I believe, in practical terms, there are only three types of script: 1) Scripts designed to convince an agent that you’re a good investment Those are the only three choices a writer has. To either write in the hope of finding an agent, and that they’ll be given work. To write products that will be attractive to specific producers… or, to write scripts designed to attract talent to a production. I’ll lay that out another way: 1) You are a writer whose ambition is to be an employee and you don’t care who hires you, therefore you need an agent who can show what a good employee you’ll be. Or 1) Employee… gun for hire (If you pay me, I will write)
2) Scripts designed to convince producers that the script is a good investment
and,
3) Scripts designed to convince the talent that the project a good investment
2) You are a writer whose ambition is to work in a specific genre, therefore you need to produce a good product for a producer who works in that genre and that demonstrates you understand what she needs for her investors.
3) You are a writer who understands that ultimately a movie is created by bringing together talented people around a script… and, having as few idiots as possible involved in the process is more important than the pay-cheque.
2) The script as product (I write it, I sell it)
3) The script as core of business plan (I write, I use it as leverage to attract talent and create a product, I sell product)
The most important thing any screenwriter needs to know, is which kind of writer are they, on any given project?
