Net Sites Help New Screenwriters
October 31st, 2003
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hollywood is legendary in its ability to make things difficult for unproven screenwriters. So perhaps it's only natural that dozens if not hundreds of Internet sites sprang quickly to action to help struggling writers get their scripts read by the right people.
The problem now is in separating the useful online services from the useless ones.
"There's a lot of scams out there," said Chris Wehner, author of "Screenwriting on the Internet: Researching, Writing and Selling Your Script on the Web."
Wehner founded ScreenWritersUtopia.com in 1995 after discovering how hard it was to pitch scripts to Hollywood while living in Grand Junction, Colo.
"I optioned a script to a producer, then he died," he said. "So I wasn't having much luck."
Sympathetic budding screenwriters nationwide flocked to his site, and in 2001, he launched the Global Literary Market, where 400 people pay $15 every six months so that their work might be perused online by 500 registered agents and producers.
Wehner acknowledges he entered a crowded space populated by the likes of Inktip.com, ScriptShark.com, ScriptPimp.com and HollywoodLitSales.com, which he calls four of the better online script services.
What should one look for when choosing a service? "If you can't get on the phone and talk to somebody, that's a warning sign," he said. Also, check out their "success stories," which are usually posted at their sites for all to see, and make sure they haven't changed ownership too often.
HollywoodLitSales founder Howard Meibach disagrees with the bit about the telephone. "I'd get calls at three in the morning, 'Hey, I got a great idea for a movie,"' he says.
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The problem now is in separating the useful online services from the useless ones.
"There's a lot of scams out there," said Chris Wehner, author of "Screenwriting on the Internet: Researching, Writing and Selling Your Script on the Web."
Wehner founded ScreenWritersUtopia.com in 1995 after discovering how hard it was to pitch scripts to Hollywood while living in Grand Junction, Colo.
"I optioned a script to a producer, then he died," he said. "So I wasn't having much luck."
Sympathetic budding screenwriters nationwide flocked to his site, and in 2001, he launched the Global Literary Market, where 400 people pay $15 every six months so that their work might be perused online by 500 registered agents and producers.
Wehner acknowledges he entered a crowded space populated by the likes of Inktip.com, ScriptShark.com, ScriptPimp.com and HollywoodLitSales.com, which he calls four of the better online script services.
What should one look for when choosing a service? "If you can't get on the phone and talk to somebody, that's a warning sign," he said. Also, check out their "success stories," which are usually posted at their sites for all to see, and make sure they haven't changed ownership too often.
HollywoodLitSales founder Howard Meibach disagrees with the bit about the telephone. "I'd get calls at three in the morning, 'Hey, I got a great idea for a movie,"' he says.
read more
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