Screenwriting : Taking a Leap of Faith by Maurice Vaughan

Maurice Vaughan

Taking a Leap of Faith

I met a producer during Stage 32's monthly Introduce Yourself Weekend a few years ago. She was looking for unscripted shows to pitch. My Horror Comedy game show JUMP SCARES is really different than unscripted shows I see on TV, so I wasn't sure if she would like mine or not. But I pitched my show, and I ended up signing my first shopping agreement!

I wrote a blog about it if you want to read more about what happened: www.stage32.com/blog/writer-lands-shopping-agreement-after-networking-wi...

What's a time you took a leap of faith and it paid off?

Charlie Sheehan

AMAZING!

GJ Harvey

Congrats Maurice Vaughan, would love to see a horror-based reality TV show!

Bradford Richardson

Maurice Vaughan , I love this idea!

Michael Dzurak

This sounds like some Japanese game shows that jump scare with pranks, such as a very real looking velociraptor model.

Marie Hatten

Wow that’s incredible, congrats !

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, GJ Harvey. I'm surprised there aren't more Horror-based reality shows.

Doug Kayne

Awesome! Congrats!

I took a leap of faith similar to that WAY back in 2000 or so... Was interning at a casting director/producer's office and asked her assistant (who was a fellow intern, but then moved to assistant) if she was able to read a screenplay of mine and give feedback. Long story short...she wanted to pitch it to E!...which led to ROMANTIC COMEDY 101 being E!'s last made-for-TV movie...and got me into the Writers Guild.

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Bradford Richardson. I'm still pitching the show. I'm trying to see if I can come up with some new things for it.

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Michael Dzurak. Jump Scare could easily be a Japanese game show or a game show other places around the world.

Maurice Vaughan

Thank you, Marie Hatten.

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Doug Kayne. That's incredible! Congratulations! It paid off twice!

Marc Ginsburg

will check out the blog but am just curious what a shop is? you mean a studio consigned you? A contract? I'm asking cause i have to learn about this. I was expecting to stay at bat turning in those home runs but instead they insisted I have no hope of a contract unless I get up on the mound and learn to pitch. So I'm getting myself ready by doing research.

Casey Newel

I’m going to ask! Do you have actors for this?

Maurice Vaughan

A shopping agreement is when a producer pitches a project to companies for a limited time, Marc Ginsburg.

Stage 32 has a webinar called "Your Definitive Legal Guide to Shopping, Option and Attachment Agreements - With an In Depth 32-Page Resource Sheet." www.stage32.com/education/products/your-definitive-legal-guide-to-shoppi...

Maurice Vaughan

Hey, Casey Newel. I don't have actors for the show. I'm just pitching it.

Joseph Tonaldo

that’s incredible, congrats Maurice Vaughan

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Joseph Tonaldo. I appreciate it.

Marc Ginsburg

I take a leap of faith everyday. About it paying off, I guess the universe is a lot slower than I am and so I have to wait for that slowpoke to catch up. But that's not stopping me. I have a great script and a great show, the latest podcasted episode of which is https://open.spotify.com/episode/0XFQbHWDy6KI5XVHwEvKio?si=428b1c0718f04c08 because I got no time for hemming and hawing.

Maurice Vaughan

Congratulations on taking a leap of faith every day, Marc Ginsburg! It takes time sometimes. Glad to hear it's not stopping you! I just followed you on Spotify.

Mike Boas

Aside from a pitch deck, do you create some sort of written document or outline for your proposed reality show? I’d be interested in seeing samples of that.

Maurice Vaughan

Hey, Mike Boas. I made a treatment for my show, but it has the same info as the pitch deck. I made a treatment in case someone wants to read about the show in Microsoft Word/a vertical pdf. I also made a sizzle reel. A link to the reel is in the pitch deck and treatment. I can email you the treatment or pitch deck.

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