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Coming soon: Hawaii 5-0, Dallas, Miami Vice, The Warriors, Fun with Dick and Jane, The Munsters, The A-Team, Baywatch and The Dukes of Hazard.
Welcome to 2005?
If ever there was a harder time to get an original screenplay produced, it's got to be now. Upcoming comic book adaptions include new Superman and Batman movies, a Wolverine solo, The Fantastic Four, Deathlok, Black Widow, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Ghost Rider, Elektra and even the oddball Groo the Wanderer. Even more familiar characters will be appearing on the big screen like Hemingway, Edward R. Murrow, General Hannibal of the Alps, sex therapist Alfred Kinsey and Catherine the Great. In The Aviator alone there are nearly a dozen prominently featured real-life characters from Howard Hughes to Errol Flynn.
Ask any producer what they look for in a script, and the standard answer is "Something original." Of course they're looking for something original. Something original would be a refreshing change from all the familiarity they are surrounded by on a daily basis.
As a struggling screenwriter, the latest lesson I am learning is that originality does not launch a career. It takes seasoned teams of proven moneymakers to get behind a project before a studio exec will take a chance on it. Every pitch session usually involves a cross comparison where you have to explain your movie in terms of two or three other movies (it's Sophie's Choice meets Blade Runner), or your twist on a familiar theme (it's like Planet of the Apes, but with outdated cell phones).
Does this mean you shouldn't write your original screenplay? No way. You should only write what you feel - ALWAYS. If you have a tale of interracial love in turn-of-the-century Missouri burning inside you, then that's what you write. Just make sure one of the characters in your script is named Spiderman. |
