Evolutionize your Screenwriting Group

Turning Your Screenwriting Group into a Development Center

The reason for a screenwriting group is to provide each member with the feedback he or she needs to forward his or her screenwriting career.  Group members share screenwriting knowledge and provide friendly, constructive critiques of each other's script, treatment, or outline.  Members also exchange screenwriting books, magazines, tapes, and their experiences finding agents and marketing scripts.

The major problem every writing group has is that the blind is leading the blind.  Inexperienced writers are giving critiques to other inexperienced writers or to more advanced writers.  So you must segment the group into 4 subgroups.

1. Beginning writers

2. Intermediate writers

3. Advanced writers

4. Professional writers.

Members of the higher group must critique scripts for the group directly below them.  Only the professional group can be trusted to give critiques to each other.

Creating a Development Center

A development center puts your group into higher gear.  It also creates a professional service from your group, and you start to deal with and provide services to independent filmmakers, producers, directors and other writers.

In the marketing section of Dave Trottier’s book “The Screenwriter’s Bible”, he shows you how to start up and maintain your screenwriting group.

A Development Center is the act of making your screenwriting group into a professional service.  You do not have you drop your screenwriting group actions, but you now provide the actions that your Writers Guild either doesn’t provide, or is weak on.  Listen to the complaints of members of your country’s Writers Guild, and provide a fix to those problems and complaints.

The main complaint about the Writers Guilds in Australia and England is that it supplies only 2% of the services of that of the Writers Guild of America, and the help given to writers are extremely minimal or non-existent and they bow down to producers (or the BBC), allowing a feature script from a newbie to be sold for $4000.

English writers can survive without the BBC.  The focus needs to be on independent filmmakers and making sure they are fully aware of the rights and fees a writer should be paid, and publicly exposing those that refuse to come to the party.

Only dumb people sell to a company for below Writers Guild’s MBAs.  There is no shame in refusing a sale or option.  The problem is that not enough writers are refusing to sell or option to these losers.  If you walked into a computer shop and saw a computer on sale for $999, do you think the salesman will accept $50 for it?  Of course not!  Then why should you accept less than the standard minimum for your screenplay or for your writing work?

As a Development Center, you would fill in the service gap between your Writers Guild and that of the Writers Guild of America and provide these services for a standard fee to the film industry public.  Your own members should get a 40% to 60% discount on all services.  (Contact us at wildeprods@yahoo.com for details and materials).

When you’ve set up your Development Center, contact other screenwriting groups about them becoming a Development Center, too.  Networking between groups (whether development centers or screenwriting groups) is extremely important in strengthening yourselves as writers.  Make sure you let your Film and Television Office, Writers Guild and Film Industry body know your group’s details so writers in your area can easily contact you for services, fellowship, training or advice.

In Australia, for example, that means contacting the film and TV office, MEAA, Writers Guild offices and other screenwriting groups in your state, giving them your details, and letting them know what you do that they may not.

Making your screenwriting group or development center into a City Office.

A City Office services screenwriting groups, independent filmmakers, producers, directors, production services and writers registered with them.  They also act as managers for writers and help them get agents and market and sell their work.  They also provide entertainment lawyers and entertainment accountants for writers and independent companies.  If your Film Industry body is “Big Brother”, a City Office is “Big Sister”.

There are three City Offices on the planet at present.  Melbourne, in Australia.  Oklahoma City in Oklahoma, and in Hollywood.

To create a city office, contact us at wildeprods@yahoo.com