Question for the group: is it better to stick with your gut instincts and attempt to make the film you’ve envisioned, but for a smaller budget, or should one try not to be overly precious about things and make fundamental changes to your work in an effort to make it more marketable and attract more investment dollars?
Screenwriting : To compromise or not by Kenneth Michael Daniels
President at LIONLIKE Media, LLC ♦ Screenwriter, Marketing Professional, Business Development/Sales, Creative Executive, Graphic Designer, Music Supervisor, PR / Public Relations Professional, Producer
2 years ago
To compromise or not
Other topics in Screenwriting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
1 person likes this
Don’t be overly precious. Make it more marketable if you have reputable people telling you they will be involved if you do. It’s a collaborative process and, after all, it’s a business. You want the biggest audience possible, right?
1 person likes this
Research other related projects and analyze results (audience analysis, budget analysis, foreign rights analysis and compare results).
4 people like this
I think limitations are essential to art. Put a different way, I don't think it is an either/or proposition. The trick is to maintain the core of your vision, which requires you to get crystal-clear about what that vision is, and then communicate it in a way that may actually reach an audience.
3 people like this
Agree @Christiane Don’t censor idea into an “either/or” but maintain a crystal clear core. Obviously core idea may not be the most marketable depending on execs trends at time but if funds are available do budget short. You have something unique as proof of concept but later can write more scripts to suit different markets.
4 people like this
Debbie Croysdale That is exactly my strategy at the moment. Gearing up to apply for state funding for a short. I have a director attached and we found a producer to support the application yesterday. But the short is essentially a feature film in miniature, plus it has solid festival potential.
3 people like this
It's impossible to answer. The future you who sold their script, because they made budget-related changes, will tell you it was right to make a compromise. The future you who saw their idea executed perfectly, as they imagined it, will tell you it was right to stick to their guns.
There's a lot of survivorship bias out there and people telling themselves they did the right thing when maybe they didn't.
There have been times I've nearly had a script made, the deal has fallen through, and later on I've thought thank goodness it never happened as my vision would have been compromised massively.
There have been times what I've written has made it to the screen with a lot of adjustments and cutbacks and I've been pleased there's something out there close to what I wanted to share with the world.
Just know that having a movie out there isn't the be all and end all. Something that doesn't represent you as a writer, doesn't perform well financially, and isn't well received is most likely going to make you feel artistically incomplete rather than artistically fulfilled.
I could go through my whole portfolio now and, with what I know about the marketplace, make changes that would help all those scripts sell. I don't do that because it would be disingenuous to myself. I would look at the money from each sale and just think about the parts of my soul that it cost.