Russell - Make Your Script Sellable : The Art and Business of Screenwriting

Make Your
Script Sellable

The Art and Business
of Screenwriting

CARA J. RUSSELL

Copyright 2021 by Cara J. Russell

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in articles and book reviews.

ISBN-13: 978-1-951805-68-5 print edition

ISBN-13: 978-1-951805-69-2 ebook edition

2055 Oxford Ave

Cardiff, CA 92007

www.waterside.com

Contents

A little about me: (intro & acknowledgements)

Kevin Costner inspired me to want to be a screenwriter. My senior year of high school at Western Reserve Academy, I went to see one of his biggest hit movies in our local theatre in Hudson, Ohio. I was the only person to stay through the entire credits, and that is when it struck me: I want to write movies.

I majored in communications at Miami University in Ohio, and wrote my first screenplay as an independent study project. After graduation, I moved to Austin, Texas where my first job was as the Assistant Managing Editor and feature writer for a local magazine, County Line Magazine. In my free time, I volunteered as a script reader for the Heart of Austin Film Festival and attended a panel where Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise, Nashville) and Christopher McQuarrie (The Unusual Suspects, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation and Fallout) among others were speaking. My desire to write screenplays was rekindled even stronger. I moved back to Ohio for a couple years and taught middle school English as a substitute teacher, all the while reading screenwriting books and writing spec scripts.

I was incredibly nave, like most new writers are, and I sent my first script out to Hollywood production companies. One extremely kind and generous development executive replied, and took the time out of her busy day to speak on the phone to this young, green, aspiring screenwriter. Meg LeFauve (Inside Out, Captain Marvel), who was then working for Jodie Fosters Egg Production, encouraged me to keep writing. She told me that I had genuine talent and potential. If it werent for Meg, I likely would not have made the scary move to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. I would have stayed in Ohio and gone into teaching full time. Her words were the assurance I needed to hear that I had a chance to make it as a screenwriter. I was also fortunate to have family who supported my seemingly crazy and impossible dream!

My first job in L.A. was also thanks to Kevin Costner: Bull Durham was one of my favorite movies, which led me to becoming the manager of Mens Varsity baseball team at Miami University. It was that qualification that landed me my first job at FOX Sports as Sports Coordinator and Executive Assistant to Jack Simmons, SVP of Sports Production and Operations. Jack was supportive of my screenwriting dreams from day one. I took night classes at UCLA and earned my Writers Certificate from the UCLA Extension Program. I highly recommend all of their classes which are taught by industry professionals.

The first script that I wrote in college, the one that Meg read and discussed on the phone with me, was called THE BASEBALL GIRL. It was inspired by my years on the baseball team, and by those friendships (it was like having a big group of brothers). I reworked that script, retitled it NO PINK TEA after a Ty Cobb quote, and that ended up being the first script I optioned. That option expired, and as of now, that script (which has been updated again) is still available. FYI for any producers who may be reading this!

While I was working at FOX Sports, I was the Head Mentor for FOXs sponsored school for *The Young Storytellers Foundation, an incredible and amazing volunteer organization founded by Brad Falchuk (Glee, American Horror Story, Gwyneth Paltrows husband) along with several other high powered industry professionals to foster literacy. Every semester we taught a ten week screenwriting program (meeting one hour each week) to fourth and fifth graders in schools across the city. I led a group of ten students and ten mentors to help the kids write a 5-6 page screenplay that was acted out by professional actors at The BIG Show. YSF classes were the highlight of my work day. One of my volunteer mentors was a wonderful producer and now a good friend with whom I have worked on several other projects including SECRET SUMMER and GROOMZILLA. She brought me a book to adapt, and that movie, HEAVENLY MATCH starring Samaire Armstrong and Brendan Penny premiered on the UP Network in 2014. Another of my group mentors who also became a good friend is a prolific Hallmark and Lifetime screenwriter. In 2017 she produced my Christmas short movie, MY CHRISTMAS GRANDPA starring Vivica A. Fox and Bill Cobbs for Lifetime. She also introduced me to the woman I call my fairy godmother, Amanda Phillips. Amanda was the producer who bought my first spec script that I sold, THE BIG GRAB, also titled CANT BUY MY LOVE, starring Adelaide Kane and Ben Hollingsworth. It can currently be seen on Amazon Prime, PixL TV, Hallmark Drama, and UP TV. It was Amanda who brought me into my job working as a creative development executive at MPCA, Motion Picture Corporation of America. She is brilliant with story and I have learned so much from working with her.

https://www.youngstorytellers.com/

Brad Krevoy (Dumb and Dumber, plus over 100 movies and TV series) is the founder and Chairman/CEO of Motion Picture Corporation of America. I am beyond grateful to Brad for all the opportunities he has given me as a writer and as a Creative Development executive at his company. I have had three movies produced (and a few currently in development) by MPCA: A VALENTINES MATCH on Hallmark in 2020, THE KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, starring Vanessa Hudgens and Josh Whitehouse, produced by MPCA, premiered on Netflix in 2019, and I was an uncredited writer on the third installment of a big Netflix Christmas trilogy. I continue to write and work as a Creative Development executive at MPCA and love helping writers develop their own projects.

The movie business is based on relationships. It is true when they say in Hollywood that it is all about who you know. There are plenty of wonderful, good people who genuinely want to help you achieve your goals. However, knowing the right people, people who are willing to read your script and/or hire you for open writing assignments, doesnt do you an ounce of good unless you know how to write an amazing script. The good news is, everyone in this town is looking for an amazing script, and with streamers changing the game, there has never been a better opportunity for new writers to break into the biz.

Which gets me to this book. I have studied screenwriting for 25 years, and at the time of this writing, in addition to my produced credits and associate producer credits, I have 8-10 feature projects in development with various producers and production companies. And now also working on the other side of the table as a Creative Development executive gives me a unique perspective. I have read and given extensive notes on hundreds of scripts that have been passed on and/or produced for big streamers and networks. I have worked on the production side of projects from the initial pitch through the shooting draft. I often joke or lament after giving upwards of ten pages of notes on submitted scripts that I feel like I am teaching screenwriting 101 or 201, in which case the basics are there, but the script still needs a lot of work to get into a sellable shape.