Screenwriting : What happened to your first script? by Lily Stecyuk

The first script I wrote was in college.

Oh man, I forgot it was an option. Thanks for answer!

I entered the first screenplay I ever wrote into a contest back in 2002. I think they gave me a refund after they read it;)

Not counting shorts that I made.

I wrote my first feature in 2015. I then wrote many other scripts. I polished it and placed it on scriptrevolution.com after having no takers for years. In 2019 it sold (cheap - happy to see it made).

Funding fell failed due to the pandemic (it was a post pandemic film - lol). They are still chasing funding. I have done a few changes to help them get the money.

HA! Written in 1995 and is still in development. Teddy Turner of Turner Pictures and I discussed it over dinner when I worked in film distribution - company dinner - he optioned it for a few months and then they merged with Warner and it got lost in the shuffle. It somewhere in a closet at Warner gathering dust. I live by Warner now and think of that when I walk by. Cabin Fever Entertainment optioned it and then they went out of business. I found 15M on my own from an IPO and they went out of biz due to 911. Many great producers have read it and love it but it has not been made. I have re-written it many times to make it more current. I also write it as a series. I am looking for funds and researching hedge funds. It is my favorite script of my 15. I think our best thoughts come out first. I told my husband to put it in my casket if I die first,

My first actual script that I wrote was in 1972 (?) as a half hour sit-com. It sold to MTM and was produced & broadcast in 1973(?). I was paid for it (I didn't do the polish). I was beginning my professional career in a whole different area. I never used it for anything but the $2,500 was a big help in buying a car.

Statistically: Professional Screenwriters didn't make a cent until after their 9th screenplay. I seem to be average.

I made the mistake of filming my first script - so I had a movie shot on super 8mm that stunk. The Geneva Convention forbids me to show it to people... even prisoners.

I wrote my first script for a beginning screenwriting class in college back in 2010. It was a very personal story based on real events from my life. I entered the first draft into a local competition and won 2nd place. I thought this was a sign that I was destined for Hollywood stardom. No one else has ever wanted to read that script and it has won no other contests. I went back and read it about 8 years and 6 features later to find that it was riddled with writing errors. I've never taken the time to rewrite it because the political climate has changed considerably since it was written. Even if I rewrote it and improved the writing, which it definitely needs, I don't think it would get made today. Or at least not in the way that it's written. They'd pull so much culture out of it that it might as well not have been written by me. At the time though, I felt it was a very marketable script.

I'm with William - made the mistake of shooting my first script. Horrible, 400K boondoggle (private investor never made his money back, but he's in prison now for fraud, so he won't be coming after us). I'm on my (coincidentally) 9th script, the first with a real shot at being something.

Director attached, looking for funding. :) It did take 3 years tho

My first script was a love that went missing in action. It was a feature and I wrote it while I was at work. Needless to say it took a little longer that expected to write but it I did finish it. It was a sunny Monday morning and I just got a call while I was at work informing me that my then soon to be ex was enjoying a nice breakfast with a happy ending attached. The source was very credible so I waited until I got off and approached the situation with a fair and mild attitude giving the circumstances at hand. What I encountered next was a very hostile situation. I recalled she kept screaming, How did you find out? and Who told you? What I was hoping for was, I love you, please forgive me and I will not do it again. As I exited the house to light a cigarette up on the porch to lightened my mood, I noticed smoke coming from the house. I rushed back into the house thinking I need to make sure the woman I loved was ok. Even though she cheated on me, I didnt want any harm to come to her. The smoke was unbearable. We lived in a small 2 bedroom so you have to understand it was like smoke clouding a closet. I called her name but no word. As I made my way to the kitchen, I could see the smoke getting heavier and the flames erupting from behind the doorway. I knew this will be a defining moment in our relationship. I didn't care about the cheating anymore or our argument. I just wanted her to be ok. I rounded the kitchen corner and there she was, standing over our little tin trash can smiling with lighter fluid in her hand. Then she uttered 6 words. " I guess your script was hot. That script was my first love.