Читать книгу Breaking into Acting For Dummies - Larry Garrison - Страница 28

Everyone has an idea for a good story, but what really counts is the way the story is told and packaged with actors, directors, and other professionals. In the world of film, a writer writes a script and tries to market it. In the world of television, people usually create a treatment instead of a full script. The treatment includes a short description of the story and the characters involved, and typically ranges from one to six pages in length. If you have your own treatment, make sure you register it with the Writer’s Guild or copyright it with the U.S. government, and most importantly, when you submit it a company, do it in writing. While others may have the same idea at the same time, you must be able to prove that your project was submitted to a production company to protect your property.

Without proof of access to your project, anyone can steal it. Be careful who you verbally pitch your project to.

Sometimes, studios or production companies pay enormous amounts of money for a treatment — with no guarantee that the final script, based on that treatment, will be any good. Other times, a studio may pay a minimal amount of money for a treatment and wait for the entire script to be completed before spending any more money.

In many cases, several writers may work together to put words to an idea. Sometimes, writers may create a script in hopes that someone will buy and produce that script (called a spec script), and other times, a production company may hire writers to create a script from a story idea that they already own.

If you can write or direct, you can increase your chances of breaking into show business. Many actors got their big break by writing their own script to star in, such as Sylvester Stallone with Rocky and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with their film Good Will Hunting. If you’re an actress and you want to direct, Regina King first-time directed and produced One Night in Miami. Other actors have written one-man shows that they perform in theaters, which is an excellent way to showcase your talent for agents and casting directors. (Chapter 7 has more tips on how you can showcase your talents and get recognized in the business.)

Just because a studio either options or purchases the rights to a script doesn’t necessarily mean that the script will ever get produced. Many screenplays for films circulate various studios for years before someone finally makes it into a film.