Misc.Writing.Screenplays.Moderated (MWSM): Created January 2005.
 

Introduction

Editor's Note: This is a single posting from Neal Marshall Stevens, a regular on misc.writing.screenplays and misc.writing.screenplays.moderated. He has answered a certain sort of question regarding screenplays so many times, and so well, that he finally posted a definitive answer for use on the MWSM FAQ. This is it.
 

Q: I've just started/am just about to start/have just finished my first screenplay. How do I go about selling it? Is there a list of producers? Do I need an agent? How do I find one?

A: This question has come up regularly on the old mws and, while it is generally asked in all innocence, it has often lead to some fairly sharp exchanges.

Perhaps you are confused as to why this apparently innocent question would result in anybody getting annoyed or cause anybody to argue about anything.

Well, let's try reframing the above by moving it from the world of screenwriting to the world of art.

I've just started/am just about to start/have just finished -- my first painting. How do I got about selling it? Is there a list of museums and art galleries? Do I need an agent? How do I find one?

Does the proposition that someone who has never before put brush to canvas -- who has never finished a single painting -- or who has just finished his very first painting -- is asking, in all seriousness, about how to go about selling it in a professional market, where paintings sell for anything from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars?

What do you think his chances are of selling that first painting?

Now, while they may not be zero -- they are certainly so close to zero that, for all intents and purposes, they might as well be zero.

Fundamentally, writing a first screenplay and asking where to sell it is not much different from buying a lottery ticket and asking where to spend the money. Now, maybe indeed, you will have a winning screenplay -- and you will be able to sell it -- any maybe you will have a winning ticket and you will have money to spend.

But presuming ahead of time that you will, in both cases, given the odds, bespeaks, to put it mildly, a distinct disconnect from reality.

And if you are thinking -- but my work is different -- the winner of a lottery ticket wins by chance, but I can look at my own work, evaluate my abilities as a writer, the idea of my story, compare it to what I see on screen -- and I know that what I've got is a sure winner, all I can tell you is --

-- writing ability and critical ability are inextricably bound together.

It has been the almost universal experience of professional writers (myself included) that when we look back at our early writing, things that we thought were brilliant at the time -- ten times better than all that crap that people were putting in the theatres -- looking at it now, we cringe with embarrassment. Because the reality is -- it was really *our stuff* that was crap. We simply weren't good enough at the time to recognize it.

Some people get good enough. Others never get good enough. They will never be able to distinguish their own amateur-level writing from the writing of professionals.

Those people will always write at the level of amateurs.

And so -- the answer to the question as to how you go about selling your first screenplay is this.

Before you try to sell your first screenplay, you should write at least three others. Then, go back to your first screenplay and read it again. You may find, after the experience you gain writing those other screenplays, that it is not nearly as good as you thought when you were writing it.

Realities of Selling Screenplays:

Hollywood makes around 250 movies a year. On average for every movie made, around eight to ten go into development -- so figure, just to round things off -- maybe 2500 screenplays a year are put into development by Hollywood studios. Take into account movies made for TV and direct to video and indie features (I'm including only those that are actually released -- not those that end up in the backs of people's drawers) figure maybe another 2500. That's probably being overly generous.

That's 5000 screenplays sold a year.

Last year, something on the order of 50,000 screenplays were registered with the Writer's Guild of America.

But I wouldn't want you to think that your odds are anything close to one in ten.

The majority of those screenplays sold were assignments. That is, producers or studios have a property of some kind, a book, a play, a true story, a movie they want to remake -- and they hire a writer to write the screenplay. That's an assignment. All TV movies are assignments. The majority of studio movies are assignments.

Conversely, many indie movies are the product of writer/directors or writer/producer/directors who put together the financing for their own projects. Thus they are not markets for screenplays written by others.

Original screenplays or "spec" screenplays (spec for "speculative") make up a very small percentage of screenplays sold and screenplays ultimately made.

And yet, for the beginning writer -- spec screenplays are all you have. It the only way you have (short of a relative in the business) of establishing yourself professionally.

There is Hope:

Yes, after all of the depressing statistics above. That is because, after all is said and done, producers are still looking, desperately, for great scripts. And if, by some miracle, you happen to have one, it will rise above the tide of mediocre junk, and it Will. Get. Noticed.

However, it is important to understand what is meant, in Hollywood terms, by a "great script." I do not mean great in some artistic, or critical, or literary sense. Not that that is forbidden. It can be "great" in that way.

But those qualities of literary or critical greatness are really tangential to what is meant by a "great" script in Hollywood terms.

What a producer means when he says that a script is "great" is that the concept and execution make it saleable -- he can take it to a studio and pitch it. The concept will be immediately graspable. It will have characters that it make it star castable -- because without stars, the movie won't get green lit.

And when the movie gets made -- it will make lots of money.

Concept -- immediately graspable.

Star castable.

When made -- will make lots of money.

That is what makes for a great script in Hollywood terms.

That is what everybody wants.

Write one of those and they will love you.

And if the movie you write is "The Godfather" or "Dumb and Dumber" -- from the perspective of Hollywood -- both great.

So What Now?

So let's say that you've finally produced such a script -- not a script that's simply better than the latest piece of junk you've seen in the theatre -- but a movie that's as good or better than the best thing you've seen all year -- a script that is going to be able to compete (as indeed, it will be competing) with the spec scripts that have been written by the top professional screenwriters in Hollywood -- the ones that make a million dollars a script and have won Academy Awards. Because those guys also write spec screenplays and their agents are going to be out there trying to sell them.

And then there's you -- and your screenplay.

So it had better be good.

So what do you do with it?

Clearly, the ultimate goal is to get it into the hands of those who are interested in buying it.

So do you try and get yourself an agent or do you try and do it yourself?

Regarding Agents:

Agents come in many different shapes, sizes, and varieties. However, for your purposes -- that is, for the purposes of someone interested in a career in screenwriting, there is only one kind that you should consider working with professionally, under any circumstances.

That is an agent who is based in Los Angeles and who is a signatory of the WGA Agent's Agreement.

If you ultimately become a professional screenwriter, you will end up joining the Writer's Guild, and it is a requirement of the guild that you be represented only by an agent that is a signatory of this agreement. The agreement offers protections to writers who enter into professional relationships with those agents.

In addition, there are laws in the State of California governing Agents and Agencies that offer additional protections.

More importantly, Los Angeles is the heart of the U.S. Motion Picture Industry. While production may occur all over the world, L.A. is where the buyers of screenplays are based. Even if you live somewhere else (I, for instance, live in Brooklyn) it is extremely important, if you have an agent, for your agent to be where the buyers are.

Please Note -- legitimate agents and agencies do not advertise for clients, do not charge clients up-front fees (opinions vary, but personally, I don't think agents should charge clients any fees whatsoever), do not recommend clients to "rewriting" or editing services. If you run afoul of any such operation, you are not dealing with an agent or agency -- but with scam artists.

Finding an Agent:

It should be understood going into this process that, while it is possible for a beginning writer to find an agent, it is very difficult indeed. Even writers who have firm offers, or who have had screenplays optioned sometimes find very little interest in being represented.

The Guild List:

The Writer's Guild of America, East maintains a list of WGA signatory Agents indicating which ones have expressed a willingness to review material from unrepresented writers.

Go to The Writer's Guild East for an updated list of agents.

Some agencies will require that you register your script with the guild before sending it -- information about script registration can also be found at this site.

Registering copyright with the Library of Congress is also considered to be a very good thing to do, for many reasons that I won't discuss here.

You will be expected to send a query letter detailing the material that you wish to submit.

You will always want to direct that letter to a specific agent, in the event that the agency in question has more than a single agent.

If the guild list does not specify the names of the agents, you may wish to consult the Hollywood Creative Directory.

This is an invaluable (if somewhat pricy) resource. It comes both in a bound and on-line version and also has various directories, one for Agencies, one for Producers and production companies, one for Actors, Below-the-Line, etc.

You can get more pricing information at: The Hollywood Creative Directory Online.

This resource can give you the names of individual agents at the agencies in question. You might then want to do some on-line research to find out what sort of projects and writers the particular agents have been associated with in making your decisions as to who to approach.

Very big agents have lots of clout -- but tend to handle very big clients. For someone starting out, it may make more sense to approach an agent who is lower down the ladder and thus more likely to both be interested in a beginning writer and also looking to both build his own career and, potentially, devote some time to yours.

Do not make multiple submissions to different agents at the same agency.

Regarding your query letter -- the rules are simple.

Keep it short. Don't be self-deprecating. They'll deprecate you plenty without your help. If you have any tangential qualifications that are relevant -- if for instance, you've written a cop movie, and you're a cop, or you've written a legal thriller and you're a lawyer, then mention it. On the other hand, if you're written a comedy about plumbing, and you're plumber -- don't bother.

If the script that you're submitting has won or placed any *significant* screenwriting award -- like it was a Finalist on the Nicholls -- then mention it. If it won the North Bay Grimpin Screenwriting Annual -- forget about it.

Describe your screenplay in a sentence or two. And make sure that they're damned good sentences -- because they will largely determine whether or not they decide to read your screenplay.

Remember what I was saying about "immediately graspable concept?"

Well, now is your chance to demonstrate that you understood what I meant -- because you now have two sentences to convey to somebody what the truly brilliant -- and immediately graspable concept of your movie is.

Can't do it in two sentences?

Try two words:

Daddy. Daycare.

Think it's a stupid movie? Maybe. But meanwhile, it's a movie that tells you, in two words, exactly what it's about.

And it's a movie that got sold and got made.

Come up with two other words that can be put one in front of the other than can accomplish the same thing and you'll be doing well.

Meanwhile, get to work on your two sentences.

Some other pieces of advice on your query letter:

Don't phrase your sentences like questions. It invites the reader to give an answer you would not like.

Dear Agent X,

What be the result if the strongest man in the world was forced to dress like a woman and go to work in a beauty salon?

Answer: Another crappy script.

It's hard to imagine any question phrased in this way that wouldn't produce a similar mental answer on the part of somebody reading such a query letter.

Why give them the opportunity?

Make sure your letter is, in every respect grammatically correct. Make sure everything is spelled correctly. Make doubly sure that you have spelled correctly the name of whomever you are writing to, as well as the name of his organization.

Refer to only a single screenplay, not a laundry list. Choose your best one. Your best shot. If they express interest in representing you, they will ask you about other material. That is the time to bring out the other screenplays. Not now.

No decorations. No pictures. Nothing cutesy. Don't try stunts. No doubt you've heard accounts of how stunts and cutesy bullshit have worked. Maybe they have -- once in a blue moon -- and when they do, they get in the news. Well, when guys fall out of airplanes, plunge a thousand feet, hit the ground, and live -- that also gets in the news. I wouldn't recommend that either.

Two key things you want to convey.

One -- you can write at a professional level.

Two -- you have a great script that they want to read.

When you have conveyed those two things, it's time to say "Sincerely yours".

A Better Way:

You will note, if you have perused the Writer's Guild list, that a great many agencies either aren't looking for any new clients at all (or so they say) or else will not even consider a new client that does not come without a recommendation.

It is, by far, better to get your script into the hands of an agent by way of an existing client or, even better, by way of a producer who will say, "I've read this and I think it's great" than by way of a query letter.

Now, the majority of us do not necessarily have such contacts handy and your first instinct might very well be to dismiss the possibility of getting yourself a recommendation to an agent.

You shouldn't be too quick to do this. What they say about the degrees of separation to Kevin Bacon are applicable between any two people -- and you're not trying to connect to any one person -- but to a population consisting of several hundred likely candidates.

While networking skills do not come naturally to everyone, they will ultimately serve you well, whether you manage to connect to an agent or not. The approach, inevitably, must consist of two tiers. The first tier -- and it consists of asking everyone you know -- friends, family, basically anyone that you would feel comfortable asking to make an introduction -- if they know an agent. If the answer is yes -- you've got your introduction.

Now, of course, an introduction to an agent isn't exactly the same as a recommendation, but it means that you'll be able to either get on the phone or get in the room with him -- and "get his advice."

That is the key. Because you don't go into such a meeting making it seem as if the intention is simply to shove a script over the transom. Rather, you are a beginning screenwriter -- he is a world-wise agent -- and you are looking for his wisdom and insights into the business -- and by the way, you have a screenplay. And if you play your cards right and act like a half-decent human being, him agreeing to read your screenplay will likely end up being part of that process.

But what happens if nobody you know knows an agent? Well then, you have to move down a tier. Does anybody you know know anybody in the business? Now, that is a much larger target. Now, instead of hundreds of people, we're talking about potentially tens of thousands of possible intersections.

If anybody you know knows anybody in the business -- a producer, a publicist, a manager, a grip -- anybody -- ask them if they'll make an introduction. Then go through the same process. Meet them, explain who you are -- a beginning writer. You're trying to break in, you want to learn all you can about the business. And do yourself a favor -- whoever you're introduced to, actually listen to what they have to say. And in the course of that meeting, at some point, you'll ask *them* for their advice -- is there anyone they know that they feel you could meet or talk to that might be able to look at your screenplay. Depending on who it is, they might know an agent, they might not. Maybe they know a producer. Maybe they know a director. Who knows?

At any point in the process, you might get lucky and meet somebody who'll read your script, love it, *and* know an agent. Or might read it, hate it -- and it's a dead end. Back to square one.

Or it might get to an agent and he may hate it -- or you might go the query route and you might send it to fifty agents -- and you might get back five returns, and all of them say "no thank you" -- and you never hear back from the other forty-five.

That happens too. All the time.

E-mail queries:

A number of people have gone this route. There have been some success stories, but reports are varied. On the whole, you shouldn't presume that the wonders of e-space will be apt to greatly increase your chances of success over those offered by the traditional means of paper and stamps.

The Promised Land:

But let us suppose that you manage, through networking, or through querying, to reach an agent, and get your script read, and the agent loves it and wants an opportunity to try to sell it.

Most likely, this will not immediately result in a deal to represent *you* right off the bat. Instead, it is more likely that you will get a "hip pocket" deal -- an agreement on the part of the agent to try to sell that one script (essentially, in metaphorical terms, to carry it around in his hip pocket on the off chance that somebody he bumps into might be interested in buying it). If that script sells, it will lead to bigger and better things. If it doesn't -- you're basically in limbo, unless you can whip out another screenplay that he immediately wants to try to sell.

But what is very important to understand is that getting an agent, whether you have a hip pocket deal or are signed on as an official client, is that, for beginning writers, unless you make a substantial sale right up front, with the kind of industry heat that that will bring -- getting an agent is not the sort of panacea that most writers imagine it to be.

Quite simply, for agents, their time is their money. They need to devote that limited coin of time in the best possible way -- and that means devoting it to selling their most desired and highest paid clients. That is how they make the most desirable ten percent -- that is going to be the ten percent of the highest sales. And the easiest ten percent -- because it will be ten percent of somebody that everybody wants to hire.

Then there's you, that nobody has heard of. You with nothing produced. You with nothing sold. You who, if he does manage to sell something of yours, is likely going to sell for low money. And even that is going to be hard to get. You and your script may have fans. After all, he is a fan of yours, and there may be other execs in various places who are fans of yours. But selling you, the great Unknown Quantity to the people who will actually make the decision to buy your work is always going to be an uphill battle.

And, for those of you who know your military history, most uphill battles -- are lost.

That's not to say that agents are not sincere in their attempts to do this. They are. But they cannot be irresponsible about it. They will always devote the majority of their time and efforts to those efforts that are going to reliably pay their bills. That's not you. Repping an unsold beginning writer is, for an agent, like buying a lottery ticket. Maybe the ticket will pay off big. Most likely it will not. But either way, it simply can never be worth a major investment of time or effort on their part up front.

In my experience, most writers strongly dislike the business of trying to market their material. I know that I did. And so the prospect of getting an agent is like reaching the promised land. Now, at last, all you'll have to do is deal with your word processor, secure in the knowledge that your Agent will be out their, working his or her little fingers to the bone, selling your screenplay.

Don't kid yourself about this. Most likely, your agent will identify likely producers for your screenplay when you make your initial agreement. He will send it out. If there is no positive response to that initial wave of submissions -- he's done. He's on to other things. He's not trying to think of what else or where else or who else. Most likely (and this is standard operating procedure) he has chosen one producer -- one way in to each studio, and by way of each of those producers, each studio has passed. So as far as he's concerned, it's finished.

If you imagine that there are other options, other ways of getting that script sold, guess what?

That's up to you.

And for beginning writers with agents many often come to a shocking realization. They realize that, even with an agent, they find that they still have to do a majority of the work of marketing their own material.

Agents vs. Producers:

There is a feeling on the part of many writers that producers live in impenetrable fortresses and that only agents (or writers that have agents) have the keys.

If you don't have an agent you can't make a sale.

If you haven't made a sale, you can't get an agent.

Why -- it's a veritable Catch-22.

So the story goes.

It's not true.

You can get your screenplays into the hands of producers without having an agent. You can get them read. You can sell them.

I know this because I and others have done it.

The Method:

Go for the Hollywood Creative Directory Producer's Guide.

Identify the companies that make movies similar to the kind of movie that your screenplay is. That means, if you're making small dramatic film, look for companies that make small dramatic films. If it's a goofy comedy, look for companies that make those kinds of movies. It *doesn't* mean that if you've written a movie about a killer snake that you want to send it to a producer that's just released a movie about a killer snake. They might actually be ill-disposed to make a second one just like the one they just made.

Identify the name of the person you want to talk to. Generally this will be the Director of Development or a "Creative Executive."

You always want to keep careful records as you move forward. Who you have made contact with, when, what the result was, what the follow-up is, when that follow-up is scheduled.

While you may achieve a certain success rate by querying through snail mail or e-mail, using essentially the same format as I discussed above, by far the best success rate you will achieve will come by way of the telephone.

Why is this? There's a fairly pragmatic reason. It has to do with lines of least resistance. Production executives generally have far more to read than they know what to do with anyway. These are usually things that they *have* to read. They don't have any choice. So if they have a choice, they will usually choose not to do any more reading. So if they get an e-mail asking them, in essence -- how will you like to add yet another script to the stack -- what's the line of least resistance? It's around five inches -- from where their finger is on the keyboard to the delete key. And that extra reading is gone.

They get a letter suggesting that, maybe, they do some extra reading, what is the line of least resistance? Generally it's from the top of the desk to the paper-filled circular file directly under the desk.

On the other hand, once you've taken a call from somebody -- especially if the person you're talking to is reasonably nice and engaging -- where is the line of least resistance then?

Unless the script that you're talking about gives them some immediate out like, "I'm sorry, it sounds great but we simply don't do space epics," -- which is something that will only happen if *you* have failed to do your homework, the line of least resistance is always going to be, "It sounds great, why don't you send it?"

That ends the call. That makes the person on the other end happy. It makes the Exec seem like a nice guy. To do otherwise means potentially getting into an argument, having to explain why potentially you don't want to read the script. It makes the Exec come across like a bad guy.

And people who will happily throw your query letter in the garbage don't want to come across as nasty people face to face (even face to face over the phone).

Now, of course, if your script actually is lousy -- you're out of luck.

But if your script is lousy -- you're always going to be out of luck, no matter how clever your strategies may be to get them read.

But if the script is great -- it will get read and it will get noticed.

The Big Trick:

Now when you call, you will find yourself confronted by an apparently impenetrable barrier. But it is actually no such thing. Don't worry about it. Because I will give you an easy and effective way to penetrate it.

When you call a production company, you will speak first either to a Receptionist who will ask who you want to talk to and when you tell them, will then ask who you are and what your business is -- or else, when you tell them who you want to talk to, will then put you through to the Assistant of whoever you want to talk to and *they* ask who you are and what your business is.

You will answer something along the lines of, "I'm So-and-So. I'm a screenwriter and I want to talk to him about a screenplay I just finished."

Now, comes the critical question. They will ask you, "Do you have an agent?"

If you say, "No," and then pause -- you are doomed.

That's because the next thing you will hear is this:

"Oh, I'm sorry. We only take agented submissions. See you around, chucklehead. Click."

What you need to say when you hear this question is the following -- with no pauses.

"No, but I usually submit my material by way of my attorney, if that would be all right."

Far more often than not, you will that it will be all right. Even if you don't have an agent, most companies -- even those companies who, five seconds before would have happily blown you off and told you that wouldn't accept anything that didn't come by way of an agent -- will accept submissions by way of an attorney.

But only if you get the line out before you hear that blow-off line. Once you hear those fatal words -- it's too late.

That's because the purpose of that "agents-only" restriction has nothing, really, to do with any legal concerns -- although there are some.

It is really a way to keep out people like you. That is, rank amateurs.

As it stands, most of the screenplays that development companies read are lousy and will end up being rejected. And those are professional screenplays written by professional writers.

If only one if fifty of those are worth buying, what (from their perspective) are the odds of finding a buyable script from the slush pile of amateur material written by people who've never even demonstrated any professional ability at all? One in five hundred? One in a thousand?

Development companies only have so many readers -- and they have to pay those readers for every script that they read. They need some way to keep out the junk.

That little phrase, "Do you have an agent?" -- however unfair it may seem to the outsider, is an extremely effective method of keeping out huge amounts of unreadable, unsaleable, unprofessional crap.

That's why they do it.

By referring to submitting by way of an attorney, you demonstrate that you have some understanding of how things are done in the business -- that you are not a rank amateur. And thus, just maybe, you are not a complete waste of their time.

And since you are, potentially, not a complete waste of their time, they will put you through to the Executive that you asked to talk to.

Now, you're on.

Be nice. Sound sane. Be engaging. Don't lie. (All of these things, by the way, are true when you are talking to the receptionist and the Assistant, whose name you should make a point of remembering -- because last month's assistant is next month's Exec -- and they remember who was nice, and even more so, who wasn't). When you get down to business, just as in the query, describe your project in no more than a few sentences. Try not to stumble - even if it means rehearsing it ahead of time -- but don't read it, because when you do, it always sounds as if you're reading it.

Be ready to answer questions, but probably there won't be many questions.

If they say no, don't argue. Thank them for their time. If the conversation has been pleasant, you may take the opportunity to ask them if they have any thoughts as to where you might take the project -- and you will be surprised at how often they will be happy to give you suggestions.

Remember -- it's hard to say no. Don't make it harder - because then, they won't like you. And there's going to be another script -- and potentially, a few months down the road, another call. Far better that they remember a pleasant call -- even one that ended with a "no" -- than an unpleasant one.

And that's how the call -- one that ends with a "no" -- should always end. "Well, I'm working on another screenplay. If you're open to it, maybe you'd like to take a look at that one when I'm done."

If you've played your cards right -- especially since, having said "no" to this one, they'll look for a kind of little consolation prize to offer you, they'll say, "sure."

So now you have an open invitation to call back when you finish your next script. Of course they may say "no" to that one too -- but that's life.

What next?

Well, obviously - since, you said that you were going to submit by way of your attorney -- you need an attorney.

Now, let's be very clear about this. *For purposes of submitting a script only* -- any attorney with an office and some letterhead will do. A family attorney, a friend that's an attorney. Pretty much any attorney will do. Whoever did the will for your family, or handled the sale of your house. Your cousin who's a lawyer.

It doesn't really matter -- so long as they have an office and some letterhead.

Depending on how close a relationship you have with this lawyer, you may have to pay him something to do this work -- but let's face it -- they're not doing very much.

All the letter will really say is: 


        As per your conversation with my client, "so and so" 
        on such and such a date, I'm submitting the enclosed 
        screenplay "XYX" on his behalf.

                                 Yours truly, John Jones, Esq.

And then they mail off the screenplay.

Some companies may ask, even if you're submitting through an attorney (or sometimes instead of submitting through an attorney) to fill out a release form. If so, they'll usually send one to you. Or they may simply ask you to send them a standard release form. If so, you can simply do a web search for "standard release form" -- they can be found on-line at various places. Just download one and sign it and enclose it.

If you are submitting the script directly, you want to enclose a cover letter. Again, keep it short and sweet. Reference the phone conversation. It was nice talking to you. As per your request, here's the script. I hope you like it.

Follow Up:

When you send a screenplay, you can call within four to five days to a week. You should ask to talk to the the *Assistant* of the person that you talked to before. Again -- you want to make this person your friend and ally.

The purpose of this call is, ostensibly, just to confirm that the script has arrived. Really, of course, it's to make them remember who you are, and to make them like you some more.

So again, be friendly, be engaging. And, hopefully, along the way, try to get some sense of what the time frame (understanding, of course, that your screenplay has a very low priority in the great scheme of things) might be for when they might get a chance to look at your script.

Figure if you haven't heard back in a month to six weeks, that it's a silent pass. Mark it down as such (SP -- silent pass) in your records and move on.

A Final Note on Attornies:

Now -- regarding attorneys -- while any attorney will do for purposes of submitting material, in the event that you receive an offer to buy or option your screenplay (and just to make the point clear, an offer to option a screenplay *is* an offer to buy. The latter will include all the terms for the purchase of the screenplay -- the only thing that is not finalized is the actual purchase, which may or may not ultimately happen)-- you must get yourself an attorney specializing in entertainment law to negotiate the contract. Any old attorney will most definitely *not* do.

You will find, however, that the average entertainment attorney doesn't come cheap. You may have heard that many entertainment attorneys will work on percentages rather than a retainer.

That doesn't apply to you. They won't make that deal with you -- because you haven't established yourself as a continuing earner.

You will have to pay a retainer, and that can be quite expensive. When I had to do in 1988, the retainer ran to five grand. I would have to assume that the base rate has not gone down in the intervening years.

However, there is an alternative. Most states have what is known as a "Volunteer Counsel for the Arts" in which qualified lawyers provide inexpensive legal services to members of the arts community.

If you cannot afford to hire an entertainment attorney and you find yourself in need of such services, you should investigate whether or not your state has such services. Your local bar association ought to be able to advise you.

Copyright Neal Marshall Stevens 2005

Just for the record, the following is authorized for use in the MWSM FAQ only -- I do not authorize it to be copied, reprinted or redistributed by anyone else or for any other purposes, whatsoever.