I have a movie script and wonder what would be next best step?

Question

I'm wondering if anyone can help.

I have just completed a movie script what would be the next best step??? whom should I contact to sell it or to even make it?

what should I do about my copyright issues??? cheers all suggestions would be helpful!!!

Answer 1

Go to a good producer,you can sell it,you can make it.I am sorry but I have no idea how to contact with producers.

Answer 2

You need to register your copyright as soon as your script is ready. Please register the copyright properly, as this is the ONLY real legal way to protect yourself. Should you have a legal issue where you need to sue someone, you can't do a thing legally until your script is registered anyway. If someone copied your script and registered the copyright first, well, that will be very good for them in court. You can now register copyrights online, it's faster and convenient.

http://www.copyright.gov/

Ideas cannot be copyrighted or registered, so don't tell a bunch of people who might use your idea.

You generally need an agent to sell a script, don't try sending your script to a production company because it will just end up in the trash and they'll be annoyed with you. To protect themselves legally they will not take scripts unless they are presented through an agent or manager.

How many rewrites have you done? Writing is Rewriting! If you haven't rewritten and compressed and changed at least half of your script, you really haven't rewritten and it's not ready. Seriously. Yes it's painful, but so necessary. Take out anything that doesn't push the story forward. Even if it's the best scene you've ever written! Just keep it in a file for another script.

Before you (your agent) send out your script, you need to make sure it's formatted correctly and you've followed all the *rules*. Here are some webpages:

http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/format.htm...

http://www.scriptologist.com/Magazine/Fo...

http://www.creativescreenwriting.com/spf...

Why? Because readers are fussy. They get paid very little to read scripts so if they open a script and something is off, they may toss it aside, it tells them if the writer doesn't know the basics, the story is likely going to be s*cky. They'll also check the last page, and if that page number is too high, that's a problem. Make sure that the first time your script is read by a reader, it's really ready to be. They keep lists and share them with other readers.

Can you tell your story in one sentence? Try making it a cause & effect sentence. When...... , Then....... You'll need to be able to tell your story in a sentence to pitch, because unless you're a well known screenwriter, that's about all the time you'll get. Don't even talk to an agent until you can tell your story in a sentence, and also in a short paragraph. Also, it's wise to have 3, or at the very least 2 scripts ready before you talk to an agent or a production company. It's very common to pitch a script and hear Doesn't work for me, what else you got? Uhhhh, nothing? isn't a good answer. = )

Spec (written on the Speculation that someone will buy them) scripts are very hard to sell. So make sure that it is REALLY ready to be seen before you send it to agents or show it to anyone in the business.

In LA in November there is a screenwriters convention, it's very much worth attending -- you will learn a lot!  http://www.screenwritingexpo.com/index.h...

Good luck!

Answer 3

Not too good with the Producer angle, but if I were you, before you send it to any studio, send a full copy (in paper) to yourself in the mail, and when it arrives, don't open it. The package will be date stamped by the post office, so if copyright becomes an issue, you can show the sealed document, complete with date, with your own address on it. That way, you've got proof you wrote the original material before the studio got hold of it in the event of a copyright dispute.