Book review by Charles Deemer

 

HOW TO SELL YOUR SCREENPLAY

by Lydia Wilen & Joan Wilen

Square One Writers Guides, 2001

309pp, $17.95

ISBN 0-7570-0002-9

 

THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO SELLING YOUR SCREENPLAY

by Cynthia Whitcomb

The Writer Books, 2002

195pp, $16.95

ISBN 0-87116-192-3

 

THE SCRIPT SELLING GAME

by Kathie Fong Yoneda

Michael Wiese Productions, 2002

193pp, $14.95

ISBN 0-941188-44-2

 

 

            Here are three books on marketing your completed spec script. Two I can recommend without reservation, one as what I consider to be the best book in the field hands down. The third has much useful information but should not be the first marketing book you buy and certainly not the only one.

 

            I have several problems with the latter, which is Yoneda's book: it is weakly structured, poorly produced (it has no index), and confusing in defining its audience. In fact, it is more suited for screenwriters who already have moved to Los Angeles and already made some contacts and opened some doors. This is not a book for the beginning screenwriter in Nebraska who wants to know how to market a spec script. There are excellent sections on live pitching but little on how to make a pitch happen in the first place. Overall, this book gives a false impression that selling a screenplay is easier than it is.

 

            The best chapters are two: "Talkin' the Talk -- Industry-speak aka What the Hell are They Talking About?" in which Yoneda reviews common communication between producers and writers and translates it into what really is being said; and "Beware of the Big Eight -- the Eight Most Common Mistakes Why a Script Can Be Rejected" (number one, the slow opening; others are the mid-story sag and the yakkety-yak trap, scripts filled with meaningless speeches). These chapters are well worth reading by anyone serious about craft and marketing. But this book is not a good stand-alone marketing text, especially when compared to the two other books before us.

 

            Cynthia Whitcomb's book is beautifully structured, personally and passionately written, and full of solid good advice. Unlike Yoneda's book, this one is aimed specially at those beginning screenwriters who do not live in Southern California. Whitcomb divides her book into three parts: Breaking In, Getting Work, and Your Screenwriting Career, a sensible direction that mirrors most careers. Whitcomb is always aware of her audience: one chapter is called "Keeping Your Spirits Up on the Way to Breaking In." A specially strong section is called "The Green Light: From Script to Film," in which she takes the reader step-by-step through the process of turning a screenplay into a movie.

 

            Whitcomb's supportive tone is what many beginning screenwriters will love most about this book. She's been where you are, and she's on your side. "Above all," she writes, "as you make your way through the nonsensical, meandering path of a Hollywood screenwriting career, no matter what you encounter, don't let it kill off your love of movies. Especially those most private screenings that play first and best on the movie screen of your mind."

           

            A wonderful bonus in this book is an Epilogue written by Nicholl winner Mike Rich, author of Finding Forrester and The Rookie, an inspirational success story if ever there was one. This book makes you feel anything is possible while never for a moment giving a false impression of the competitive reality of the Hollywood marketplace.

 

            Our final book by the Wilens is the best book on marketing a screenplay I have seen. If Whitcomb's book is like a fine, small independent movie, HOW TO SELL YOUR SCREENPLAY is like a Hollywood blockbuster. With large design and resource budgets, this book is filled with features and sidebars that set it aside from everything else on the market. Moreover, the authors have a very specific marketing strategy in mind for the beginning screenwriter, which they present in great detail. It's not the only way to go about marketing a script and building a career but their method is solid and sensible. Moreover, it gives their book a tone that is specific and goal-oriented, losing the theoretical tone that is in so many marketing books. This is like a recipe book -- if follow these steps, you will greatly improve your chances of selling a script. And if you follow the steps and still haven't made a sale, they tell you how to trouble shoot the problem.

 

            Two special features in this book are hugely informative. "Prose from a Pro" are sidebars written by industry professionals on topics within each chapter. Even more useful to writers, end-of-chapter sections called "From Script to Screen" feature screenwriters telling the development story of their own scripts. It's both inspiration and informative to learn about the hard times established screenwriters experienced before they became established.

 

            I can't find a single fault with this book, not one thing that should be included but isn't. This is a rare gem of a book, comprehensive and easy to read and use, honest and full of specific examples (including a contract sample for collaborative writers), an impressive A-to-Z handbook of marketing the spec script today. This book is an extraordinary achievement and one I will recommend strongly to my serious students. If you buy only one marketing book, this is the one to get.

 

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Charles Deemer teaches screenwriting at Portland State University and has optioned six screenplays. He is the author of an electronic screenwriting tutorial, Screenwright. His new book  is What Happens Next? An Introduction to Screenwriting.