Our ScreenplayLab Journey

ScreenplayLab started as a way to workshop a screenplay that Gabrielle and I were writing together. Soon we added industry speakers. It's hard to believe it's two years later, that we've been hosting ScreenplayLab weekly for all that time. It's an unexpected path that led us here.

Once upon a time, I had a beautiful office at DreamWorks Animation and was working on their renderfarm technology. DreamWorks executive Karen Foster (later a ScreenplayLab speaker) hosted an employee pitch contest, launching me on the long path to becoming a screenwriter. Because I was a contractor and not an employee, I was told I should have an agent submit my material to DreamWorks instead of through the employee contest. All I had was a 1-page treatment. Getting an agent seemed impossible.

On her own initiative, my partner Gabrielle Pantera optioned a very funny best-selling novel. THE CORSET DIARIES by Katie MacAlister is a chick lit comedy in the genre of BRIDGET JONES. Gabrielle knows many writers and their agents and managers from when she was president of a chapter of Romance Writers of America. And, she was literary book critic for the magazine Romantic Times for many years.

After toiling through many drafts of THE CORSET DIARIES, we felt the comedy in our screenplay somehow wasn’t as funny as in the book, that we should workshop it with actors in front of an audience. Gabrielle knows many actors from casting movies and from casting a series of actor workshops at the Strasberg. The Writers Store offered us the use of their space to workshop THE CORSET DIARIES. From that first night, ScreenplayLab was such a success that we’ve met weekly ever since. After the Writers Store cut back their hours, Raleigh Studios came to our rescue. When Raleigh became too busy to have space for us, many other Hollywood theaters helped fill the gaps.

At a ScreenplayLab event we met our future agent, Karl Sanger, who was referred through one of our ScreenplayLab speakers. On the basis of that referral and the strength of the best-selling novel, Gabrielle and I were able to sign with an agent. We signed with an agent before we’d written our first screenplay. It can be done. Karl mostly represents actors, only a few writers. Over time he’s signed more than two dozen actors referred through ScreenplayLab. The easiest way to get an agent is to know someone who has one.

While we were writing THE CORSET DIARIES, Gabrielle co-wrote a political theme romantic comedy with New York speechwriter Jason Haber. He had submitted that to Karl Sanger as an over-the-transom script called JUST ME. Karl liked Jason’s query, but without a referral the script was of course on the bottom of the reading pile. It took a year for Karl to read it, but Jason succeeded in getting an agent the hard way: on a cold query with an original screenplay. Karl suggested Jason team with Gabrielle to refine the script and find a better title. It became A MORE PERFECT UNION, where an out-of-work attorney has everyone convinced he’s a Congressman just so he can get a girl.

In December we completed THE CORSET DIARIES screenplay and gave it to our agent. We targeted production companies with studio deals. It’s an agent’s job to field offers and submit you as opportunities appear. A manager may be more proactive, but I didn’t have one. I called development executives myself. I’d ask for the boss because I knew the name from the Hollywood Creative Directory, but it was really the assistant I was out to win over. I’d introduce myself as the writer of a comedy screenplay based on a best-selling novel. I asked, is that was the sort of thing your boss is looking for? Would you like my agent to send that to you? Most said yes.

Important Films, the people of TEAM AMERICA and SOUTH PARK, was the first place to finish reading THE CORSET DIARIES. They’re amazingly quick, a two-week turnaround. They asked to meet with us right away. Although the script wasn’t a good match for them, their exec liked our writing and asked to see anything else we do. In the following months we got glowing reactions from other companies, but no bites. I asked producer Jordan Kerner for advice. He said this type of project (comedy/romance) is hard to set up. Jordan is the guy who sold CHARLOTTE’S WEB to the president of Paramount over a breakfast meeting. I asked Jim Belushi. He said he thinks it’s hard, that it’s easier to develop a hit TV show. Jim, of course, developed ACCORDING TO JIM.

Literary manager Colin O’Reilly spoke recently at ScreenplayLab. He suggested that there are three ways to sell a spec script: convince two studios that each other wants it, get stars, or get financing. Maybe a great script isn’t enough? In THE CORSET DIARIES, an independent American woman finds mystery and romance as a reluctant participant a British reality television show. It’s a star vehicle for a female lead who wants to be funny and strong. We went shopping for stars who can get a film made. The Hollywood Reporter helpfully provides the annual Star Salary Top 10:

1. Nicole Kidman ($16 to $17 million per film)
2. Reese Witherspoon ($15 million)
3. Renee Zellweger ($15 million)
4. Drew Barrymore ($15 million)
5. Cameron Diaz ($15 million)
6. Halle Berry ($14 million)
7. Charlize Theron ($10 million)
8. Angelina Jolie ($10 million)
9. Kirsten Dunst ($8 to $10 million)
10. Jennifer Aniston ($8 million)

Agents are usually looking for projects that are financed, but managers can take a longer view. Again, having a best-selling novel and an agent made it seem easy for me when I made the calls. I called both managers and agents. Again, I focused on calling just a few, not everyone, and on winning over assistants. As when calling production companies, I would offer a reason why they in particular would be interested in this script. One star had said in an interview at a movie premiere the night before that she wanted to do a comedy next. That call took less than two minutes to get to yes. Another star wasn’t interested because she’s tired of doing romantic comedies. Two stars from the top ten list are looking at THE CORSET DIARIES. By looking I mean their managers’ assistants are reading it first, then their managers, then the stars. That takes time, even more so because each is reading the novel first, then the screenplay.

A finance company found us through ScreenplayLab and asked to see a budget top-sheet for THE CORSET DIARIES. Producer Jim Tripp, who’s spoken at ScreenplayLab, put together a budget that I used as a guide to put together a $20M top-sheet for THE CORSET DIARIES. I met Jim on an indie shoot where I was script supervisor. Jim was the producer and had brought his TV crew from EVE, the UPN sitcom. They worked really fast, shooting many scenes in just one take. I didn’t know we were shooting 35mm film until I arrived on the set. It was my first 35mm film shoot. I had the opportunity to be script supervisor on a Panavision shoot because I’d done uncredited punch-up on the director’s script.

After completing THE CORSET DIARIES, Gabrielle and I wrote separately two more screenplays. FIRE BEAR is an animated adventure comedy I wrote, sort of Smokey the Bear meets WEST SIDE STORY. Gabrielle is putting the finishing touches on THE GLAD GAME, a post-9/11 modernization of the classic tale of POLLYANNA. A lot of production companies want to see that. We’ll soon have four scripts out: A MORE PERFECT UNION, THE CORSET DIARIES, FIRE BEAR, and THE GLAD GAME. I’ve already written half of my next script, THE BOOK OF Z, an action adventure Kung Fu comedy. After THE GLAD GAME, Gabrielle is thinking about writing a spec script for GREY’S ANATOMY.

We’ve gotten a tremendous amount of encouragement from executives and producers who’ve read our work. They’ve told us not to be discouraged, that it can take a while to find the perfect match. It took Penny Marshall seven years to get a greenlight on BEWITCHED (but only a week after Nicole Kidman said she was interested). MTV Films executive Luke Ryan mentioned during his recent talk at ScreenplayLab that it took THE LAST MIMSEY many years to get a greenlight at New Line, and that was written by the president of New Line!

ScreenplayLab has helped us get our screenplays done, find an agent, gain insightful advice every week from industry experts, and make great contacts. Through ScreenplayLab all of us have learned a lot. Since Gabrielle and I founded the group two years ago we’ve grown to over 1,400 members. Thank you for your support! We love you guys!