Risingson

Hello All

It's just a quick question about preferences that those who can, prefer.

I've completed the first part of a trilogy, I will once I'm further into the second and third parts probably edit a few things here and there in the first part, so this is purely for future reference. I have completed the first part as a novel and am currently writing the second part as a novel as well as the third part when I get to it. Once these have been done I could send them off to publishers to guage their reaction, but my ultimate realisation for these stories are for them to be made into films (I can but try).

My question(s) is/are this, if I was to send them off to Producers and/or Directors in their current novelisation state what are the chances of them being picked up? (Novel into film via scriptwriter)
-or-
If I was to either turn the stories into Scripts or utilise a Professional Script Writer to turn them into scripts would this enchance the chances? (Novelisation of a film)

I understand that I would most probably have to get either an Agent or Editor which ever route I take, but what is more preffered for those who take the decisions to make your ideas a reality.

Thanks for any answers

Vee

If you want them ultimately done as movies, your best bet is to write screenplays aka scripts.

I would recommend doing some research on screenplays as well.

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mammamaia

nil to none!... prodcos only buy completed screenplays or the rights to already published novels [and only occasionally, a much-hyped one by a major writer, pre-publication]... and you can't send anything off to a producer or director without it being requested... legal issues prevent them from even looking at an unsolicited ms...

it would merely make it possible, as opposed to the above impossible... to do it yourself would most likely be an exercise in futility, since you'd have to learn how to write a script from scratch and probably wouldn't do it well enough for anyone to take seriously...

to hire a real screenwriter to write one for you, would cost more than you can afford, unless you're independently wealthy... the going wga rate is $50,000 to $100,000... you can get a non-wga writer for less, but to get a good enough one to result in a marketable work, will still cost you close to the minimum, unless your deal gives them a half-interest in the property and appropriate writing credits... even that will still cost multiple thousands, however...

those are two distinctly different things and it's not an either/or situation...

you'll need an agent to get your work shopped to producers or publishers... but you won't get one if your work isn't professional quality and extremely marketable, to boot... it'll cost you nothing, till they sell your work and take their 10-15%...

if you need an editor to help you get your ms or script up to professional writing quality, then it'll cost you a bundle for a decent one... there are many truly poor ones around and outright scams abound, so you have to be careful who you go to... but if you're not a good enough writer to be able to edit your own work, it's doubtful it will sell in any case...

sorry to have such disappointing news, but the writing game is not an easy one... and the more prepared you are to accept the awful truths of the business side of the art, the better equipped you'll be to survive and hopefully succeed...

i mentor/help many aspiring novelists and screenwriters, along with all other breeds of writer, so if you have any other questions, feel free to drop me an email any time...

love and hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

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Risingson

Thanks for the replies, I kind of thought that Producers wouldn't like them in Novel format, but it was one of those questions that needed confirmation on.

As for transferring it over to script format, I have done scripting before mainly stageplays from scratch, as it is I'm in the theatre industry anyway, and have plenty of sources for scripting. From what I can gather the process of writing a Screenplay as opposed to a Stageplay isn't that much different, if anything they are slightly easier as you don't have the added details of lighting and sound cues to deal with as well as a whole host of other processes, which in a screenplay the director would take charge of... I guess

As for the quality of my work, I would say it is very high quality and very marketable, he says pulling out his own trumpet, I don't think I've got much trouble in self-editing my work, the only drawback I have with my work, as anyone with Thriller writing expeirence would tell you is that sometimes you can get too immersed in your own work to see if the virgin reader would see right through the story before they should do, ie whodunnit, but I suppose that just getting an indipendent eye to read it first would relieve any of those worries.

Don't worry about it sounding like bad news, it isn't really bad news as there is still options out there, and besides I'm not in this to a point where I can give up the day job... yet

Thanks

David Siudzinski

Why do you want the novel to be a movie?

Wait, let me restate thay, did you intend the story to ultimatley be a novel or a movie?