Development: The Immaculate Conception

Development, which is the conception, writing, budgeting, and casting is the most nebulous area of movie making. Development and budgeting go hand in hand. When putting together a movie, don’t just think about what is going to be said, but who it’s going to be said to.The Seed

If you establish yourself, scripts will find their way to your doorstep via agents, directors, and writers who know what sort of films you do. As a producer you want to:

• Put your resources behind a script.
• Find a director that you can work with and can tolerate.
• Ask yourself; “Is it possible to do this movie for the money I can raise?”

Look around and see what you have access to. What can you bring to the picture that won’t cost you anything. Write a screenplay with those elements.

Another place to get movie ideas are in the form of novels, memoirs, or the author’s favorite…true crime stories. If its a novel or memoir then you may want to check to see if a studio already owns that project or not.

Arrested Development

Before writing the script ask and answer the question, “Who is the audience?”

When you get someone to write a script for you, be someone they can trust to look at the material and not say, “Yuck.” Of if you do, say “Yuck” constructively. That sort of relationship with a writer will enable them to not be embarrassed to show you something outlandish or something that might be atrocious but might also be genuinely inspired.

If they are so inclined, provide food, shelter, and office equipment too.

When it comes to doing a documentary, know scripting or what it takes to be a scriptwriter. The documentary script writer should know that they have to respect the facts, but they also have to tell a story. A story that needs to have characters, and those character’s lives need to move forward in a way that would keep the audience moving with them.

What happens a lot in the writing is that the project is tailored to sit the tastes of a financier or studio executive. No script will ever please everyone. Ultimately, the writer has to have the courage of his or her own convictions.

Writes of Passage

In the development phase, the producer has two functions:

1. Create a space in which the writer feels safe and comfortable writing
2. Mediate between the writer and the entity that has provided the development money.

A script cannot be forced out of someone. Its either done or it isn’t. At the same time its only fair to let the writer know that if they don’t deliver the whole thing can fall apart.

A major difference between low-budget and Hollywood studio development is that in Hollywood, executives are very casual about throwing a writer off a script and bringing in someone else.

Rights and Wrongs

There is no substitute for legal advice; hire a lawyer.

How to Pitch Me

The following are the author’s advice on what to do and not do when pitching a project to her. This may or may not work for other film producers. >> I have noted the ones I felt are important.

• Don’t make movies that are like other movies.
• Know something about the company you’re pitching to. What type of films do they make?
• Sending your script to everyone in Hollywood is a bad idea.
• Be concise
• Don’t gush
• If you send something special to get my attention, be clever
• Be patient. A company at any time can be producing more than one film.
• Rejection is inevitable in this business. Don’t despair. There are many aspiring producers out there who might jump at the chance to make your script.

Go ahead leave your comments. Give us your thoughts.
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