Every amateur, non-professional writer I meet wants to sell something that seems like a screenplay. I call them non-professional because they have never sold a script successfully. By the way I am the one who thinks they are amateur and I say that because they haven’t honed their skill. They think they’ve poured enough creative juice into the script and believe that their first script is so great! They’re going to sell it and make millions of naira.Unless you’re some sort of writing prodigy (and they do exist), your first script is guaranteed to stink. It’s like asking a medical student to perform brain surgery on their first day at medical school. As with any skill or art form, it takes time to get your writing craft up to a professional level, no matter how many books you read or seminars you attend.
The best way to learn is by DOING it and getting honest, intelligent, constructive criticism on your work. Don’t even think of sending out your work to a producer or production companies until you’ve written at least 3 scripts and they’ve been read and critiqued by either your writing peers or professional consultants. Most writers don’t hit their stride until they’ve written at least 5 scripts on average.
Selling screenplays in Nigeria is very tricky. Most producers commission a writer to write and hands out a brief the writer must follow. In the event that the producer doesn’t have a brief and is just looking for a finished screenplay, he even has specifics in mind.
The producer is like a customer going to the market to buy a pair of trousers; he already knows the color, the material and the size that fits him. So even if a writer has an archive of screenplays on his shelf, when a producer enters to make purchase, God help you if you have what he wants on your shelf.
It is okay to have five different screenplays on your shelf; you never can tell when a producer’s taste will match yours. If you must sell a screenplay at all, sell your screenplay the stellarmovies’way.
- Acquaint yourself with a seasoned producer.
- Get his email address and forward an excerpt of your script.
- Call to find out if it works for him and book an appointment.
- Pitch your story.
- If he likes it, discuss fee and royalties.
- Sign an agreement.
- Then go ahead to write a great screenplay.
- Enjoy the selling process.
2 comments:
nice write up....i enjoyed reading it!lets have more tips...by the way watched kamson nd neighbors the HIV one.
Another thing to do is to:
1. keep a paper trail, that is whenever you send a mail, copy yourself as well. it is foolproof that whatever you sent, the receiver cannot deny ever receiving it from you.
2. Discuss money last. clarify every other things first.
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