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Short for Sale

E

EditRamsay

This short is based on a full-lenth screenplay that is already written (was my master's degree thesis).
Name: Rebecca Ramsay
Title: The Hidden Truth
Genre: Drama
Length: 30 pages
WG Member: No
Represented: No
Email: editramsay@earthlink.net
Logline: For San Diego-based journalist Cassandra Nightly, the road forward becomes the road back. In a country dying for AIDS medicine, exposing the corruption in Namibia, Africa is only half the adventure. But how do you tell the truth to an audience that doesn’t want it? In an industry deteriorating under media deregulation, Cassandra fights to make manifest The Hidden Truth.
 
Welcome...

I assume this is for the script... is that correct?

At what price are you looking to option the script for?
 
Yes, this is for the script.

The short is $2,500. I have not priced the full-length version. But I'm very willing to negotiate on both.
 
Have you considered getting the short produced in order to sell the feature? For $2.5k it must be an awesome short! :cool: It might be better to find a great director to make the short with on a $2.5k budget, and then use that to sell the feature.

Also, suppose you sold it for $2.5k - and the film they made sucked - what would that do to the prospects for your feature? You just assigned away all rights for the short!
 
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The other problem is that if the short is purchased and all rights given to the purchaser, YOU may be in copyright infringement if you go for the feature. Like, if I make a short and get funding to do a feature of that same short, Well I OWN the short and if you make a feature from MY short, isnt' there some sort of law against that? :hmm:

Becareful...

If someone actually takes you up on your offer and purchases the short, I would suggest that your contract be very specific. If you retain the rights to the story and the characters, then what are they actually buying? :huh:
 
I'm not interested in producing anything yet. The full length version of this short is not something I want to pursue either. I wrote it to complete my master's degree, got an A on it and am ready to move on. Professionals in the industry who have read the short say it's really good. That's nice, but I really just want to sell it so I can focus on selling the next one. It's great that you are offering helpful suggestions. I really wish I had time to find a director to do it for $2.5k. Thanks again! :)
 
I, personally, have never heard of someone purchasing a script for a short film.
Many short films are done on a short budget and $2,500 is a big budget for a lot of shorts.

What about your feature? If the short script is good then so should the feature, right?


Has any one ever bought or optioned a short film?
 
Coot, are you interested in this script or are you just telling him his price is high without even reading it? This is a script that he wrote, and the price is $2500, but he is willing to negotiate. Please respect that. Thanks
 
True indie... true..

No, I'm not interested in the script. I'm way too bizzy with my other projects. I've just never heard of a market for short film scripts. I've written many and either don't have time or budget or both to shoot them. I guess if it's good that someone would buy it! I just never thought to sell my shorts. I've even given them away to people. This just blows my mind.
I also wanted to make sure that there would not be any problems with infringement conflicts in producing the short, who ever does it, and the feature. I was thinking that if the contract is written properly that it wouldn't be a problem. However, since there is no interest in selling or producing the feature, there's no risk.
Sometimes asking questions helps the person think of things they didn't think of before as well as giving more information to potential buyers. It's a learning experience, questions and answers help people learn.
Above it all, Thank you EditRamsay for opening my eyes to the world of short script sales. That's awesome!

- MC
 
No problem CootDog :) I just didn't want this thread to turn the wrong way. Short scripts are sold a few places on the internet, and I created this section to bring those types of sales to IndieTalk.
 
indietalk said:
I created this section to bring those types of sales to IndieTalk.
Click to expand...

Is he talking about the site, or himself in the third person?
lol

(I pictured a Dr.Evil voice when I read that)
 
PS - I just recently saw The Interpreter as was shocked at how closely it resembled my feature -- except the plot had higher stakes and more people were killed on screen. I've now learned my lesson between high commercial value and well, low commercial value on scripts. This is why i'm interested in selling my short and not the full feature -- tighter and faster viewer rewards. The feature version is closer to Beyond Borders with less emphasis on the love scene.
 
Hey Coot i hear you on wondering but here's a true story. Well I came up with this pretty cool little idea, which is still in the works. My friend wrote it for me, of course he threw in some things but it's a great little idea. Well Some guy that we work with at the PBS station at the time really liked the script. I didn't know this until later on. But the guy offered my friend 1k for the script. Later when my friend told me i was like why didn't you sell it, but i really know why, cause of course we could get more money doing it ourselves. But anyway people really do offer money to buy scripts cause good idea's are hard to come by, so thats my 2 cents. Good Luck Edit Ramsey.
 
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