On various sites, I've read two contradictory ideas about this... Which of the following ideas is true?
1)People are interested in buying(and making) screenplays, so if yours is interesting and of good quality, someone will buy it from you. Or
2)Nobody is interested in spec screenplays, but they are used as writing samples so you can get assignments or rewrite other screenplays..
Both are true. The only thing not true is “Nobody is interested in
spec screenplays.”
Everybody is interested in spec screenplays.
Look at any movie made in the last 40/45 years and that writer
started with a screenplay written on speculation.
1) Producers will buy a spec screenplay if they believe that screenplay
will attract top talent.
2) Agents will read a spec screenplay, see the potential in the writing
and represent the writer.
On various sites you get people with various experiences and opinions
but that doesn't mean one is true and the other false – or even that
they contradict each other.
A writer will write a screenplay on “spec” - the speculation that it
will sell – and shop it around. In most cases that script will get to an
agency and an agent will decide to represent the writer. That script
will not sell and will not be made but it makes a great writing sample
showing the agent the writer can write well. So #2 is true.
In some cases a writer will get a spec screenplay directly to a producer
who likes it enough to option it. This is rare but it happens. So #1 is true.
In some cases a writer will write several spec screenplays, build a career
taking assignments and doing rewrites and THEN a producer will ask
that writer if they have anything they want to to see made. That first
spec screenplay then is sold. So both #1 and #2 are true.
But it all starts with that spec screenplay.
