Do you have to be in LA to sell a screenplay?
When I visit screenwriting sites and message boards this question is asked a lot. It never fails that someone in Nebraska wants to be a screenwriter and wants to know if they can sell their script in Hollywood while remaining in Nebraska.
If you have seen this question then you know how the “gurus” usually answer. They tell Mr. Nebraska that he does not need to move to LA to sell his screenplay. But that he might want to be prepared to make a couple of trips a year to do things like meet with his agent and what not.
For the most part though, I think that is a bunch of crap.
Let me explain.
I think you can stay in Nebraska and sell your script - IF - you want to sell it for peanuts. There will always be another chump in Nebraska that considers them self to be a filmmaker and will be in need of a script. That’s where you come in, Mr. Nebraska. So, if you want to sell that script for a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand, then yes, you can sell a script without being in LA - but you will not be selling it to anyone in Los Angeles.
And if you are in Nebraska trying to sell your screenplay to Hollywood you do not look serious. You look like you are using that script at a lottery ticket. Well, guess what? It’s not a winning ticket.
One Response to “Do you have to be in LA to sell a screenplay?”
March 29th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Don’t agree.
Sure, the odds of someone selling a spec from abroad is rare, but it has and does happen. I think a lot comes down to the script itself and the writers ability to market it and generate heat. Agents/Managers will help (providing they know how?) But there are plenty of examples of new writers breaking into Hollywood without living there.
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