Writer's Guide to Selling Your Screenplay [Paperback]

Cynthia Whitcomb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2002

With the average screenplay selling for $100,000 or more, every writer knows that movies are where the money is. In The Writer's Guide to Selling Your Screenplay, veteran screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb reveals everything today's aspiring screenwriter needs to know about selling a movie script to Hollywood, cable TV, or network television. Readers will find proven, award-winning strategies for getting the right people to look at your work, marketing a "spec" script, making a splash at pitch meetings, and much more. Plus, they'll discover what today's top agents and producers look for in a script, the types of deals you can expect to make, as well as an appendix of agents who specialize in handling scriptwriters.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cynthia Whitcomb has taught screenwriting for more than 12 years and has sold many award-winning screenplays to major television and motion picture studios. She lives in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications (September 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871161923
• ISBN-13: 978-0871161925
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,421,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on screenwriting by a real pro!, August 8, 2008

By 

Monica Main "Monica Main" (Valencia, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Writer's Guide to Selling Your Screenplay (Paperback)

I get so sick of reading books on writing by people who haven't written, published, or produced anything.

This book is different.

Cynthia is a real pro who has sold millions of dollars in screenplays. Yes, the book was published awhile ago but it is NOT out of date. She gives invaluable information about how to get your work sold.

If you are an aspiring screenwriter and can only afford a couple of books then please make sure this book is one of them. This is the book you need for part 2 of the process which is SELLING YOUR SCRIPT.

Highly recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars Best if paired with a more "nuts and bolts" book, April 8, 2010

By 

A. Williams - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writer's Guide to Selling Your Screenplay (Paperback)

After thoroughly enjoying Whitcomb's "The Writer's Guide to Writing Your Screenplay: How to Write Great Screenplays for Movies and Television" I was very anxious to open up her book on *selling* screenplays! I wasn't quite as impressed with this volume as I was the other, but it was still interesting and useful.

Two major things of note:

1) This book does discuss breaking into TV more than "Writing" discussed writing for TV.

2) While Whitcomb does discuss getting your work sold, a good portion of the book discusses what happens *after* your work is sold/you're hired to write another script. In one respect, this was very interesting/helpful because Whitcomb sheds light on areas that typically script-selling-books stop before (i.e. she discusses rewrites, screenwriters on set, producer notes, etc.). However, there was a lack (IMO) of information on getting to that point. Only a few pages were devoted to query letters, and had I not already read other books that discuss queries I probably would have felt rather lost.

SO, overall, I still really appreciate Whitcomb's books. I would, however, suggest that you pair this work with another, say, "How to Sell Your Screenplay: A Realistic Guide to Getting a Television or Film Deal", to get an even better overview of the whole process, from idea to script to query to film.

13 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This Now! Learn from the Master, November 22, 2002

By 

Deb (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Writer's Guide to Selling Your Screenplay (Paperback)

Look, do you want to learn how to sell your screenplay from a master or a novice?

CYNTHIA WHITCOMB is not only a masterful writer, she's a persuasive saleswoman who wheels and deals her way into meetings with A-list producers. She has seventy-five sales and over half those are produced movie credits! We're not talking about Joe Blow's Back Alley Production Company here, we're talking Dreamworks. We're talking CBS. We're talking a twenty year career.

We're talking major success!

Other screenwriter's names may be more familiar to you, but I assure you, when it comes to prolific sales, and near-mythic produced television movie credits, nobody tops Whitcomb. She's the one you'd want pitching your script in a crowded room. She's the one you'd want championing your story. And she's the one you want to teach you everything you need to know about writing and selling your script.

You want to write screenplays Hollywood will read? Get Whitcomb's WRITER'S GUIDE TO WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY based on the UCLA screenwriting curriculum she taught. You want to sell not one, not two, but 75 scripts, like master-seller CYNTHIA WHITCOMB? Click the Add-to-Shopping-Cart button, take advantage of Amazon's 30% discount, and order Whitcomb's WRITER'S GUIDE TO SELLING YOUR SCREENPLAY.

No cute titles and no gimmicks. Just like the books: straight-forward, pragmatic instruction and advice from a working writer that Hollywood loves.