During the July 10th, 2005 airing of Sunday Morning Shootout, Peter Bart mentions, “my favorite is called Script Pimp.com”
SUNDAY MORNING SHOOTOUT July 10th (transcribed version)
OPENING TITLES
BART (VO): On today's Shootout: how can an outsider get attention for his scripts? Are tentpole pictures still that seductive? And we'll shoot it out with two industry icons: Bob Evans and Dick Zanuck.
GUBER: Hello, I'm Peter Guber.
BART: And I'm Peter Bart. Welcome to Shootout. So, Pete, we discuss a lot of exotic subjects here, but I find when you talk to people who watch the show, very often the question that's most on their mind is simply this: I've written a script. What do I do with it? And you know and I sympathize, because when you do a first script, you know, how do you get the thing read, how do you get it sold, if you can sell it? When we have agents on the show, they all profess that they read zealously all the screenplays that are submitted to them, even blind. We know that's not true. If a neophyte screenwriter is lucky, the assistant to the assistant to the assistant may or may not read the script. And no one - an actor, no actor nor producer nor studio will accept submission of a script unless it's represented by an agent or maybe attorney, right? So that first step is you gotta get that agent or that lawyer to represent your script. How do you do that?
GUBER: You know the first step is not that. The first step is intention. You have to have the intention of getting it made, getting it seen, getting it done. You gotta be unconditionally committed to it. It requires an act of passion. Yes, you're right, there's real daring do in getting through the system, but it starts with your own passion and belief and conviction. So you're committed to it with that intention. The architecture of Hollywood isn't democratic. There's a filtering system. It has to be. There's so much trying to get in you need those filters, those agencies, those folks that filter the material for the studios and financiers. So your trick is to get somebody to give you momentum, celebrity, somebody to push the presence of your project to the forefront. Because an agent, even if you go that way, is deciding which things to read, or which things to have covered, and then which coverage to read.
BART: And we should point out that during your famous course at UCLA, one of the first things you tell your students is, "Don't give me a script. I won' t read it." Right?
GUBER: Yeah, well, there's a reason. When you move up the food chain, you become more successful, you decide you can pay a higher price for the better material and you let the filtering system sort out the things that will just waste your time.
BART: So, how do you get a script read? If you're a neophyte writer, what the hell do you do?
GUBER: Well, what you do is, you find somebody, in essence, that vouch-safe for the material. It can be a producer, it can be an executive, it could be an agent, it could be an attorney, it could be somebody in the media, it could be an actor, it could be a director; somebody to give it celebrity and momentum. Somebody to vouch-safe for it so that when you give it to a financier they, in a sense, have that credibility from somebody that they respect and support. The trick, though, is to recognize that you could start low. You don't have to start very high. You don't have to try to get to the chairman of Universal or Warner Bros. to be read. And usually they won't read it. So, what you want to do is find those resources, resourcefulness in the marketplace and the networking of young people, in schools and film schools to get -
BART: Networking is so important. Networking is the key. But there's also -- there's a whole array of on-line support systems now. Ways to get, to get your script covered and to get advice from other writers. My favorite is called Scriptpimp.com. And, organizations like that have helped a lot of writers and - many of them claim - many of these on-line services claim that they have gotten representation for writers out there in Des Moines or Debuke. They've gotten representation for them and, therefore, got the script shown to studios.
GUBER: You know, there are a lot of young producers and a lot of young talent that's looking for material.
BART: That's right.
GUBER: You've gotta turn over every rock. You say I'm a writer, but the trick is you have to be a producer, too. You have to produce your career. You can't - no one else is gonna do that, so you have to be active in your own rescue. You have to find a way to create an environment that'll support your skill and your art. And that means, being out there, socializing, networking, that means creating a format for your material. I think today, creating a script is maybe the easiest way, in a sense, into the business because you have a product you can show. If you can get it written into a form that people will at least acknowledge, then you have a frame of reference for your talent.
BART: So, let me try a GUBERism: To sell a script is a triumph of will rather than a triumph of skill.
GUBER: Sure.
BART: Would you agree with that?
GUBER: Very good. Certainly, equally measured.
BART: The neophyte scriptwriter, I think, should prepare himself - should steal himself for two experiences. Experience one is: coverage. I mean, the first time you read coverage of your script, it is a shock because often the coverage has absolutely nothing to do with what you wrote. The other thing you've got to steal yourself to is when that producer or actor or whoever says, "I've got a small change. The small change is you take this character and you make him a woman instead of a guy." Now, these small changes always cause a complete rewriting of every word in the script. Isn' t that true? I mean, no one ever says, "I've got a little idea." The little idea always is massive and they don't know it.
GUBER: Well, a young writer has to recognize that their film will go through a metamorphosis, and if they can't really collaborate, they're going to have trouble creating an execution. Now, they might sell the screenplay outright, the way Shane Black did and make a bonanza of a, of a windfall when he did with - Lethal Weapon, I think, was his first project?
BART: Yup. That's right.
GUBER: Right out of film school?
BART: Right.
GUBER: But the idea is you still have to recognize that each one of those attempts at writing a screenplay is furthering your career, even if you don't sell it. Because you're improving your craft, you're learning how the system works. Ultimately, if you persevere, you will win.
BART: But once you sell it, if you're so lucky, it's no longer yours. And what may emerge, if you're lucky enough to see it on screen may have very little to do with what originally was in your head.
GUBER: Yeah. But, you know something? You gotta start somewhere.
