It is impossible to reply individually to every question asked by aspiring screenwriters, not just in this country, but around the world. However, each Sunday I will choose an email from one of the week’s most frequent queries. Submit your question to me and be sure to sign it exactly as you want it to appear in this advice column, should it be selected.
Dear Esther,
Someone in Hollywood told me just the other day that it doesn’t matter if I write a screenplay on a napkin, so long as the story is good, and yet everybody else pounds us over the head with the importance of correct formatting and the appearance of the script itself. What the devil are the rules, anyway? Thanks.
Confused in Arkansas
Dear Confused,
Don’t be. There aren’t any rules, but there is such a thing as common sense. Common sense should tell you that the screenwriting profession is so fiercely competitive you must do everything in your power to stand above the crowd. With the hundreds, even thousands, of scripts that pour into production companies and studios each and every week, how are you going to get the attention of those in a position to buy, if you don’t appear to be as professional as the writer who has been earning a living at it for years? A reader’s first duty is not to find a good story; The first job is to eliminate those pieces of junk that clutter their desk so they can get to the good stuff. What do they eliminate? Anything that looks as if it’s been written by someone who doesn’t know. They aren’t there to run a screenwriting school. You have to come to them knowing how to write a screenplay.
On the other hand, if you live in LA and can get yourself to as many networking events as possible, you’ll eventually find yourself standing in front of someone who can help you up the ladder. If you pitch that person a story that really grabs them, and they ask to see the screenplay, very often it won’t matter too much if you’ve made glaring errors in format. The reason is because you first sold them on the story itself. In person. If you live outside Hollywood, you’ve got nothing but paper on which to make your impression, and your point.
Warning: Even if someone likes your story, maybe even buys your story, but it’s written on a napkin, or sloppily on paper, the chances of you staying attached to the project, let alone becoming the polish writer (the one who writes the final draft) are slim. They will bring in someone who writes screenplays for a living–and, like it or not, it will soon become their story, not yours.
You want to earn your living as a screenwriter? Learn the craft. I wouldn’t want someone operating on me who happened to have a craving to be a doctor, but doesn’t have a clue how to use the needle or the knife in his hand. It’s not exactly the same thing, but then again ...
