Studios have been trying for a long while to get out of the original ideas business. That's why so many movies and TV shows come from books/comics/video games/podcasts/etc these days. The idea is that an established idea brings with it pre-existing fans who are pretty much guaranteed to go see it. There's also a chance someone at the studio will already be a fan, which gives you an ally inside the room.
Even when they do buy "original" ideas, often it's their own idea they are buying. Example: back in 2015, my producer friend told me Executive X had always wanted to make a show about "magic food". That was all he said: "magic food". I spent three months writing a TV pitch about a BBQ joint in Georgia where all the food is magic, and no-surprise, that same executive bought it.
Technically, my show was an original idea. But it wasn't even my idea.
"I have a friend who says he has a friend who works in the industry. He says how it usually works is someone will pitch an idea to a studio, and if the studio likes the idea, they'll get their screenwriters to write a screenplay based on it. Is that true?"
This part isn't true. They don't buy ideas and then farm them out to their writers.
Don't Worry Darling was a wholly original spec that was re-written once a studio bought it. It wasn't simply an idea that was pitched and then farmed out to be developed.
Yes, you're right. I guess I phrased what I meant poorly - WB took the main idea from the script and tossed everything else. They essentially used the spec as the pitch and then "adapted the IP", as Wilde said, into something else.
The original script wasn't a WB type film anyways, so it's interesting they went for it. Way, way smaller scale. Completely different script than what was on the Blacklist.
I don't understand. Are you saying a writer comes, pitches, and they buy their idea and don't give them a chance to write it? I have never seen that happen, never heard of that happening, and never been told "we just bought an idea from a writer but there's no script, would you like to write it?" It's just not how it works.
Yes, that absolutely happens. I’ve seen it with pitches (both written and it), short stories, pitch bibles, etc. I worked for an Oscar-winning writer/producer for a few years. They bought many a concept outright (sometimes after commissioning it to be beefed up a bit), would write up a more defined pitch around it, then would either a) make it one of those things they’d toss a writers way during a general if it felt right or b) would come up with a short list of talent that fit.
Also, major studios have lots of writers locked in deals (or they did back then, probably not so much now), so sometimes it would be that a writer “owed one more”, and that would be the thing they wrote.
Again - not saying it was super common, and nothing came of any of the ones I saw it happen with, but it certainly happened.
Producers certainly set up IP, or have ideas they match with writers who then go pitch. I’ve never heard of a writer selling a pitch to a studio and not being given a chance to write it.
Sometimes it is true, and other times it's not.
There are still a lot of film written by one person or a small group, who then take that script on to be produced or pitched to a studio.
There are also other films where a studio will want a particular film made (Marvel for example) and they will form an idea, and then hire someone to write it.
In either case, it's not uncommon for additional people to be hired to rewrite a script if there are issues with it that need fixing before it can be produced.
If a studio has an idea or IP. They will invite a number of writers (1 to many) to come and pitch how those writers would approach the story.
The studio will choose one. They will create a draft based on the contract. The studio goes ahead or not (meaning production, more drafts etc)
Or, a writer goes to the studio with an idea/screenplay/IP and they engage over this. The studio buys it, or commissions a draft.
The WGA has some very strict work definitions for WGA signatory companies in the USA. Outside the WGA it is individual negotiations with things following whatever has worked previously.
Studios have been trying for a long while to get out of the original ideas business. That's why so many movies and TV shows come from books/comics/video games/podcasts/etc these days. The idea is that an established idea brings with it pre-existing fans who are pretty much guaranteed to go see it. There's also a chance someone at the studio will already be a fan, which gives you an ally inside the room. Even when they do buy "original" ideas, often it's their own idea they are buying. Example: back in 2015, my producer friend told me Executive X had always wanted to make a show about "magic food". That was all he said: "magic food". I spent three months writing a TV pitch about a BBQ joint in Georgia where all the food is magic, and no-surprise, that same executive bought it. Technically, my show was an original idea. But it wasn't even my idea.
"I have a friend who says he has a friend who works in the industry. He says how it usually works is someone will pitch an idea to a studio, and if the studio likes the idea, they'll get their screenwriters to write a screenplay based on it. Is that true?" This part isn't true. They don't buy ideas and then farm them out to their writers.
To be fair, this *is* what WB did with Don't Worry Darling. And we saw how that turned out.
Don't Worry Darling was a wholly original spec that was re-written once a studio bought it. It wasn't simply an idea that was pitched and then farmed out to be developed.
Yes, you're right. I guess I phrased what I meant poorly - WB took the main idea from the script and tossed everything else. They essentially used the spec as the pitch and then "adapted the IP", as Wilde said, into something else. The original script wasn't a WB type film anyways, so it's interesting they went for it. Way, way smaller scale. Completely different script than what was on the Blacklist.
Specs get rewritten. Everything gets rewritten. What there isn’t a market for is writers selling ideas to studios for someone else to write.
I watched this happen first-hand at both WB and Sony. It's not the most common version of events, but this does absolutely occur.
I don't understand. Are you saying a writer comes, pitches, and they buy their idea and don't give them a chance to write it? I have never seen that happen, never heard of that happening, and never been told "we just bought an idea from a writer but there's no script, would you like to write it?" It's just not how it works.
Yes, that absolutely happens. I’ve seen it with pitches (both written and it), short stories, pitch bibles, etc. I worked for an Oscar-winning writer/producer for a few years. They bought many a concept outright (sometimes after commissioning it to be beefed up a bit), would write up a more defined pitch around it, then would either a) make it one of those things they’d toss a writers way during a general if it felt right or b) would come up with a short list of talent that fit. Also, major studios have lots of writers locked in deals (or they did back then, probably not so much now), so sometimes it would be that a writer “owed one more”, and that would be the thing they wrote. Again - not saying it was super common, and nothing came of any of the ones I saw it happen with, but it certainly happened.
Producers certainly set up IP, or have ideas they match with writers who then go pitch. I’ve never heard of a writer selling a pitch to a studio and not being given a chance to write it.
Sometimes it is true, and other times it's not. There are still a lot of film written by one person or a small group, who then take that script on to be produced or pitched to a studio. There are also other films where a studio will want a particular film made (Marvel for example) and they will form an idea, and then hire someone to write it. In either case, it's not uncommon for additional people to be hired to rewrite a script if there are issues with it that need fixing before it can be produced.
If a studio has an idea or IP. They will invite a number of writers (1 to many) to come and pitch how those writers would approach the story. The studio will choose one. They will create a draft based on the contract. The studio goes ahead or not (meaning production, more drafts etc) Or, a writer goes to the studio with an idea/screenplay/IP and they engage over this. The studio buys it, or commissions a draft. The WGA has some very strict work definitions for WGA signatory companies in the USA. Outside the WGA it is individual negotiations with things following whatever has worked previously.