Dreams on Spec - screenwriting doc

Flicker Pictures · Jan 15, 2011

Watch for free here:

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/dreams_on_spec/

Every year screenwriters finish tens of thousands of scripts, but only a few hundred are made into movies..
DREAMS ON SPEC takes an intimate look at how far people will go - and how much they will sacrifice - for the chance to pursue their dreams. This feature-length documentary delves into the lives of three aspiring Hollywood screenwriters as they pour their hearts into their spec scripts, pitch their ideas to anyone who will listen, go to meetings, hold table reads, and work at low-level day-jobs in the hopes of one day seeing one of their beloved creations made into a movie.

86 min.

Inspiring and heartbreaking.

VPTurner · Jan 16, 2011

You're right. Both disheartening and inspirational. This should be a sticky at the top of the screenwriting section.

Thanks for sharing the link.

Murdock · Jan 16, 2011

That was nice. I liked it.

barnaclelapse · Jan 17, 2011

I'll definitely check this out when I get on an internet connection that isn't satellite with a limited bandwidth. Lord knows I'm depressed enough about my career as it is, but this sounds like pretty essential viewing.

jrsmithson · Jan 17, 2011

This is definitely worth checking out if you're an aspiring screenwriter. It's also a cautionary tale. Don't let your dreams cloud your judgement. Deborah put all of her stock into the possibility of Adrien Brody acting in her film. All or nothing. Without a cast, a financial backer, film production gear-nothing. This all or nothing attitude put her in the poor house, all because Adrien Brody wouldn't return her calls. David gets taken advantage of big-time. He writes his baby, sells it to a director for 20 G's, it gets butchered and produced into a straight-to-DVD vid. Joe's screenplay doesn't even get made.

To me this just says one thing-if you want to make a movie, and do it right, you have to do it yourself.

Murdock · Jan 17, 2011

jrsmithson said:
To me this just says one thing-if you want to make a movie, and do it right, you have to do it yourself.[/QUOTE

This is true, but I would like to add another angle. I am an aspiring writer/director. That being said the easier thing for me to do right now is write. Directing involes making a movie and that costs money, evenb for a no-budget. So when I am writing I want to make it the best I can to, first and foremost, sell it. You're totally right about the Buddist lady putting her eggs in one basket...dumb. And the guy with the kid seems like a self defeater, to me. The guy that actually got his movie made almost had it right. He messed up with the bickering with the director IMO. The director bought the thing, the writer got paid. He might have gotten paid for the rewrite as well. The writer ended up getting a better manager with better contacts thanhe started with and now he has a credit. Not the credit he wanted but hey its a start.

Point being I write to sell. So I want to write a great story, put my heart and soul into it, and create this beautiful baby of mine......Then I want to sell it for lots of money.

wheatgrinder · Jan 17, 2011

im half way through this and am finding lots of fodder for ideas.. lol

I did note a cool trick during casting.. I noticed that the cam op was taking time to SHOOT the pages of the script that were about to be read. I can see that being very handy for reference.

EDIT: On review, I see its the headshot of the actor.. whops. .still like my idea though..

Flicker Pictures · Jan 18, 2011

There's not a lot of sugar coating in this flick. No rose colored lenses here. Writing is tough by its own right and finding a way into the "biz" with that writing is tougher than nails. Which is why it helps to have calloused thick skin I suppose.

Flicker Pictures · Jun 12, 2011

...bumpage...

TheArtist · Sep 3, 2011

Murdock said:
jrsmithson said:

To me this just says one thing-if you want to make a movie, and do it right, you have to do it yourself.[/QUOTE

This is true, but I would like to add another angle. I am an aspiring writer/director. That being said the easier thing for me to do right now is write. Directing involes making a movie and that costs money, evenb for a no-budget. So when I am writing I want to make it the best I can to, first and foremost, sell it. You're totally right about the Buddist lady putting her eggs in one basket...dumb. And the guy with the kid seems like a self defeater, to me. The guy that actually got his movie made almost had it right. He messed up with the bickering with the director IMO. The director bought the thing, the writer got paid. He might have gotten paid for the rewrite as well. The writer ended up getting a better manager with better contacts thanhe started with and now he has a credit. Not the credit he wanted but hey its a start.

Point being I write to sell. So I want to write a great story, put my heart and soul into it, and create this beautiful baby of mine......Then I want to sell it for lots of money.

Click to expand...

Were I a Director, I think I would have loved to work with Joe, the guy with the autist kid. I liked the part where he explained that writer and director are not JUST jobs because they touch lots of people. That's so true and so much people seem to forget it (if they even knew it in the first place).

Anyway, I wanna be a writer/director too. I find the writing part most difficult. First because I can't write things that go on for pages and also because I end up hating anything I wrote. I find it arrogant, childish and overwritten. A teacher I had told me that famous writers never read what they wrote because if they did it they would have thrown it.

Also, I just wanted to add that directing doens't cost that much if you don't have to pay people, like Rodriguez' guerilla-style filmmaking. Of course, you need a script that doesn't involve costly stuff.