THE LIES YOU'VE BEEN TOLD

I've been writing, producing and trying to get my movies distributed for 25 years. I went to one of those seminars by some formerly famous screenwriter who now can only sell how to get your screenplay produced in Hollywood. Well it's a lie. The biggest lie next to, the checks in the mail. You can't get your screenplay produced in Hollywood. Do you know why? Because Hollywood's already producing your screenplay. They call it "already in development". What does that mean? That means that your great original idea about a giant slug that terrorizes a small un-important town, has allegedly already been written by someone else, sold and is awaiting the proverbial " green light" somewhere inside the massive Hollywood machine. How is that possible? Isn't this the same Hollywood that makes every movie they produce into a sequel? The same Hollywood that has this innate fear of trying something new. The same Hollywood that hasn't had an original idea since Johnny Wisemuller swung through the trees as Tarzan? So than, I pose this question. How can Hollywood already have my great original idea in development? My idea! No one else's. To answer that question we have to turn back the pages to the days of CB Demille and Samuel Goldwyn. They ran the studios and directed some of the biggest blockblusters of their time. Mr. Demille would be like the George Lucas and Steven Spielberg of the 30's and 40's. Rumor is that more people died making Mr. Demille's movies then World War I. You are probably asking yourself what has this got to do with Hollywood having my great idea in development. It's simple. Those huge blockbuster movies in the 30's and 40's made a lot of money for the studios. In fact before that, Hollywood almost went broke. But Mr. Goldwyn said, by they way the first four letters in Goldwyn is GOLD. If you remember, Hollywood's GOLDen years were during Goldwyns reign. But back to the business. In fact that's exactly why your great idea is already in development. Because Hollywood is a business. The business of not making movies, but making money. Now how can Hollywood make money if they have to buy every stinking lousy script that they like just a little bit of. AHA! There is the answer. You have written this great original script about a giant slug that terrorizes a town, but a studio suit, thats the guy who get paid more in one hour then you will ever see in your lifetime, thinks that the slug should attack a bigger town, one that has Julia Roberts as the sheriff. Are you seeing how this works? So instead of paying you for your script so that they can use the slug bit, they tell you. AHEM! "Well that's a great story, but we already have a giant slug script in development." You believe them, because it's a giant studio in Hollywood and they would never lie to you.

I have been in hundreds of pitch meetings with the giants of the industry. I have written 30 scripts and produced two of them. I continue to read about my ideas being developed by the studios. Ideas that I pitched and was told they already had it in development. Now you are probably saying to yourself. You have to pitch or you'll never get anywhere. That is true. A grim truth of the industry and one that will never change. So how do you get Hollywood to pay for your ideas and not steal them. Unfortunately I do not have the answer, being a victim of the Hollywood shuffle myself. What I can say is that if you don't pitch your alternative is to produce it yourself. That is the road that I have taken lately. However that is a bit rocky when you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make your epic and can't distribution for it. I will discuss that in later blogs.

Even if you register your script, idea or what have you, you are not protected. You can't copyright an idea. So that means that Hollywood can steal an idea from your script legally. Hollywood call's it creative freedom. I call it a crime. There are literally thousands of readers in all of the studios who read scripts. I know for a fact that these readers log ideas into a database from the thousands of scripts that they read. This data base than becomes the idea pool for hundreds of movies using your ideas, that you received no compensation for. How many times have you gone to the movies and actually saw an idea that you pitched or sent to a studio in the movie you are watching? Hollywood denies the existence of this "idea data base". Many famous screenwriters call it the Morgue. I personally know screenwriters who will visit the hallowed halls of WGA, better known as Writers Guild of America. These writers will sort through the thousands of scripts that they have on file, under the guise of research. Again your ideas being used without any compensation. But there is compensation. Plenty of it. As the writer who is borrowing your ideas, is getting paid several million dollars for his script. The script for Transformers 2. Paramount reportedly paid three million dollars for it. Since the movie grossed 400 million dollars, I guess that was a good deal. I bet your ideas ended up in the new Transformer's movie. But in Hollywood's defense. Without this creative freedom, they would not be able to afford to make movies. Well lets look at how much Hollywood can't afford to make movies. The budget for Transformers 2, by the way I like it a lot, was over 160 million dollars. The budget for GI Joe was 120 million dollar. Star Trek was over 110 million dollars. Even a non action sci fi movie like Funny People, cost over 75 million dollar. What in the hell is going on. Because of these out of control costs, Hollywood needs the creative freedom to steal our ideas and scripts. Yet they still are paying their scribes, screenwriter lingo, 6 and seven figures. Now I'm sure that these high paid writers deserve ever million they get. Stealing, I mean writing a good script is not easy. Not everyone can do it. Of course not everyone can do it when every idea that gets pitched to the studios is already in development.

In closing here is my solution to the problem. It simple, elegant and effective. Fire the studio bastards. 

Thank you

JR