you need until it is perfect?
Answer: “They” who, exactly?
A first draft is exactly that: bleeding out your idea onto the page to see if it’s worth its weight in pixels. Birthing is not a pretty process.
It’s really simple: you send a query letter.
Companies DO NOT want to see your screenplay; that is the “unsolicited material” they don’t accept. They’ll accept query letters all day long.
Do your due diligence: find out who you contact, and send your query letter specifically to that person (or department). That’s the professional way to get your foot in the door and, ultimately, to get the company to ask to see your screenplay.
Unfortunately, you’re a poster child for why it’s so difficult to get manuscripts in front of agents and studios; you say you’ve been ‘ripped off’ which is a HUGE red flag and wave-off. Nobody wants to deal with a problem that could lead to a lawsuit.
You also don’t have a screenplay. You’ve got ‘a number’ of ideas for screenplays. Do you know how many people in Hollywood have ‘a number’ of ideas for screenplays? ALL of them. Which is why ideas are worth nothing.
On October 3, 1941 first-time director John Huston’s film ‘The Maltese Falcon’ premiered in New York City starring first-time leading man Humphrey Bogart.
From Wikipedia:
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film noir based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett.Directed by John Huston, the film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his “femme fatale” client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with Greenstreet appearing in his film debut. The Maltese Falcon was Huston’s directorial debut and was nominated for three Academy Awards.
The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette.
The Maltese Falcon has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by Roger Ebert and Entertainment Weekly, and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain as the first major film noir.
The Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, has announced the official program selections for the festival’s 40th anniversary. Among the films being presented is MILIUS, Directed by Zak Knutson and Joey Figueroa.
MILIUS is a documentary about the career of one of the most legendary, influential, and controversial directors in Hollywood: John Milius. If there was ever a man who could write it to the page and blow it up onto the silver screen, it was Milius. One of the first Hollywood professionals to be a film school graduate, he was a contemporary of the likes of Spielberg and Lucas. He co-wrote the first two Dirty Harry films. He has written by credits for Apocalypse Now, Big Wednesday, Conan the Barbarian. Story by credits for Magnum Force, 1941, Extreme Prejudice, Geronimo. And he wrote the screenplays for Red Dawn, Farewell to the King, Jeremiah Johnson, Clear and Present Danger, and more. He directed Dillinger, the Wind and the Lion, Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn, and more. He has produced six titles – including the upcoming Genghis Khan.
He has created a persona so recognizable, so larger than life, that it influenced John Goodman’s character Walter Sobchak from the Big Lebowski.
This documentary has been well received at every screening, with rave reviews from SXSW reviewers including Film Threat and Dirk Sonniksen of Smells like Screen Spirit.
