Film Business: 'Development' in Hollywood

(15th-17th Dec)
The dope from Sandra on 'Development' and 'Talent Agencies' in
Hollywood. (she had worked for both such companies; on 'Development'
she worked with Wendy Finerman, whose claim to fame was getting
Forrest Gump made; Sandra worked on The Devil Wears Prada and other
flicks)

DEVELOPMENT

- Focuses on developing the script; 'development' strictly refers to
script development

- The company may be involved with production too; typically, Wendy
gets into production - her team may not be involved, but she is.

- Guess the number of the team when Sandra worked, when they did The
Devil Wears Prada? A huge number - 3! That's it - three.

- The main job: find a good story/script; find people who do good
stuff, but...keep looking out

- At a given time - how much scripts each person works with - it could
be 30. This means...talking to writers, talking/pitching to producers,
working with writers to develop the script, negotiation and...once the
script is green-lit then working on the project.

- Finding writers - she once went to Craig List and put up a
requirement. Lo and behold every day she would get 300 emails (am sure
it's relatively much easier to have people respond with stories here,
even though they may not be solid, since every 2nd (film) person seems
to have his/her own story)

- Skills required -
Script analysis, 'feel' for the story (you need to focus on finding a
great story)

(22nd Dec)
- Studios do have their own departments, but as good stories are hard
to find, they are typically open to meeting such development firm

- Development Fee: From what I recall, as per Sandra, though you may
negotiate, typically a Studio will say how much they shall give you
and you work with that. But...am sure it's all open for negotiation.

- Wendy Finerman Productions had a deal with...hmm, Warner i think, or
Columbia; they had the first right of refusal, so if they did then (of
course) they could go to anyone

- Typically, with new writers - WFP would (or others too) - option off
the script for free - this means that you get the right to pitch the
script to anyone (for a specific period), without paying any money to
writer. He gets paid only when you do a sale.

My Take:
- This is definitely an interesting business to explore
- The fact you can work with a very small team is great; one may even
work part-time, though I realize the focus may not be as strong
- The critical aspect - script analysis - this is definitely not a
joke. This entails knowing what to look for in a story, how to make a
story works, how the story will be 'converted' into film, its
marketability, knowing the market

So...
- learn, read as much as possible on story
- read as many scripts as possible
- identify and interact with people who have ability to evaluate
scripts and story
- know what it takes to tell a good story economically
- have a pulse on the existing scenario/society
- build network - especially with producers, directors & writers
- ...whatever works!

(The 'talent agencies' bit I shall try to collect my thoughts and
memory later; even need to talk to Sue, my script-writing instructor.)