Tim Murray, CEO |
Script Guidelines I am a writer, a good writer, but not great. http://www.memoirsofatexan.com I have decided to use my writings as the 'Mendoza Line' for script submissions. Those of you not familiar with American baseball terms, and that is likely most of you, Mario Mendoza was a shortstop whose batting average, .200, is taken to be the threshold for a position player in Major League Baseball. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendoza_Line In other words, submitted scripts should be better than my writing to be considered for filming by our company. I am sure we will come up with better standards later. We will hire a Script Editor who will gather scripts from as many sources as possible. These will include writing schools, writing clubs, and professional script writers. I will contact leading writers and ask that they submit scripts derived from their novels. We want to set the bar very high for our scripts. Every great film begins with a great script and that is what we want for each of our films. All a script writer has to do to win is be the best. Agents, connections, even prior experience do not count. Just be the best as determined by our members. I pledge that every script submitted will be treated equally regardless of source. Going in, every script submitted has equal opportunity to be selected for the script we produce. And, in addition to the honor of being selected best by our members, the writer of the winning script will paid $100,000. Unlike scripts selected by the Major Studios for production, we will not have the time nor inclination to alter the scripts we produce, another reason top writers may want to submit scripts to us. Our Script Editor will assemble groups of member volunteers and professional script readers to review each script submitted. From all scripts submitted, we will select three or four for submission to a member vote and our members will select the winner. But unlike the studios, for each script we decline, we will send a summary, by script element, of why the script was not selected along with suggestions on how the submission could be improved. We will also list books and other resources to help writers improve. It is our intent to encourage writers to improve their writing and submit scripts for upcoming films. In watching American Idol over the years, the talent level has increased each year and I think it is because 'losers' from prior years work at improving their performance and returning. We want the same for script writers, directors, and actors - opportunity to grow and become better. My advice to script writers is focus on basics. Develop an entertaining story with interesting characters and dialog. If you are writing a comedy, your story should be funny. If you are writing a thriller, there needs to be tension and suspense. And so on. Don't have unintentional spelling errors and grammar errors in your submittal. When we are funded and have the website we want, we will include a formal procedure for script submission. For now, submit your script to me. In your submittal, include your name, email address, and the genre of your script. By genre, I mean thriller, comedy, action/ adventure, family, ... We will produce films in all popular genres and start collecting comedy script for our next film. Send you script to me at tim.murray@makeafilm.net. You will need to join as a member later. All our scripts will come from members, but no cost and little time to become a member. You do not have to invest in our company to submit an initial script. |