[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: We had an interesting comment the other day under one of our videos and it says:
“As wannabe screenwriters and novelists we focus way too much on our story and the rules of story while the people who succeed at this stuff just pump it out no matter what the story is, remember that.”
Drop the mic!
Steve Douglas-Craig, Owner/Teacher at The New Screenwriter, Financier, Screenwriter and Producer: Wow, I like that.
Film Courage: Do you agree?
Steve: They’re being very specific. I don’t think that you can’t throw that template over everything. For instance, in most studios now, if a theatrical marketing team doesn’t sign off on your work, it doesn’t get greenlit, it doesn’t matter how good the script is. If the marketing team doesn’t have any kind of confidence in it, it’s just not going to get made or it might get made but you’re going to lose money because they’re not going to throw money at it.
I think that the churn and burn kind of thing is a reflection of the amount of distribution platforms we have now. [In] the streaming world there are a lot more places you can take low-budget material and license or sell it right. The way to make money is being able to turn those out. I mean the Lifetime [Network] model is a perfect example. Lifetime doesn’t necessarily buy movies, they license them. I make their movie for $300,000. I take it to Lifetime, which they’ve already seen the concept and have said Yeah, we would buy something like that. I make the film, they license it. They might put it on their subscription-based or their advertising-based platform or they might put it on both which means you make more money. Either way, there’s no marketing involved but there are fees involved. They pay me for the…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
After graduating from the AFI, Steve Douglas-Craig was recruited by Sony Pictures Entertainment to work as a Story Editor & Acquisitions Executive for the Worldwide Acquisitions team in Los Angeles where he received an induction into story & business development, feature film packaging, domestic & international distribution, theatrical marketing & product acquisition. He helped develop & shepherd film titles including Terminator: Salvation, The Book of Eli, Django Unchained, War Room, Don’t Breathe (Sequel current in post-production), the Insidious horror movie franchise, Manchester By The Sea, The Grudge (reboot), Searching, Arrival, Whiplash, The Call, Attack The Block & many others (including TV releases – The Tudors, House of Cards). Steve’s tenure at Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions was followed with a promotion to Senior Story Editor & Creative Executive at Screen Gems where he was involved in the development & release of theatrical titles like the recent releases of Monster Hunter & the adaptation of James Herbert’s novel – The Unholy. Before that he helped shepherd Black & Blue, The Intruder, Possession of Hannah Grace, Brightburn, & Slender Man. He was also heavily involved in developing content strategies that attracted financiers & talent to specific projects for the studio. Steve is also a professional screenwriter having worked as a freelance staff writer for the hit CBS TV series Hawaii Five-O over a number of seasons & currently has a pilot & several feature films (including a creature feature) going out through his literary managers in Los Angeles.
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