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Help a total beginner on the industry

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  • 01-04-2013 3:15pm
    #1
    Wildkid
    Registered Users Posts: 85 ✭✭


    Ok I have a movie idea I would like to get out to movie agents in Ireland and Hollywood , so what should I do ? write down the whole idea from start to finish ?do I have to write a script ,like hundreds of pages of dialogue etc or just the idea with some points about the characters etc ???

    If my questions sound stupid forgive me ,I only have an idea but no know how of the film industry


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    #2
    AnonoBoy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    Most agents aren't going to be interested in just an idea. You need to show that you can tell it properly.

    Writing out the idea from start to end would be a 'treatment'. This can be anything from 5 - 50 pages. You could generate interest from this but it would have to be a pretty good idea to get someone to buy it from a treatment only when you're a newcomer to the film industry.

    The best you could hope for is to pique the interest of an agent or production company and then get back to them when the script is written.

    I would suggest reading scripts of films you know to give you an idea of how they're written and perhaps reading some books on how to write screenplays to give you some pointers on what to do and what not to do.

    Then write the script. And rewrite it. And rewrite it again.

    And then send it out to agents and production companies.

    It's tough work but it's fun.

    Good luck.


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    #3
    Wildkid
    Registered Users Posts: 85 ✭✭Wildkid


    I love making ideas and stories etc but I wudnt see myself as a great writer etc ,is it normal for a screenwriter and the person with the idea to work together as I think that's the role that would suit me best ? I read a bit of the terminator 2 script there and I really don't feel I world have the set of skills for that but I do feel as if I could come up with the idea story and a lot if scenes if you understand me??


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    #4
    Galvasean
    Registered Users Posts: 30,746 ✭✭✭✭Galvasean


    Recent thread with similar questions. It should help you out:
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056899598


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    #5
    Fatboydim
    Registered Users Posts: 1,924 ✭✭✭Fatboydim


    Ideas are not subject to copyright. Formats are. On the whole screenwriters do not want to hear your great idea for a film. Why? Because they have lots of great ideas of their own, and why should they work on your idea rather than your own. Now having said that, it doesn't mean that you don't have a great idea, and it doesn't mean it can't happen. Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind for example was brought to screenwriter Charlie Kaufman by director Michel Gondry, based on a letter a friend of his received. So it can happen, but in my experience it's incredibly rare unless the writer is paid ... Which effectively makes the person with the idea a producer who is commissioning the writer. As for a treatment being 50 pages... That's either a typo... Or just a Joe Esterhaus type thing. These days you would need synopsis, logline, treatment (max would be 20 pages for a film - sometimes longer if doing a TV series) Mostly a draft script is required as well, especially from a new writer. This draft script should not be a first draft as Anonoboy has already pointed out. Rewrite rewrite rewrite... You only get one chance to make a first impression.

    Hope that helps


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