Sending Out A Spec

It's done. Well, just about as done as it can be for the moment. I keep telling myself that a script is just a blueprint. A director will have notes. So will a producer and studio. And actors and actresses, they'll prolly stick their thumbs in the pie too. But that's the way screenwriting is, and if you can't accept that it's a collaborative process, stick to writing poems.

So far we 've gotten several reads from people we trust, and so far the comments have been all positive, overwhelmingly so.

What does that really mean, though?

Nothing.

You can write what you think is the best thing since WAR AND PEACE, and you could end up flat on your face, busted.

The marketplace is what decides.

A good script, no, make that a great script, may not sell for a variety of reasons. There's just no way to tell.

You keep second guessing yourself. Would one more little tweak make the difference between a sale or pass?

That's the place Brett, my co-writer, and I are at right now.

We're reasonably certain that we have no plot or logic holes. We've tried to bulletproof our spec as much as we can to the point I think I could recite all 118 pages of it.

After the flops of this summer, one would think Hollywood would be looking for fresh faces, new voices, new ideas.

Maybe not. I just heard that a remake of BARBERELLA is in the works.

It almost seems that TPTB would rather throw good money into bad remakes. Aside from Jessica Simpson's T&A, what did THE DUKES OF HAZZARD really offer? And it dropped 58% this week.

It's like holding your nose and jumping off a cliff.

No safety net.

No harness.

You're free falling, and have no idea when you'll land. With your head intact.

That's what sending out a spec is like. And we do it over and over and over again.