Could It Be a Movie?: How to Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Up on the Screen

Lights "Camera " "Action " Before any of these commands can be shouted on a soundstage, somebody's got to come up with a great idea that everyone else will want to be a part of. Whether their job is to cry on cue, focus the camera, or ensure that none of the paychecks bounce, they're all in the picture because of one person - the screenwriter whose imagination gave them an exciting starting point. Could that person be you? Within these pages, you'll not only discover what skills are required to write a screenplay for today's market but also what kind of factors dictate which ideas get gobbled up faster than a holiday turkey and which ones go the way of a fruitcake. You'll also learn how to acquire and adapt pre-existing material for a screenplay; how to find markets for the kinds of films you want to write; how to predict what tomorrow's audiences will want to see; and how to work successfully with partners, agents, script consultants and independent producers. Most importantly, "Could It Be A Movie" reinforces the fact that not every great idea translates well to the silver screen. Perhaps a different medium - plays, novels, short stories - could be your true calling as a storyteller. This is the book that will help you discover which road on your wordsmithing journey will take you where you want to be.