How come screenplays are so bad

Why can't anyone find good screenplays anymore? I hear this all the time. Everyone hears this all the time.

So why aren't there any good screenplays around?

Good question.

As I said in the last blog, there sure are a lot of writers around and a lot of movies that get made. So where are all the good screenplays hiding?

Well, for one thing nobody wants to make good screenplays. In my opinion, however humble that may be, one of the reasons is that good screenplays aren't always hot. Look around at what "they're looking for" taken from a popular internet screenplays for sale site. These are real: 

We are looking for completed feature-length sci-fi scripts with highly original concepts and compelling characters. When pitching, please make sure you’re able to pitch the hook for your story in one sentence or less. 

Submissions must be for contemporary material, and should be gritty, dark, and character driven. Please also note, we prefer material with female leads, few characters, and some violence and sex. 

We are looking for completed feature-length contemporary, female-driven romance scripts. The female lead must be aged 20-40. By romance, we mean scripts such as “The Notebook” that emphasize love over comedy hijinks. We are not open to submissions that do not currently have the female role between the ages of 20 and 40. 

We are looking for completed feature-length uplifting scripts. In other words, scripts that reassure life-affirming values and messages such as "Bella," "The Family Man" and "The Blind Side." Budget will not exceed $500,000.

We are looking for completed feature-length character-driven dramedy scripts, i.e. material in the vein of “Juno” or “The Descendants.”  

I think you get the idea, and this is just a sampling of "what they're looking for". In other words, they're looking for a copy of the latest hit or something that fits a genre, horror especially.

And they're looking for completed screenplays.

Okay this is the "B" level, maybe some of the ads a "D" level, but you will find major studios on these sites also. Because they just want a copy of the latest hit.

So what's a good screenplay? Well, Hugo is good, even Descendants is good in spite of what I might think of the whole movie, and Woody Allan's Paris movie is arguably the best screenplay this year.

But you don't see producers looking for an Alexander Payne screenplay, or a Woody Allan screenplay. No they want a copy of a commercial hit, or at least a semi-hit.

Emperor of Mars has been around for 22 years! It's  not a great script, but it is a good one, it got me into meetings with virtually every studio and network in Hollywood, and for those who doubt it, I'll be glad to post my agent's list of companies who loved it. 

They just didn't want to make it.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds of good scripts out there. In fact there's even a list of good scripts made up each year that were passed over or never made.

You can find it at:  http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/the-black-list-2011-screenplay-roster/

See what you think about them. They aren't necessarily good scripts, but they stand out mostly because of the writing, which is good. It's ironic that the word "good" implies something that's great to read but probably won't  be made because it isn't a copy of something else. 

And maybe that's the reason they're good, one word... originality. Maybe another word... fresh.

Act Two - Heartbreak Hill.

Today we continue Act Two of our little movie venture. 

Wait! What was Act One? 

Alfred Hitchcock,  when asked what makes up a good story said, "It has a beginning and a middle and an end." Now, in an era where there are at least two hundred books on screenwriting including a dog's version, is Mr. Hitchcock simplifying it too much?  Don't we need the plot points or the inciting incident, or my favorite "the character arc". Don't we need to take expensive courses from teachers who more often than not have EVER SOLD A SCREENPLAY!

Because I think Mr. Hitchcock knew more about story and structure than any of those self-appointed experts, I used his simple formula when I taught extension classes in screenwriting at UCLA. 

Act One is where you set up the story. You introduce the main characters and the situation and some obstacles in their way.  This was back in August, when I introduced Shirley and myself to all of you, then began to explain the situation; we are going to try to make a movie and we're going to let you see exactly how we do it.

Then I introduced the obstacle. In Die Hard, Bruce Willis suddenly faced terrorists who held his wife and her whole office hostage. In Juno, she discovered she was pregnant. In Star Wars, Darth Vader was introduced.

For me it was... the Budget.

I don't have $900,000 US in my bank.  I don't know anyone who has $900,000 in their bank either. In fact all of my friends put together don't have $900,000 in their banks, mattresses or socks. Maybe I need new friends.

There you have it -- Act One.

Act Two, the middle, in writing, is always the hardest act to write. Because somewhere around Page 50-60, you reach the Heartbreak Hill of screenwriting. Act One is easy, Act Three is just resolving what you set up in Act One.

But Act Two is a mother... because you can't keep the same idea and hold an audience as no idea is that good. Well, maybe now and then, but very rare. And that's where you've been for the last five months. Shirley and I produced the proposal and I began sending it around by email and postage as well as emailing and calling everyone on my list to help me find money.

We had a good start with a strong indication of at least $400,000 based on the premise I find the first $500,000. Very few producers get that kind of commitment from the get-go. But now it seems to be unsteady.

I have continued to contact people and court the ones who have an interest and look for references to other potential money. Some weeks were good, some were just downright bleak. It was up and down and sometimes more down, until we finally reached Heartbreak Hill, that place in marathon runners' minds when many simply give up.

But I had been prepared for Heartbreak Hill.

Part 2 of Act Two came in the form of the American Film Market.  AFM.

Because I was waiting for it to come along to give us the momentum to continue after Heartbreak Hill. And it did. Now I can introduce TD to at least 50 potential investors and or distributors and even maybe even presales. It's not easy, but it sure hasn't been easy up to now, and it's never easy.

Take into consideration that many producers look for money for years, my own Emperor of Mars project has been around for 20 years!  Dustin Hoffman's D-boy told me Hoffman had a project that he wanted to do for 15 years and it still hasn't been made. Juno was around for a couple of years before someone made it. There are countless stories of projects taking years at every level of this business, from A-List to Z-List.

We went this far in 6 months.

Not that I'm bragging. Anything but bragging. It was a combination of luck, timing, 2 Academy nominated actresses and meeting Shirley.  All three of these women wanted to make my screenplay. This is a package. Much better than me running around with a script in my hand and nothing else. You need validation and I sure the hell had it. Enough to encourage me to go ahead.

So now we crest on the hill, and look ahead to where another hill looms. But we have help. The Manitoba producer Dane is beginning to bring his participation in, another money source has appeared, and we move ahead again towards Act Three. Then we have that Christmas thing where everyone goes to Aspen.

Well, some of them go to Aspen.

I go to Swan River, Manitoba. Who needs Aspen when there's a Tim Horton's less than a block away from my mom's house.  And I'm stopping by in Winnipeg to see the Manitoba guy, Dane, and Rachel, the Eh Channel exec.  I get back in early January as does Shirley from NYC (which has considerably more stoplights than Swan River's 5) and we start looking at preproduction if all works out.


And moving towards a February 2010 start date for filming.

God willing and the river don't rise.