Ten questions about the screenwriting business

Adam Dachis

1. What kind of stories will have difficulty selling?
2. In your opinion, where’s a good place to draw the line between sacrificing your work for profit and being true to yourself if you cannot determine exactly how important each is in this stage of your life? What if they are equally important?
3. When a scripts are purchased by a studio, how often are they produced?
4. How much does the average script sell for in Hollywood? In independent production?
5. On average, how much are scripts changed from their original form after being purchased?
6. When a script is produced, is it possible for the writer to still own the writes to the script without also being the producer? If so, how does this work and what are the consequences?
7. Is selling a script easier with an agent or on your own? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?
8. What is the script purchase process?
9. What are some things you absolutely never want to write in a script?
10. What are some things you absolutely never want to do when trying to sell a script or get an agent?