ScreenLab: Selling Your First Script

ScreenLab: Selling Your First Script

How do you find a producer?
Do you need an agent?
How do you know when it's ready to sell?
How do you get your script read by the right people and, if they like it, what do you ask for?

Most screenwriters fall down not for lack of talent or of trying, but from not knowing how to market their ideas. We're not talking here about paradigms or clever writing, but of understanding how your concept fits in the existing film and TV market.

Often it takes only the smallest shift to turn a script or series proposal from good to compelling, a hair's breadth between a script that sells and one that doesn't. We'll be looking at what you should know to make your work saleable without selling out.

On this intensive one-day workshop for a small group, we will give practical exercises and personal feedback to help you prepare your script for the market, and then make sure you know how to track down the right cinema and TV producers and how to make the best possible deal.

The Day

The morning starts with an overview of the marketplace for film and TV scripts and series proposals, before moving on to look more closely at the process of pitching and selling your work.

We discuss your projects, what you should expect from any deal, and what you are offering to a potential purchaser - producer, director, commissioning editor or script developer.

We look in detail at ways to improve your chances of making a sale, without selling out or losing what makes your script special and unique.

In the afternoon, we spend time on the logistics of the process - how to get to the people you want to sell to, and how to manage meetings and feedback sessions. We discuss what you should submit and in what form, and look in detail at the legal side, how best to protect your copyright, how to make the sale and what to expect to be offered. We also explore questions such as whether you need an agent, how to get one, and what is the next step after the sale.

We finish with opportunities for those participants who wish to improve their pitches in a safe and supportive environment.

Includes

• Preparing and testing your most effective marketing package
• How to pitch
• Getting easily to buyers and commissioners
• Dealing with feedback
• Negotiating
• Finding lawyers and agents