Tom Benedek: “The Next Golden Age of the Original Screenplay”
My Screenwriting Master Class partner screenwriter Tom Benedek has an article in this month’s Script magazine. It’s a must read. Here’s his frame:
When will the next Golden Age of the original screenplay appear? Every day as I am working on a new script, it feels like a Golden Age. Because I love to write movies. But it is tough out there. It always has been, and it used to be easier. I’ve had 34 writing assignments at major studios and production companies. Cocoon and Free Willy are the best-known movies I’ve written. I worked nonstop for many years — sold pitches, did rewrites, sold originals, did adaptations, rewrote adaptations. There used to be 30 open writing assignments every week. Now there are maybe five. My screenwriting students at USC and the University of Michigan are hedging their feature-film dreams with TV-writing classes. I do still believe that the original motion picture screenplay is the paragon form in filmed entertainment and will never go away; in fact, it will get even bigger and better over time as more and more great movies are written and produced.
Tom interviewed some top managers and agents about the state of the spec script market. Here’s an excerpt from his conversation with Charlie Ferraro, an agent at UTA (United Talent Agency):
I think it’s going to become a good time for original screenplays because, in the last few years, the studios have spent less development money. They have fewer potential movies, so they’re going to start needing scripts. I also think that with some of the financial success of the awards movies this year and some of the failures of some of the large studio movies that have been [regarded as being] of a lower quality, there might be a trend toward quality and originality instead of purely relying on pre-awareness titles that could be tentpole movies. Don’t get me wrong. Studios are still going to want that stuff. But maybe they’re going to want a few more films that feel like the bar’s been set a little higher with a screenplay that reflects an original voice.
There’s considerable hopeful news in Tom’s article which you can read here.
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