As those of you who saw my beginning of the week post know, Scriptshadow is holding one last giant screenplay contest, and it’s going to be competitive. I expect tons of entries. Especially since it’s FREE. So how do you write something that’ll stand out from all the other entries? Well, unlike a lot of contests out there, you know the person reading your script. Me. And therefore, all you need to do is go back through my review history to see what kinds of scripts I like and what kinds of scripts I detest. For example, if you’re writing a biopic, this contest isn’t for you. And if you’re writing a music biopic, you’re actively trying to make me hate your screenplay.
My first piece of advice is NAIL THE FIRST 10 PAGES. In case you didn’t read, I’m only promising to read the first 10 pages of every entry. If your scripts doesn’t interest me by then, I will not continue reading. What I personally look for in the first ten pages is: Can the writer tell a story? Are they giving me a scene or a sequence that has its own beginning, middle, and end? Like a little mini movie. You hook me on that first page so I have to keep reading to find out what happens next. The opening scene in Scream is a good example. Opening scene in Inglorious Basterds. Raiders of the Lost Ark. If your script isn’t the kind of script that works with a full-on mini-story at the beginning, make sure you have another plan to hook me in those first 10 pages.
As for the actual scripts, I’m going to be the most excited about high concept reasonably budgeted ideas that can be made for under 5 million dollars. Horror, sci-fi, contained thriller – the kind of stuff that can be easily marketed. As cliche as it sounds, if you can’t envision the poster, it’s probably not marketable. If you can’t envision a trailer that would make everyone want to see the movie right away, it’s probably not that great of an idea. Try to imagine you’re in my position. You’ve got a small production company. You want to make a big splash with your first film. But nobody’s going to give you a lot of money when you’re just starting out. What kind of project would you commission under those circumstances? And, by the way, that’s how 80% of the production houses in Los Angeles work. So this is a good approach to have regardless of if you’re entering my contest or not.
Also, I would avoid genres and story-types that are highly unmarketable, even if you’re a good writer. In my last contest, the winner was “The Savage.” Here’s the logline – “The incredible true story behind one of America’s founding myths. After being kidnapped from his lands as a child, the Patuxet Indian Squanto spends his life fighting impossible odds to return home, setting in motion a series of events that changes the course of history.” The writing was great. The research was strong. The script had a lot of good moments. It was better than any other script in the contest, hands down. However, when I went to pitch it to people, everyone’s eyes glazed over. You have to see it from the producer’s or financier’s point of view. The only way a movie like this can exist is if it gets one of the top 10 directors in the world and a studio puts 75 million dollars behind it and another 50 million down for an Oscar campaign. Everyone in town knows that’s a pipe dream scenario. It can be done. But the odds are so astronomically small that nobody wants to take the chance. Not when the next John Wick is out there. Or, if they’re looking for an Oscar, they’re going to grab a drama that costs 25 million or 40 million. Not 75-85 million. So keep that in mind if you’re thinking of writing about the birth of the Ottoman Empire.
If you’re not a high concept person, you need to have a unique voice. The way you view the world needs to be unique. Your writing style needs to be unique. Your sense of humor needs to be unique. Essentially YOUR VOICE BECOMES THE HOOK. Nightcrawler, Birdman, American Beauty, Three Billboards, The Big Lebowski, Daddio. A couple of these scripts are scripts I didn’t connect with when I first read them but it was clear the writers had a unique voice. And when all concepts fail, agents, managers, producers, studios, will gravitate towards the writer who doesn’t sound like everyone else. And, by the way, that doesn’t mean copying your favorite writer with a unique voice. Doing your version of Quentin Tarantino is just going to make you a not-as-good Quentin Tarantino. The trick with voice is that it truly is YOUR voice. I would stay away from trying to write one of these scripts unless you’ve been told by people that you have a unique way of seeing the world and writing about it.
Another good strategy to employ is to find old successful movies that people have forgotten about and give them a fresh new horror or sci-fi twist. That’s what Get Out was. It was, “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” with a horror twist. Star Wars was a western set in space. San Andreas is an update of “Earthquake.” People in Hollywood have a 5 year memory. So you can find all sorts of gold in old movie concepts.
Selfishly, I want to make the 2020 version of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as well as Back to the Future. I want to bring back the 90s spec craze. I want the next Seven, Basic Instinct, The Sixth Sense, Scream. I also want to bring back high-concept big-budget original concepts, like The Matrix. Like everyone in the business, I’d like to find the next Ghostbusters or Goonies. Just remember, the higher the budget, the better the script has to be. With lower budget scripts, I may overlook problems on a good concept because I know I can help the writer fix them. But with these big-budget scripts, it’s not worth it for me to spend three years with a writer trying to get it in just the right shape so that MAYBE a studio makes it their ONE original big-budget movie that year. An example of a good big-budget script I’d take a chance on is The Traveler.
And finally, some miscellaneous thoughts. Social thrillers (Get Out, Get Home Safe, The Hunt) are hot. But everyone is writing them. So you better have a good idea. Horror always sells. I would love to start a horror franchise. I’m open to all horror sub-genres. I’m keen on finding a new twist for the zombie genre. I have a few ideas myself but maybe you have one that’s better. I’m obsessed with sci-fi so I would love to find the next Inception, Source Code, or The Martian. I absolutely LOVE plane disaster or plane in danger concepts. One of my goals is to make the best plane movie ever. New technology is one of the last frontiers for new ideas. You want to be the guy who writes “Stuber” two months after Uber becomes a phenomenon. If you’re a TV writer, I’m open to anything, comedy or drama, but my favorite show ever is Lost. I want to bring that mythology and that high-concept feel to a show in 2020. My other favorite TV shows are The Office, Fargo, Modern Family, Fleabag (a show PURELY BASED ON VOICE!), Succession, Breaking Bad, The Good Wife, Barry, and Community.
And if all else fails, just go with simple story and a complex main character. Rocky, Joker, Nightcrawler, Psycho, Terminator, Source Code.
You now know the blueprint for winning your reader over. What are you waiting for?? You only have until June 15 to write your script. GET STARTED!
