Young Writers Society

Hey I'm a young screenwriter working on my first new Screenplay for a trilogy I'm hoping will someday be successful and I wanted to know if anyone knows whether I need to finish the entire script before I send it to agents, or can I send it after like the first scene or act, like can I send them part of the script I'm still working on or does it have to be finished before I send the script to agents?

Right, screenplays.

First off, I would definately advise you to stray away from writing something inconclusive. As in; a film trilogy.

Right now I'm actually struggling to come up with any film that were written as an intended trilogy, without it being either an adaption of something or a sequel to something else. Be it a novel, a comic or different adaptions and remakes.

In this day and age, with crowdfunding and social networking, it seems almost just as viable to write your story as a novel, rather than a screenplay. If it's good, it'll generate buzz and you might ultimately see your idea realized on the big screen. You might even have your script ready for that, or get a shot at it.

However, as for screenwriting itself.

Agents will most likely not bother to read the work of a complete unknown. They will already have a bunch of established clients.

Your best bet for achieving success within this field would be to go where the action is. Try to get any sort of job within the industry. Work your way up and make contacts. And obviously, the most important thing is to write. Write, write, write. Anything. Take classes, read the great screenwriting books and enter circles of people with similar goals. Film school is a good entryway.

Once you get within the industry and work on those contacts etc, you would have to spend your spare time writing. As you said you want to write film screenplays, you would have to write a spec script, which would essentially have you write a full and complete screenplay and then try to get it picked up and optioned.

I suppose this would answer your question as to wether or not you would need to finish the entire script before trying to pitch it. Yes, you would have to finish the entire script before you try to pitch it. I'm not even sure screenwriting greats like Tony Kushner or David Mamet would be able to pitch an outline.

A lot of spec scripts turn into great films though. In fact, my 2nd favorite film 'The Truman Show' was based on a spec script by Andrew Niccol. Another one, which would probably be the prime example would be 'Good Will Hunting' written by both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, which launched their careers.

Well, I'm rambling. In short; no. An unfinished script would get you little business.

Interesting question.

I'm not an expert on screen writing, most of my experience lies in novel publishing, but I did work with a scriptwriter.

Sometimes (in both industries) you can get sponsors who will look at your work and sponsor you to help you get it finished, in return for maybe rights to perform or film. This is pretty rare, but it's worth a shot if you're ambitious. You'd have to look into a lot of places and do a fair bit of contacting to try it.

Other than that there aren't many people who would take on a young, unknown (I assume) writer with half a script. It's a pretty big risk and the statistics aren't in your favour.

On the other hand, if you were planning a series, like for tv or something, then you'd need an episode-by-episode plan for the first season. After that you'd only need to script out the first episode (or first few) and send those off to see if you get any replies.