Hollywood Hits and Screenwriting

 

                Well, it’s happened—I’m stepping up to the podium to talk about screenwriting to a group of writers in my area. After two decades of pouring my soul into the craft, mostly through screenplays, I’ve been asked to face a room full of eager writers and, well, give them a dose of reality: turning your beloved book into an on-screen hit. It’s a Herculean task.

Let me explain. I love screenwriting. It’s a craft that lets you build entire worlds, shatter characters, and send them on transformative journeys that captivate audiences. But before you dive in headfirst, there are some hard truths you need to know.

                Let me start at the beginning. I started my screenwriting journey after writing my non-fiction World War II story, Gerti’s War. I poured years into researching (reading over 129 books on the subject), writing, rewriting, but driven with an urge to get my elderly cousins story out on paper. I knew I was onto something special.

                Then, a story tickled my brain, flashing to life—this one was very different. I could see the characters starting their journey, and then the ending, but I didn’t have a clue what happened in the middle. I did what any desperate creative would do: grabbed a few books on screenwriting, then signed up for a two-year online course with ScreenwritingU. Their program gave me the foundation for screenwriting, and I completed five scripts, elevating each one, and finding my voice.

                Then, I went to a few writer’s conferences, film festivals, and got further into the screenwriting world, which ruined watching movies for the rest of my life. I followed structure, format, hooks, misdirection, flawed characters with each viewing. I knew what they were doing. But one moment stands out: a conference with around 200 writers, all dreaming of seeing their novels adapted to film. The speaker asked how many believed their book had “Hollywood Hit” potential, and nearly every hand shot up. I remember thinking, “Those dreams are about to collide with reality.”

                After yet another two-year intensive writing every day program, paid writing gigs, and working alongside film crews, I’ve learned one critical truth: finding the next big screen adaption is like sifting for gold in the desert. Hollywood is a business—a colossal, money-driven machine. Careers live and die on those decisions. One exercise in my journey was to come up with 300 high-concept ideas in thirty days. It sounded impossible at first, but soon I found inspiration in the most unexpected places. I wrote down ten ideas a day, constantly tweaking and twisting them until I found seven tidbits of high-concept gold. Our next task was to scour Amazon and other platforms to find ten books with adaptation potential. I combed through over 300 novels before I found one that felt perfect—a whimsical tale about a young girl and her journey with science, magic and a mechanical horse brought to life. I reached out to the author and her agent, but quickly learned that the road to Hollywood wasn’t that simple. Spec scripts? Not interested. Studios? They want marketable, bankable properties from established entities. Disney – they only take pitches from inside after you have worked for them for years. Pixar, they pull from inside. Mattel, they look for bankable marketing items that work within their brand, etc. Everything is a hard sell. No one wanted my unsolicited passion project. To further complicate things, once you sell a project, only ten percent make it to the screen.

Man, I still love that book, Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell. Highly recommend it.

Here’s the stark reality of what makes a Hollywood hit:

                A Marketable title that grabs attention.

                A high-concept idea that’s easy to pitch.

A clear target audience – and don’t say “everyone”

                Does the genre choice show up strong?

                Budget considerations that make sense

                Roles designed for bankable actors

                A powerful, transformational journey for the characters

                A conflict that grips us deeply

 

                And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It needs to be fresh, original and instantly compelling. Snow White and the Huntsman sold for a million dollars back in the day. And, with the changes in production, you now only have a chance if it’s appropriate for a small production company under a two million budget.

                The truth? Money. It comes down to money and budget. A production company once wanted to option my children’s TV series. But after another company failed to pay them, they went bankrupt, canceled the contract, and told me it would take five million dollars to produce it in four years. Even winning an international contest didn’t bring offers to my door. I’ve placed in well-known script competitions in the US and Europe and have over fifteen scripts under my belt – seven of which are high-concept and ready to go, ranging from children’s pilots to action-adventure and rom-coms. As a script reader, I’ve learned the difference between good, bad, and truly awful scripts.

                But my stories continue to flair to life. It’s ingrained in me, and I can’t stop. Screenwriting taught me how to build worlds, write compelling flawed characters and I still see the beginning and ending to every story that I write. I’m considering producing my own award-winning short next year, A Sacred Place. I’ve made connections, understand the production process, marketing, and business decisions to make something stand out. But in this business, it all boils down to who you know, and having a script that makes someone say, “Holy cow, this is incredible.”

So, the real question is. Do you have a story that makes your eyes go wide and---whom do you know?

 

 

               

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