Since so many of the greatest directors talk about the script being really the greatest proponent of a great film (DUH!)...

and so many authors complain about the castration and mutilation of their works, (Which in some cases can be so bad?)

Why don't more writers become directors? I mean all the "complaint" energies could be positively channeled from...

"Why didn't those bastards do it this way?"

to

"We are doing it this way, you bastards!"

Your thoughts, q's comments? etc?

Directors have a thousand details to manage, many of them specific to the film industry. Where do the cameras go? What angle will the shot be? How will it be edited? The list, I'm sure, is extensive.

For crying out loud, Andrew, have some sense and delete it already. There are better ways of making your point.

Now it might be funny if we picked on ET's. That is, of course, until we discover that such beings do exist. I would also take no offense if you plugged in "politician", but be wary of thinking that means plugging in Democrats or Republicans or whatever, because it doesn't -- I believe we should treat all politicians with equal disdain. Furthermore, I wouldn't personally take offense if you plugged in "PETA advocate/employee" either, but some might. Someone might like to see "lawyer" up there, but I actually know some decent lawyers, so I would find it a bit unfair.

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This brings up an interesting question. As writers, I suppose we all dream that one day our work will be made into a movie. How do we protect it? It's not feasible that we all become producers.

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Void, as 3ME said, if you sell movie rights, you just have to let it go.

As Andrew implied, writers are way, way down in the Hollywood pecking order. Not even Stephen King can affect what happens to his books when they are made into movies--even when he is involved in the process as script writer or in some other capacity.

Get the best deal you possibly can (which will probably not be all that good*) and take the money and forget about it.

Avoid the film business. It's not worth the grief. If you want to sell your story to a production company, then do as Kathleen suggests. Sell it and forget about it. Once you sell it, it is no longer your story. That is how you must see it. If you think they'll let you have any input on the screenplay, you're dead wrong.

Let's say you want to write a screenplay or even an adaptation. Perhaps it's astoundingly good. But that doesn't matter, because once someone buys your script, the first thing they will do is change it to suit their creative vision. You cannot prevent this from happening. You will be forced to give up all creative rights once it is sold, and you will most likely not even be told about it. The chances of them letting you see and comment on rewrites are equal to the chances of you ever leaving our solar system.

That said, the chances of any screenplay you've written being made into a movie are only slightly better in Hollywood. If you really care about your screenplay and you want to protect your vision, then you must go independent and produce, direct, and finance it all on your own.

One more thing. Let's say you do get a screenplay purchased. Woohoo! They send you some paltry payment, which you accept. Then, they rewrite your screenplay and guess what: you don't receive credit for it. No one will ever know it was originally your story. (This could be a blessing by the time they are done with it, so don't despair.) You gave up all your rights once you sold it. Sure, some contracts differ and maybe you'll be mentioned somewhere, but it probably won't be that coveted "Written by:" credit.

Look at what is happening to OSC's Ender's Game in Hollywood. Initially, he wrote a screenplay for that. He's not the writer now. He'll get a credit saying it was adapted from his novel, and he'll be paid a guaranteed sum no matter who writes the script... but essentially, there's little he can do to make it happen. I think he's okay with this, as he fully realizes what he's in for, how Hollywood works, etc. When that script is finally written, the studio execs will insist on further changes. If the movie is even vaguely reminscent of OSC's original story, it will be small miracle.

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I tried to make it as inoffensive as I could, but I guess it wasn't quite enough.

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