It's time to hawk your idea around to get money and actors. You know it's tough but it's much worse than you realise. Agent Julian Friedmann says a major Hollywood studio will get 50,000 pitches a year - and make 12 movies.
Those studios are not waiting for pitches, either, they are looking for their own ideas. Writer Veronica Chambers, for instance, got a call from Hollywood wanting to buy her book before it was published - and before she had even written a word. "My stomach was in knots... sick with desire, imagining fame, invitations to dinners at Brad and Gwyneth's," she says.
That was 1997 and the film hasn't been made yet. But three years is nothing: that's how long "Being John Malkovich" spent going around the studios as just a 'calling card' script demonstrating the talent of writer Charlie Kaufman and not being seriously considered as a film.
In that case and many more, it can take the help of someone famous to get it made. With "Malkovich", REM's Michael Stipe came across a copy of the script. "I don't think anyone thought I would read it and say we have to make this movie," says Stipe, but he ended up co-producing arguably last year's best film.
Similarly, Samuel L Jackson stepped aboard to produce "Eve's Bayou". But in that case the writer/director Kasi Lemmons shows you have to be willing to lie a little: "When I was pitching the idea, I invented the precedent and compared the script to films such as "Waiting to Exhale", when there was really no comparison," she explains.
Some movies sell quickly and are made just as quickly, while others like "The Princess Bride" sell fast but then have to be re-sold and re-sold before they get made. It's enough to make you wonder why anyone does it or how any of them reach the next stage.
Go to Factory Line - Part 2 sidebar: Always a Bridesmaid, Almost Never a Princess Bride.
Go to Factory Line - Part 3: It's Set to Go but it's Not Set-Set
Go to Factory Line - Part 1: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Factory Line Introduction
Factory Line Glossary
Sources:
"Independent on Sunday": 'Hollywood Calling' by Veronica Chambers, January 26 1997
"How to Make Money Scriptwriting", by Julian Friedmann, Intellect Books, 2000, ISBN 1-84150-002-X
"Being John Malkovich" The Screenplay, by Charlie Kaufmann, Faber Paperbacks 2000, ISBN 0-57120-586-0
"Being John Malkovich" DVD, Universal 2000
"Four Screenplays", by William Goldman, Applause Books 1995, ISBN 1-55783-198-X
"Los Angeles Times": 'Empire Builders' by Allison Adato, March 26 2000
