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Welcome back, everyone, to another edition of The Author's Corner. I had the opportunity to conduct my first screenplay workshop at RavenCon (Richmond) last month. I was very pleased with the turnout considering it was based on screenplays, not books. We covered a lot of material in almost two hours and the feedback to the RavenCon committee was very good. I thought the RavenCon staff did an excellent job in promoting all the workshops and attracting an enthusiastic fan base.
BaltiCon is around the corner on Memorial Day weekend in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The following weekend is ConCarolinas in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'll be attending both and, though I don't know what panels I'll be part of, I'm looking forward to a lot of fun. The programs should be listed soon though on their respective websites.
June could be a very decisive month for me. I should know what success du Jour Entertainment had with the Fractured Time screenplay. They are "packaging" the screenplay and pursuing a buyer. I'll talk more about this in the Writer's Tip. Based on their results, I should have an interesting decision on my novels. Next month I'll be able to provide you with the details on this.
Much of the delay in publishing my new Space Frontiers series has been in the responses of the big publishers. At this time, I'm only waiting for a response from Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. My agent should have a response from them by next month.
This month's Writer's Tip is about "packaging" a script in the movie business. In the case of my agreement with du Jour Entertainment, they are developing a budget; picking a cast; arranging financing; arranging for capital and other front end duties. Once finished, they attempt to sell the "package" to a studio. At this point, everything is ready to go into production. This makes the project more enticing for a buyer to purchase the package since all the homework is done.
The screenplay isn't actually purchased until a satisfactory offer is made by a buyer. The writer's price is typically based on a percentage of the budget although other variables may figure into the calculations. An example is the subsidiary rights for the film. A writer (or the agent) may want to negotiate for a percentage of the subsidiary rights if they believe that the film will be successful and lead to profitable spinoff items. Next month, I'll talk about subsidiary rights and examples of them. Thanks again for joining me.
Best Wishes,
- Michael D'Ambrosio
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