I saw a listing the other day by a company that hopes to make a feature film based on an event they organize (the great gumball rally). Here's the great deal they were offering: they want 100 writers to come up with storylines...for nothing. From those hundred they will choose 3 to write scripts (for something, but no sums mentioned; i suspect "pittance" might be the rough amount). And from those 3 they will choose one to be rewritten and eventually shot. Presumably that one writer will get a decent script fee. And I wonder whether he or she might be given a few "suggestions" for scenes or characters left over from the 99 rejects?
Now, I know how desperate some new writers might be to have even a one in a hundred shot at writing a film that is made, but this smacks of exploitation. Could we tell 100 lawyers to come up with a total strategy for trying our case, then narrow it down to 3 who could spend a month or two practicing their arguments, and then choose the best one? Or why don't we ask 100 restaurants to serve us a free meal, then 3 who'll serve us for half price, and we'll promise to be regular customers at the one we like best?
The botton line, however, is that this kind of thing works only if we writers fall for it. For once, I agree with Nancy Reagan's old line: Just Say No.
