Film Courage: We’ve imagined that you’ve
received your share of screenplay pitches or you’ve heard about others pitching. What are some of the wrong ways to pitch? What are some of the wrong ways to reach out
to someone? Shane Stanley, Filmmaker/Author/Instructor:
I think there is a right way and a wrong way to present people your work (your screenplays)
to approach them. I think if you break it down I think writers
need to be just as good if not better at writing a synopsis or a treatment. I like getting those two page treatments where
you know if it’s five acts it’s a paragraph per act, a title, a longline, a brief synopsis
and then the breakdown. I think if you can do that and basically summarize
what it is you’re trying to say I can tell in two minutes if this is a story I want to
read and I don’t need to see a script. But it’s really important you know the craft
of writing too because writing is a gift, writing is a craft and a lot of people don’t
understand the importance of good storytelling and because they’ve spent a year and a half
writing a script it doesn’t mean it’s good and they have to respect that a lot of
people get hit with so many scripts that they take it personally if you don’t want to
read it. We all have lives, we’re busy. We have business lives, personal lives, social
lives. We have all these things in our work life
and if somebody is kind, considerate and they reach out I always try to say okay I’ll
look at a synopsis but only if it’s copywritten. I need to see the copyright, registration
receipt. I don’t take anything without that. Make sure you have your work copywritten and
be kind and considerate in realizing that you’re not the only person who had a script
who needs read and reading a script does take people a couple of hours out of their day
and how many people do you know that you don’t know who would take two hours out of a day
for a stranger to just read your script. I just think it’s about the presentation. It’s about knowing how to write a synopsis
or a treatment that can lure a reader or decision maker to want to know more about what you’re
doing is really important. Film Courage: How often do you receive cold
pitches? Shane: You know it’s not that often. I get a lot of inquiries which I really appreciate. I don’t mind people asking. I’m an open book. Anybody can email me (info (at) ShaneStanley(dot)
net). I don’t care…it’s how it’s done. For me when I just get an email that’s just
shot and I know it’s shot I don’t even look at it. I just write back and say I don’t accept
unsolicited material and I cc [carbon copy] my lawyer. I cc my manager and I write them back. And I say hey you know you sent this to me
unsolicited. I am not interested in seeing this, this is
not how to do it. Appreciate it if you have somebody who reps
you if they want to reach out to my manager or lawyer, that’s a different story and
I never hear back from them again and that’s just the end of it who reach out genuinely
because I do so much work with the colleges that I will that I will encounter a writer
three years ago and they will write and say Dear Shane, you gave a workshop at my in Florida
a few years ago. I finished a screenplay and really enjoyed
your talk…may I send it to you? I always write back and say I’m not going
to read your screenplay right now but if you want to send me…copyright everything…I
go through…copyright everything. I need to see that it’s been registered/certified/copywritten
with the USCO [The United States Copyright Office] I will gladly look at a treatment
and we can go from there and usually they are pretty cool about it. I don’t mind reading those. I don’t. I’m not going to read scripts. I just don’t have the time and I know that’s
terribly heady to say but I just don’t. I’m a slow reader. Film Courage: Shane what are the top five
reasons you will reject a screenplay? Let’s say it’s well written, it’s formatted
but there is just something that’s not working for you? Shane: You know in rejecting a screenplay
the first thing writers should never take it personally. Art is nothing but opinion. I mean think about how many great scripts
got made years after the fact, after they were turned down and rejected by so many other
filmmakers. It’s about first and foremost it’s about
the project connecting with the person you’re sending it to. Just because I made a movie about football
and had success with it doesn’t mean I want to make another movie about football. I also want to evolve as a filmmaker so what’s
important is that you never take it personally. I would hope that if you do read a script
and I think there is something there that I would at least write, I would always try
to make it a point to write the writer or contact the writer and say Look I’ve got
to be honest with you you’re talented. I like what you’re doing. I know somebody who I think would appreciate
you, let me help you. I have no problem with that and one of the
writers that I work with and one of my favorites to work with is CJ Walley, he’s the guy
with Script Revolution out of the UK and our relationship kicked off by reading one of
his scripts that was beautifully done. I would never make the movie. I couldn’t sell the movie but it didn’t
mean he can’t write. I read his words, I read his set-ups, I know
his character arcs and I read his theory on breaking down scripts and doing proper treatments
and synopses and this guy had it all together and for me it was like Hey dude, I love your
writing. I have a project I’m going to do. I want you to write it. We were able to work together and we’ve
written several scripts together and that came because I read a script that I would
never make but I knew the writer was good. So it’s not always about the script. I don’t think spec scripts get made much
anymore. Filmmakers have an idea of what they want. We have actors that they know what they want
to do. We have buyers and sales agents who know what
they can sell at the moment and we have an audience trend that right now doing a drama,
living in an apartment is not going to sell. We’ve all been locked in because of 2020
for 6 months in our four walls. We want to be outside, we want to laugh. I don’t want to hear about your problems,
I don’t want to think about my problems. So if we’re selling scripts right now and
you’re trying to pitch it better be adventure, it better be funny, it better have romance,
it better get me out on the water, I want it to get me out in the desert, I want to
go on travel. These are the things that you constantly have
to think about and writers are very myopic and that’s okay. We get in a box and it’s all about this
and you have to realize’s actors, there is money that has to be raised, there’s
directors that have to come on board, there’s teams of people who have to capture the vision
to make this happen and after that is all said and done is can it be sold? Are there those 7 trailer moments in this
script that we know we can sell? Is there an output worldwide? Or is this just going to appeal to one place? These are the things that a lot of writers
don’t think about - the business of the business. It’s not just whether your script is good,
so much of it is about where is it going to sell? You’re still selling a widget. Are you selling a widget that only appeals
to one out of every 5,000 people? Or are you selling a widget that everybody
kind of needs? That’s how you have to look at it when making
a script. Film Courage: And what are those 7 trailer
moments? Shane: I don’t think they are anything specific,
I think they’re the catch phrases. They are those hero moments if you’re telling
an action story. Like take any two minute super trailer that
you see and you’ll see those 5 to 9 moments that you know are important in the film. They are the tent poles of the story, they
are the catchphrases, they are that huge explosion or that great moment in the chase, it’s
the the love scene real quick, it’s the action running, it’s those things and they’re
not anything consistent but your story has got to be able to tell the executives who
don’t read scripts and don’t know much. It’s got to tell them that I can sell this. That’s all it is, it’s ‘can I sell it?’ Some of the relationships I have with sales
agents and buyers they don’t read the scripts, they want the synopsis, they want mock art,
they want to see a mock poster that me and a writer make in two hours on photoshop and
say here is your kind of idea for the image, here’s your logline, here’s your title,
and they will tell you right then and there “Yeah, I can sell it.” That’s how these decisions are made. Film Courage: Wow…so why the treatment? Why not just come up with a great poster and
logline? Shane: Well I think that is it but you also
have to have a script to shoot and finance so ultimately you’re going to need the script
but I think that’s all part of the package because so many people from the filmmakers
side. I don’t write as much but if I have a writer
that’s done a script I expect the synopsis and the treatment to be as good if not better
than the script. It’s got to be because I know there is always
three scripts, the one you write, the one you shoot, and the one you cut. The treatment is what you’re really selling
overall. Executives are not going to read the script. They just want a two-page synopsis and throw
me some mock-art so I know what I’m selling. And they’ll tell you tell me in five minutes
I can sell it or you’re going to find somebody else. I can’t do anything with this, it’s not
my wheelhouse. Okay. And then we make the decision do we believe
in this enough to roll the dice and struggle and pull teeth and try to get it somewhere
else or do we listen to people we trust and say this is not the one to do? That’s our development process. It’s very quick. We don’t go through the years of development
or months. It’s here’s the idea, I’ll pitch the
idea to my buyers if they like it I say okay they like it let’s do the synopsis and then
I get them the synopsis sometimes with some mock art and then they’ll either say okay
the idea is good act two you can’t do this in act two. This I can’t sell. Tweak it this way. And then they’ll go Oh in Act 4, maybe in
Act 5 it’s happening too soon or can you bring the villain in sooner? Those are the kind of conversations we have
and then it’s just the table is set and the writer can go do it. The spec script is very hard to sell. I think spec scripts are great calling if
somebody can write or not. I found a tremendous writer through the community
college during 2020 who I take a lot of pride in and not only got her a manager she got
a job like writing a script for hire for a very substantial production company and this
is one of my Zoom students from the community colleges that reached out to me (you were
asking the right way and wrong way) and she reached out to me, she had take three or four
of my Zoom classes with a community college, lovely woman, very articulate, kind, no expectations
just I would really appreciate it, I would love to share my work with you. Here is where I want to go in my career and
she’s an older woman, her son is like my age. She’s been around and she has worked around
the industry but never really flourished as a writer and I finally said email me your
synopsis and I looked at it and I said Oh my gosh, I know somebody who is looking for
this. I said I’m not going to read your script,
send it to me. I’ll send it to somebody who knows this
company and the guy read the script and called me up and goes “Who is this woman? She’s really good.” And we got her an agent and three weeks later
she actually got a work for hire on a greenlit film but they greenlit on the concept and
they liked her enough to say you were a writer for this and she’s on her second polish
on it and they’re getting ready to go into production I think in January. It’s greenlit. Film Courage: Wow. How common is that? Shane: Not very. But I say that to inspire because there are
ways and again it came from being kind, it came from being kind, it came from being a
familiar face, it came from somebody who reached out with a tender heart and a gracious heart
to understand and respect my schedule and maybe I didn’t want to read it and understood
when I said I don’t want to read your script but let me look at the synopsis and then I
was like there is something here and I said I’m going to send the synopsis to somebody
I think would like this and if they do you need to have a script ready and that’s how
it went. Film Courage: In synopsis king? Shane: In this day and age of instant information
and being able to get answers quickly I suggest that it’s definitely that is put to the
forefront. Going back to people’s time and we’ve
developed this instant gratification generation of getting it on the phone and I’ll get
you answer, let met ask Siri. I think a lot of us have put that into our
workflow. I know what my days are. I hit the ground, I am working by 5:00, 5:30
in the morning even when I am not making a movie and my wife is usually saying alright
honey it’s getting late. This is when we’re not doing a movie. I am immersed in my work so take two hours
a day to read a script, it doesn’t fit. I don’t schedule read days so my feeling
if you want to write and you want to get seen by filmmakers who are busy I suggest you learn
how to build a treatment besides being a good screenwriter, learn how to do a treatment,
learn how to do a synopsis. There is a web platform based in the United
Kingdom called Script Revolution. It was created by CJ Walley. I find if you’re a writer I suggest you
go and check it out, it’s a free site. I think you will be blown away on the way
it breaks down how you write not only the screenplay but the treatment, the synopsis,
the act breakdowns. He has created something called Turn and Burn
which is a really cool theory and I think once you understand that as a writer your
treatments are going to flourish which are going to make people in a position of making
movies get more excited about what it is you’re doing and what you’re trying to say. I think the treatment and the synopsis is
so important. The script ultimately is but if I read a great
synopsis and a great treatment I will be more forgiving on the script knowing where ultimately
this could go whereas if I just get a mediocre script and it’s okay and done I don’t
see the vision that you caught me in a page or two so I am a big proponent for the treatment. Film Courage: And sorry real quickly what
is the Turn and Burn? Shane: That’s a good question, that’s
for him to answer. If you go on the website, if you go onto Script
Revolution(dot)com there is a whole sub-chapter about Turn and Burn and is his theory and
how he creates the synopsis and it’s a whole map of like 10 different sayings that he has
that I could never relay. I don’t write anymore but it all makes sense
when I have collaborated with him or other writers that are part of his platform, it’s
really about developing the treatment, develop the treatment so the script process is easy. It’s like as I talk about in my book [WHAT
YOU DON’T LEARN IN FILM SCHOOL: A Complete Guide To (Independent) Filmmaking] the most
important thing about filmmaking is the pre-production time. I work myself hard during pre-production so
production is fun and easy, that’s how it’s supposed to be. You know pro football players will tell you
work Monday through Saturday and you get paid to play on Sunday, that’s how it should
be when you write, that’s how it should be when you make a movie and what they’ve
done at Script Revolution is they have basically given you training camp, hell week and practice
in the treatment side so the writing of the script is actually fast, efficient and right
on point and there is no surprises and that’s what most filmmakers, development executives
get concerned about is writers going down rabbit holes they weren’t supposed to go
down, going off track. If your treatment is in order everything is
expected you are just filling up the pages with witty dialogue, with fun. To give you an example when working on this
film we developed we got a six-page treatment that’s the five acts, it’s the character
breakdown, who everybody is, what the point of the show is, what’s the logline, what’s
the synopsis. We’ve gotten four acts in seven days. There is not one surprise except happy surprises
because we all know where this is, there are four of us that have all been involved in
doing the film that are from a decision-making capacity. Not one of us have been thrown a bump, a roadblock,
a speed bump. Nobody has been like Oh my gosh, what’s
going on? And it was because the way the treatment was
handled going in. It’s so paramount. Film Courage: And speaking of bumps, I don’t
know if you’re reading my mind, but I was just going to bring up Goosebumps. That’s so funny, it was the next thing I
was going to say was that author R.L. Stine I guess the creator of Goosebumps he talked
about how he knows the ending and he writes this treatment or whatever and then once he
knows the ending he can go back and he can fool the audience and it’s effortless writing
but it’s just getting that structure in place. Shane: And I know in the way that they do
these treatments they will often have 17 blank pages and start on page 17 and work backwards. It’s not uncommon. It’s interesting and there are different
ways for it to work for everybody but it’s just kind of basically a way to think about
it and I think once you capture that whether you are a writer or not you see what he’s
doing “Oh I get it!” And too many of us when I used to hack away
I would just sit there and come up with a title and write Fade In: and tell my story. Sometimes I got luck and sold a few scripts,
I did okay. But as I got older my mind wasn’t as fast,
I wasn’t as creative. I had kind of burned a lot of that creative
energy telling stories and becoming a filmmaker, editor, producer, director. I wasn’t just sitting for weeks at a time
writing so I learned later in life how important a treatment is. It’s so important to know what it is you’re
going to do and it’s great when you can surprise yourself as a writer but to know
where you’re going, to know the purpose of each scene, to know the arcs, the backstories
that aren’t going to be on the page of each character I think if you as a creator know
all that you’d be amazed all the stories you can tell. It’s just smooth sailing. Film Courage: Shane we’ve heard you say
“Send us the treatment.” We’ve heard on our side people say “Okay
I sent them a treatment, it was a 20-page treatment, is that okay?” Is that too long? Shane: I think in first pass I think again
you need to be considerate of the reader. When I say send a treatment I would like a
title, I’d like to know who it was written by, I’d love to see a logline, and then
I’d like to see a two-page synopsis. Give me a paragraph per act, that it, that’s
all I need. I could either say yeah I like this I want
to see a script or I could say you know what? If you have a more in-depth treatment breaking
down some things, back story on the characters, cast size, I’d love to see it. Then I would expect that 10 to 12 to 20 page
treatment. It’s not that you shouldn’t have them. I feel when I say you need to be versed as
a writer in writing synopsises and treatments, those are two separate things that are equally
as important. I am only going to read a synopsis first. I just want to see a page or two on what you’re
doing and if that instills not quite enough interest to see the script but I’m intrigued
enough to say I want to know more that’s when that 20-page treatment or whatever it
is that you’ve done is important. Obviously not a 90-page treatment then just
send me the script but you know what I mean. I think the synopsis is king. It’s just let’s ignite that fire, spark
interest and if you get that have the treatment ready but hopefully the script is there and
tight and good. That was a great questions, it is because
some people send you like a paragraph and you’re like that’s it? I always say a synopsis should just be a paragraph
per…you know a treatment is a paragraph per act and then the breakdowns but a synopsis
should be about a page and a half, two pages and if you need more than that to tell the
story you’ve got to re-look at your story, it’s too confusing, it’s too long, it’s
too hodgepodgy, you’ve got to tighten it up. Question For The Viewers: Do you send out
treatments before you send out your screenplays?
