From my book, Q & A: The Working Screenwriter:
Should new screenwriters
ever seriously consider giving producers free options (a.k.a "the dollar
option")?
Allison
Burnett (Autumn in New York, Underworld: Awakening): If you really
like the producer, and he shares your vision, and you think he will work as
hard selling your script as you did writing it, then it’s fine, when you are
starting out. Once you are established, however, it’s not a good idea,
except as a last resort. You will often
find that people do not respect or value what they get for free.
Katherine
Fugate (The Prince and Me, Carolina, Valentine's Day, Army Wives): It
depends on the producer, his/her success record and how much you believe in
them. A general rule of thumb, though,
is if no money has been spent, there is less motivation to get things done.
Rolfe
Kanefsky (There’s
Nothing Out There, Shattered Lies, Rod Steele 0014, Jacqueline Hyde, The Hazing): It’s hard to avoid the “dollar
option” when starting a career. I’ve done it a number of times. If some producer
is willing to take your script around town, the trade-off is worth it. Just
make sure to get the rights back after the six months to a year is up. I would
avoid giving a free option to a script for more than a year. If they need more
time than that, they probably can’t do much for you. This is also a good reason
why you have to have more than one script available when starting in this
business. You don’t want your only script optioned and unavailable for a year
with nothing else to show people. From my own experience, none of my dollar
option scripts ever wound up being made into movies, but I feel many were still
worth doing. They opened up some doors and I made some connections because of
it.
Neal
Marshall Stevens (Thirteen Ghosts, Hellraiser: Deader):
I've never done it, because my position has always been that the option money
is money that a producer will get back, in the event that he gets a project set
up—so that, in essence, the option money represents how much a producer is
prepared to bet that he'll be able to sell your project. If he's prepared to
bet nothing—that should tell you something. The only circumstance where I think
it's justified—and it came up a few times when I was working at Laurel—is when
a project came along where, for whatever reason, there were really only one or
two places where we felt we could legitimately take it. So, for us to lay out a lot of money to
option it—and then have only a couple places to take it—really didn't make
sense financially. But in a case like that, the deal should really be for a
short free option. The deal for two or three months—long enough to send the
project to those couple of places and get an answer back. If the answer is no, that's the end of it and
the writer gets his project back, and all he's really being asked to give up is
a few months, so that the project can be taken to a few places. Other than that
exception, I wouldn't go along with it.
Stephen
Susco (The Grudge): It depends on the
circumstances. If there’s something to
be gained—if the producer is well known, or very passionate and aggressive, and
has a real game plan—then it’s worth considering. And always, always, always put everything on
paper. Always.
What some folks have said about Q & A: The Working Screenwriter:
“…highly recommended to any budding screenwriter…"
“…a very instructive yet entertaining read…”
“…filled with great insight and honesty…”
“…valuable and practical…”
“…a must-read…”
“…inspirational…”
"…a phenomenal book…”
From David Trottier, author of The Screenwriter’s Bible:
“…I enjoyed reading Q & A: The Working Screenwriter. The content became a discussion in my mind. Years ago when I began my own writing career, it was a book of interviews that inspired me the most. I felt as though established writers were talking to me and giving me their personal advice. I learned from them and improved my craft. The same was true when I read these interviews…”
If you want to stir your creative juices, bolster your confidence, and gain a better understanding of what it takes to become a working screenwriter in today’s film industry, you’ll find Q & A: The Working Screenwriter essential reading!
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