StoryPros Winner; low Black List review; help with Indie or Foreign Contacts Please!

K

ket222

I just won the StoryPros script writing competition, had a Scriptpalooza reviewer write that the script could get 'high consideration' if I made changes (which I've done)...but VERY LOW reviewer scores on Black List. The latter reviewers (2 of them) didn't seem to take into account I wrote a NC17 erotic art film, and basically said "there is too much sex and it will have a very small audience and no one will make the film."

I've worked for a year with a well respected script editor who says it should be a 'cult classic' with a very strong story/dialogue. The story takes place in France between an American who lost his wife in a car accident, his French lover who turns out to be a prostitute, and the vengeaful ghost of his dead wife coming back to haunt him as he descends into madness (we learn later that he killed his wife in the accident out of jealousy over an affair).

Are there Indie film studios (or foreign/European market) that I could contact to see if they would be interested in the script? Any specific contacts that I could reach out to? Or is it hopeless?! Also, how can I share my script with this forum community or are there others I might upload my script to?

Thank you very much!
 
On an indie forum, I'd hoped to find resources to contact indie companies or industry contacts who might be interested in the above described script. Can anyone please give me guidance? I understand that erotic dramas/thrillers may not typically get made in the US, but surely the point of indies is to get creative movies made with themes the typical production companies won't take?
Also, are their resources for contacting European studios, directors, etc?
 
OP, you asked this question in another thread and you did receive guidance on it...

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=48905&highlight=storypros

Getting industry contacts is very difficult. A poster did ask for your script in the above thread.

As I said in your other thread:

An erotic art movie is a near impossible sell. When was the last time you saw one of those? One or two have come out of Europe in the last few years and that's about it. A director or writer with lots of sales may be able to get such a project off the ground in Europe but even then it will be very difficult. In America, a non-pro has no chance with such a project.

Chloe with Amanda Seyfried had hints of erotic-art-movie, but only hints.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1352824/

Movies need to be able to generate a return for their investors. So investors like movies that are viewable by a wide audience and appeal to a wide audience - an R rated erotic art movie is the opposite of that.
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I think you need to let this project go...

If you still want to pursue it, start a thread on a dedicated screenplay forum. I can recommend Done Deal. They'll tell you the same as I have but someone there may be able to give you a contact - I doubt they'll personally know the person but they may have a name or email address. Even with that your chances of gaining the contact's interest are very very slim.

http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/boards/
 
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I tried Blacklist and received a mediocre score for my screenplay that won the grand prize at Slamdance as well as winning a smaller contest. So you never know for sure how the reader will react. In contrast I read a very poorly written screenplay that received a nine from Blacklist. It wasn't even a matter of taste. Everything was handed to the main character rather than the main character having to work for any given goal. I won't use Blacklist again.

As for your screenplay, I was intrigued by the premise and don't think the amount of sex has anything to do with the lack of interest. Fewer and fewer films make it into the theatre anyway. Even Spielberg had trouble getting Lincoln onto the big screen.

The problem is that here on Indietalk most of us are writing our own material and most likely can't afford to shoot anything in France. My advice is to adapt the story for the United States and use something like Inktip.
 
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Good advice payperfilm but in relation to:

payperfilm said:
As for your screenplay, I was intrigued by the premise and don't think the amount of sex has anything to do with the lack of interest. Fewer and fewer films make it into the theatre anyway. Even Spielberg had trouble getting Lincoln onto the big screen.
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...I will say that R17s make a tough sell even tougher, much tougher.

The industry today is looking for scripts with a big potential market or ideally an already captured market - in the millions. Hence all the best sellers being turned into movies, comic books being turned into movies etc. Such projects bring an already established fan base in the millions to the cineplex. Then we have Bridesmaids, The Hangover, This is 40 etc - all scripts that have a theme that people can identify with - so they too draw people to the cineplex.

Hollywood is a money business - if the execs don't think your script will make then a lot of money, they won't invest. And even when they do invest they 99.999% of the time will only go with scripts written by a pro screenwriter with previous credits. Why? Because it protects their ass. They don't like taking risks. A newbie writer is a huge risk - such risks get people fired (if the movie tanks)...

It's still possible for an unknown screenwriter to break in but it's very very difficult.
 
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