Ask yourself, “How long does it take to write a screenplay?” Exactly. Too long to have to put up with nothing but rejection once it’s done. So why send anything out there that has no chance in hell?  Dig the climate out there among those who put up money for scripts and production.  There is no loose money right now.  Your competition is everybody who ever wrote anything, and a lot of them know the business, have connections, won awards, and already made studios a lot of money.  Everybody who writes scripts is trying to sell one.  The studios are looking to spend their big dollars on proven money-makers such as comic book franchises, sequels, and adaptations of popular best sellers, all of which they own.  Why would they buy your script?  Would you in their shoes?

Here are three things I think your script needs in order to be taken seriously:

-It needs to close the deal on the first five pages.  Ideally, it should be page one.  Failing that, page two.  Do not wait past page five to create something in the reader’s mind that will bring about a strong personal commitment to your script.  If you haven’t done something memorable by page five, why even bother to write page six?  Do not wait on unfunny jokes, voice-over narrative ramblings, poorly-conceived action, or unmotivated dialogue to put off getting into your story.  Nobody has the time, and those who take the time don’t have the attention spans.  It’s got to be a good read from the top down.

-It needs AT LEAST three surprises.  In the old days you could get by with one surprise at the end of the second act.   What kind of surprise?  I’m not talking about little surprises.  Think “The Crying Game.”  Or “Chinatown” (“My sister, my daughter…”).  Or “King’s Row” (“Where’s the rest of me?”).  Those movies only had one. Now I’d say three.  More would be better.  Surprises are hard.  They have to be both completely unexpected and unpredicted, yet somehow fated.  And each surprise has to deepen the story and raise the stakes, otherwise they merely distract.

-It needs to have a story, an actual story, not a rehash, not a series of shocks, not a lot of adventures, but a beginning-middle-end story, with an arc, a progressive series of set-ups and pay-offs that have ever deepening message, and a real meaning.  If you have a good story, you will be way out in front of maybe ninety-per-cent of what’s out there.  A good story is timeless, it will always be good.  Whatever the genre – romantic-comedy, action, horror, sci-fi – the screenplay will rise or fall on the basis of the story.  Story is the real art of screenwriting.

If your script has all three of these, go on.  Send it anywhere. If not, think about these elements when you start to rewrite.

As I travel the country speaking to new groups of writers and attending pitchfests and conferences outside of Los Angeles, a certain trend in the types of material I hear has become clear and it alludes to a huge cultural difference between those who live in L.A. and NY and those who live elsewhere.

At an L.A.-based pitching conference, perhaps 5 out of 100 pitches I receive revolve around spirituality, new age religion, or some faith-infused plotline. But at recent trips to Santa Fe, Portland, and Dallas, I would say at least 40% of the total projects I was pitched or consulted on were based on spirituality in some form, including some sort of Native American angle or practice. Since Native Americans currently only make up about 5% of the U.S. population, why do people think this would be a big commercial success?  And why is this observation of the connection between location and religion important? Because if no one in L.A. connects to this spiritual/new age/true believers movement, then why would we make a movie about it? Now, Angelinos are known for being progressive, spiritual and new age, but we’re more the organic, yoga, too lazy for real religion type of progressives. Screenwriters and producers in here worship a different deity…and it’s green and fits in your wallet. I am convinced that this difference in attitude towards religion is what’s keeping many writers from writing a commercial project – because they think religion IS commercial…and it’s not.

Writers often think that what affects their own personal life or beliefs will work for a broad audience and is therefore commercial, but that’s just not the case. You have always been told to avoid conversations about religion and politics at big dinner parties…well think of your marketplace as a big dinner party with lots of different types of people attending.  Religious types will often retort with how successful “Passion of the Christ” was – and it was – but that was an anomaly directed by Mel Gibson. Now, there is a huge book market for these types of projects and most of these pitches would make for great novels, just not movies. There is also a big and potentially profitable niche market for faith-based movies – “Fireproof” proved that. However, this is a mostly Christian market. There really is no market for new age spirituality or Native American tradition. I cannot think of one company that is actively looking for anything like this. If I’m wrong, please – companies – tell me, because I have about 100 pitches I’d like to send your way.

I respect how important spiritualism is to some people and if there is some sort of religious theme you would like to express through a completely unrelated story, that’s fine. Or maybe you read a passage in the Bible and it inspires an idea for a horror or action movie – that’s fine. Or maybe a character’s spiritual beliefs are a small part of his or her arc – that’s fine too. You just have to be aware of how much you are including the religious/spiritual aspects on the page.  I understand trying to bring one’s religious beliefs to a larger audience – but that’s what Republicans are for, not screenwriters. As a general rule, if you want to write a commercial and mainstream Hollywood movie, keep your religious beliefs in your heart and your head, not on the page.