How to get a Hollywood Movie Deal

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How to Get a Hollywood Movie Deal
(Go here for a proven course on screenplay writing)

Rob Parnell

Here's the exact strategy we used to get from nothing to having a Hollywood movie deal in less than 30 months.

1. Make the decision

You gotta start somewhere. When I suggested to Robyn we try to get a movie deal, we first thought it was a silly idea. How could we possibly go from Morphett Vale freelance writers to contenders for an Oscar?

But the more we thought about it, we decided, "Hey, someone's got to be writing these movies. How hard can it be?"

Ah, the arrogance of naivety!

I guess a lot of people fantasize about this stuff - but the difference was, back then, we made a commitment to try. Actually not to try, but to DO. This was important, because we would need that commitment to see us through some of the tough times ahead.

2. Brainstorm

So we asked ourselves, "What kind of stories does Hollywood like?"

Clearly, big emotionally charged stories with a strong visual element. They like heroes and good acting parts. They like action, drama and unusual settings.

More than anything, we decided, they liked a spectacle - and a story that would sound appealing in just one sentence. (We didn't realize at the time just how close we were to how Hollywood works!)

3. Picking a Story

After inventing many possible story ideas (literally, just a lead character and an intriguing scenario) we eventually picked an idea that we thought would appeal to Hollywood - a disaster type movie, set in the distant past. (We can't let you know the details - we're still working on it!)

4. First submission round

Then we did something all the books say you shouldn't. We submitted the idea directly to about a dozen directors, movie stars and Hollywood production companies. We were green, you see, we just did what seemed logical - but is in fact, forbidden!

Whatever, we had this huge Hollywood director call us - actually it was his creative assistant - and ask us lots of embarrassing questions like, "Who's your agent? Can you sign a release form? Do you have all the rights to this idea?" etc. We bumbled our way through while the Hollywood production company considered the idea for a few weeks.

Perhaps inevitably, they passed on the idea BUT the experience gave us hope. First time out - through sheer fluke - we realized we were on to something. Against all the odds, we knew we had what it took to get Hollywood's attention. That gave us a lot of confidence.

5. Second submission round

We thought we'd try something closer to home and pitched a different movie idea to about 20 Australian producers.

We used a combination of email and snail mail. Basically we wrote a short pitch paragraph, outlining the story idea, and then mentioned who we were - a couple of wannabes from Morphett Vale!

Wham. One of the film companies bit and called us in for a meeting to discuss the idea.

Now, you have to realize that at this time, we had done no real writing and we had no script. We sat in the office of the producer (he had about half a dozen big movie credits) and said we were looking for a writer to help us develop the project - mainly because we'd heard that you couldn't get funding without a 'name' writer.

"Nonsense," said the producer. "I think you two should write it. Start with a treatment - and call me in a couple of weeks."

6. Some actual writing

We were flying so high on the trip back home, we had much of the story idea fleshed out by the time we parked the car in our driveway. We started writing the opening scenes immediately.

That night we played pool and bounced around ideas for the characters and their relationships. We came up with locations, back-story and ways of resolving our heroes' agendas. We had the main thrust of the story in our heads.

Over the next couple of weeks we passed the treatment back and forth, writing about 20 odd pages - single spaced - that told the story in present tense story form.

7. Moving along quickly

We emailed the treatment to the producer and he loved it. We were invited into the production office again to discuss deals, money and nuances of the story. We even discussed when they'd schedule the movie for release.

We were to write the script they said - with the help of a script editor. In retrospect, we should have heard the alarm bells ringing at this point but we were so excited we've have agreed to anything, pretty much.

(Not a good idea, by the way, not as a long term strategy anyway. Always remember, there's a reason why writers have unions!)

8. More writing

Over the next couple of months, we wrote the screenplay. We studied some books and websites on the craft, mainly to get the formatting right, and kept going while the film production company applied for funding and gave us a small advance. We lived and breathed the screenplay and gave it our very best shot.

Eventually we submitted it back to the director. He grinned from ear to ear, treated us like royalty - and the script editor almost cried when he extolled our talent and ingenuity.

9. False start, false promises

Then the trouble started. It was time to sign some contracts.

Despite the promises, the producer would not give us the deal we wanted. We only wanted the standard minimum. That's all. We got an agent to help us negotiate. We got the AWG involved. We got an expensive lawyer. All to no avail.

It got ugly. The production company wanted to take the movie from us and make it themselves - and give the writing credit to the script editor - a man scarcely able to write his own name, let alone a screenplay - and who had barely looked at the script, much less helped us with it.

Anyway, after months of disappointing heartache and pointless wrangling, we ended up with a legal document that said the script and story idea was ours and that the production company was 'letting go' of the project.

10. Licking our wounds

I guess at this point, many people would have given up. But actually, we never considered it. We just put it down to an experience that needed to happen - to warn us of the pitfalls in the business, and to teach us to never act so dumb again.

Nevertheless, there was one majorly good outcome, we decided: we had a script that rocked. After all, why else would a movie producer, of some note, fight so hard to have it for himself?

11. The wilderness

It was clear that if we were going to progress in this business, we'd need some education in its finer points.

We steeped ourselves in the industry. We watched movies, we attended writer's seminars and met with other producers. We networked and tried to learn as much as possible.

We applied for funding grants and got knocked back. We talked to the funding bodies and asked what we were doing wrong. Nothing, they said, just keep going.

12. Third submission round

We went back to basics and started submitting pitches again at producers and directors. As before, out of list of around 20, one producer bit. Over a conversation on Skype, he agreed to represent our story before he'd even read it - we think because he liked us and because our enthusiasm for movies was so apparent.

After he'd read the script and loved it, he asked us to write a treatment for another movie for him - one of his pet projects. We agreed. We also went to a Christmas party with his family, which we took as a very positive sign.

13. To cut the story short

Our attitude had changed somewhat. We were now more relaxed about the screenplay writing thing. We continued to come up with more ideas and work on screenplays in between our normal writing commitments. There's always those pesky bills to pay, after all.

We joined a scriptwriting group and found other aspiring hopefuls like ourselves. We talked movies and watched movies, studying technique and the art. But basically, we trusted our new producer and we did what all artists have to do plenty of, we waited.

14. All things come

Out of the blue, about two years after we started this thing, we got a call from our trusted producer. He'd been pitching a number of his projects to film people from all over the world. One American producer apparently liked our ideas.

Our producer was asking permission to send the US producer our screenplay. We agreed, of course. The US producer read it twice and immediately got back to us, full of praise. He wanted to show the script to a Hollywood director he knew.

The director read it and wanted to make it into a movie...

The rest, as they say, is happening as we speak.

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