This is a transcript of SYS Podcast Episode 127: Writer / Director Pearry Teo Talks About His Film The Curse of Sleeping Beauty.
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Ashley: Welcome to episode #127 of the “Selling Your Screenplay Podcast” I’m Ashley Scott Meyers, Screenwriter and Blogger over at www.sellingyourscreenplay.com. Today I’m interviewing Pearry -Teo, who just wrote and directed a film called, “The Curse of Sleeping Beauty.” Which is a kind of modern retelling of the “Sleeping Beauty” fairytale. We talk through some of the challenges to getting this movie made. And he offers some great tips for people who are trying to sell their story, so stay tuned for that.
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I’m continually building out the SYS Script Library. It’s all free, all the scripts are in PDF format. You can find that at – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/library. I want to thank Neba Nesude who just sent me “Darshing Limited” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” “The Royal Tannenbaum” “American Sniper” “Boyhood” “Captain Phillips” “Gravity” “Me & Earl” and “Dying Girl” “Room” “Silver Lining” “Playbook” “True Grit” “Trumbo” “Unbroken”
“Money Ball” “Spotlight” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” Script. Thank you Nebee for sending in those scripts. Those are all posted to the SYS Script Library. So, if you’re looking for any of these scripts? By all means, check it out. I also want to thank Edward Gori, he sent in “Asylum” “Avatar” “The Hateful 8” “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Run All Night” Again, thank you Edward for sending in those screenplays I really do appreciate it. The SYS Library is totally just built by people sending in these scripts. Just like they did. So, if you have a script, just do me one favor? Just go to the SYS Script Library – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/library. Just see if it’s already in the library? If it’s not, if it’s a screenplay that’s been produced? And it’s not in the library? Please do just Email me, a PDF of the script is preferred. But, I think I could take any format and I can convert it to PDF. Just Email me those if you have them, send them, www.sellingyourscreenplay.com, it is very much appreciated. And I would say at this point we have well over 1000 scripts that you can go and download. Get them all in PDF format. So, it’s easy to download it. It’s easier to read on whatever device you use. Again, that’s – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/library.
Just want to mention a free webinar that I’m doing on Wednesday June 8 2016 at 10:00a.m. pst. It’s called, “How to Effectively Market Your Screenplay and Sell it.” I’m going to go through all the various online channels that are available to screenwriters. And give you my unfiltered opinion of them.
I get questions all the time, about the “Black List” “Ink Tip” about which contests people should they enter? And I’m going to go through them all these different channels. I’ve personally tried all these channels. And have had some success with some of them, less success with others. I’m just going to share my experience with them. Just talk about what I think they are looking for, on this webinar. Again, this webinar is completely free. If you can’t make it to the live event, don’t worry, I will be recording the event. And then, if you
sign-up and don’t, can’t. If you sign-up, I’m going to basically Email the link after the webinar takes place. I’m going to record it, and then I will send a link to everybody who has signed-up. So, even if you can’t make that live date on 10:00a.m. pst. June 8 2016. Don’t worry about it, still sign-up and then I will Email you after the webinar with a link to a recording. You want to get in on this? Just go to – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/freewebinar, again that’s – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/freewebinar. And it’s all one word, just “freewebinar.” All lowercase and all one word. Also, if you are already on my Email list, meaning, you already get Emails from me. You don’t need to sign up for this again. I will Email everybody who’s on my Email list. I will send them anyway, the link to the webinar. How to get access to it, and it’s free, so anybody who is on my list, I will send you that link. If you are not already on my Email list, do sign-up – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/freewebinar.
So, just a quick few words about what I am working on this week? Once again, still plowing ahead on pre-production for my crime action thriller, “The Pinch.” I’ve got a little more than a month now, before I start shooting the shoot date, is going to be Saturday, July 9th. It’s going to be the first shooting date. And we are going to shoot for three weeks. And taking off Mondays, and Tuesdays. So, basically it will be Monday through Sunday. Although, the first two days will be a Saturday and a Sunday. Go for three weeks 15-day shoot. I’ve started to cast the project. I have several roles cast now. I’ve got thee of my four locations locked in. So, that’s coming along nicely. I’ve pretty much got my crew together. There’s still a few positions I do need to fill. And I would say, even now maybe some back-up positions. I’ve got some people that can do certain positions. But not every single day of the shoot. So, I’ve got to find some people to fill in on those specific days. But the crew’s basically coming together. And then, actively casting is coming together as well. So, I’m going to really hopefully now start to focus on some of the creative decisions. There is still quite a bit of paperwork. We got to get the deal memos from all the crew. We got to get the actors to sign a contract. So, there’s still some paperwork that needs to be done. But, I think I’m in pretty good shape. As I said, I’m going to try to start really focusing on some of the creative issues, prepare the shot-list, production design, going over the locations with my production designer. And really start getting some of these creative things worked out and figured out. Hopefully make this thing the best movie possible. So, I think everything is moving along nicely. As I said, I’m, I’ve got over a month and things are in pretty good shape. Hopefully, that will all ready to go by July 8th, but I am a little bit nervous about it. There’s just a lot of moving parts. The other big thing I got, it’s not signed sealed and delivered. So, it’s, we have a verbal agreement. I did get all my insurance worked out. And I’ll kinda be announcing that more formally maybe by next week. But, I’ve basically got the insurance. And I’m renting some lighting equipment. And new using some locations from a particular production house here in L.A. so that’s good. That will be a great new relationship, I think going forward. They are able to bring a lot of resources to the production. So, I will be talking more about that, so as time goes by. I’m also planning on wrapping all of this stuff up into a course that I will be offering. Probably next like, January or February. Once the movie is completely done and I’ve started to get it out to film festivals. Just to distributors, just to kind of feel like there’s you know, the thing is basically done. So, it might even be a year from now. But, I’m going to do a wrap up, I’m going to run some kind of online course about everything that I did. And really get into the nitty gritty. So, if you are interested in learning the nitty-gritty on this? Stay tuned, because I will be wrapping all this up into something. Some kind of online course. I will be running that sometime next year. So anyways, that’s kind of what I’m working on.
Let’s move into the main segment, today I’m interviewing screenwriter and director,
Pearry Teo. Today’s interview is going to be different than normal. You know, I’m trying to get the audio quality, to raise the audio quality of these interviews. And there were definitely some issues. So, I had to cut some chunks of this interview out. So, it’s not going to be quite as linear as the interviews normally are. Normally, they are very conversational, we kinda just talk and go through questions. And there may be some cuts in here. I just removed whole sections of this. Obviously it’s edited together, edited together so it makes sense. But, not quite the linear conversation that maybe were used to doing here on, “Selling Your Screenplay.” Anyway, here is the interview.
[08:00]
Ashley: Welcome Pearry to the Selling Your Screenplay Podcast. I really appreciate you coming on the show.
Pearry: A thank you very much Ashley, for having me on the show.
Ashley: So, to start out, maybe you can give us a little bit about your background. Kinda how you broke into the entertainment industry? And even take us back, you know, before that. Maybe you know, what was your childhood like? I mean were you always interested in studying film? Or were you one of these kids who was always running around with a video camera? And just take us up through that. And maybe take us through your first professional credit.
Pearry: I actually started making films because actually, to be brutally honest with you. I was a high school student, I just needed the credits just to get by. You know, to keep my active Student Visas. So, I took a video course, just to keep my 15 credits score. And ever since I held a video camera, I just fell in love with it.
Ashley: Let’s talk about maybe your first kind of professional credit. You’ve got this interest now in film making. How did you go from, about one class to actually having some professional credits?
Pearry: I assume professional meaning that you’re going to get paid at this job. But I think the status is to, you know, really, really pay your dues. A bunch of producers, many types are doing, are vying for them, free, almost free. It’s sometimes, you know, if they need something. That I’ll be like, here, take it. Officially being a professional is more about building a relationship. With directors, producers, and all that. When indeed, you really, really want to sell a screenplay. A screenplay today is so, so, tough to sell. You know, trying to say that you are a professional. You can count a handful of professional screenwriters. That, you know, get paid “Old Hollywood Style” are taking a story, getting paid. You know, now a days just it’s mind boggling, walk into a studio and just see the stack of unread screenplays. It would just blow your mind. Does that mean, keep, just imagine how many good stories are there just waiting to be discovered. There’s just so many, and not enough time to read it. So, the ones that get read are the ones who have forged good relationships with, you know, with the actual. For these indie studios, or you know, major studios. It, depends, yeah.
Ashley: Like a lot of people who are, that come to my blog and listen to this Podcast. They are going to be looking to do exactly what you just said, network. So do you just have some tips for them? Like how can they network, and how can they meet these producers? Even to get what you’re saying, just those really, almost free writing jobs. Just to find those producers, and start to make those connections.
Pearry: You really don’t want to go to the producers and artist network meetings. I have not met a single producer, who has paid someone who has ever been to these network meetings. You know, they’re, I have known them to need screenwriters. And it’s really funny. And it’s, when you think about these meetings. I’ve known a producer for that. A scene writer, therefore, a scene writer for his last film he did. That was a $50,000.00 film he did, a charity ball, a dinner. And there are various places that you can meet a lot of producers and all that. But, I suggest, my number one thing is, do not fall into that whole nickel kind of thing, it’s got problems. Not the project producers at parties. Those can almost absolutely never works. If, you know, we were all partying, the last thing you want is, to be shot, you know, a card. We want to have fun. And the last thing we are thinking about is, you know, is trying to arrange for this script to be read. In fact, when you say, “Would you read my script?” All of a sudden my mind thinks of work. And I have like, fifty scripts I haven’t read yet. And I’m like, “Ohhh!” And that’s like, that could be a ball breaker there.
Ashley: Let’s dig into the, “Curse of Sleeping Beauty” Maybe to start out, you can give us a quick pitch, kinda just us tell us a log-line, or just give us a pitch for the film?
Pearry: “Sleeping Beauty” is a Morning May film. Surrounding the sad, you know 10,000 years later that Sleeping Beauty never woke up. What if the prince never came? You know, what happened to her? And so, we decided to surround our world with you know, demons and monsters that perhaps, you know, guarded her, her body, kept her alive, you know, keeping the fairytale alive essentially. And how does this work into present day fairytale mythology?
Ashley: Yeah, yeah. And where did this idea come from?
Pearry: Well, me and Edward Heartsol, he’s a comic book illustrator. We really just sat down, and you know, it’s funny. A lot of my whole ideas come from jokes. We started sitting around joking around and Ha, wouldn’t it be cool? You know what? What if the prince never came? Hee, hee, hee. And all of a sudden, we got a horror film from that. You know, so, it’s funny, I know a lot of people. You know, used to come here, it comes from everywhere. You just have to really shake your eyes open. And keep your artist linked up to the other, because, you never know when or where it comes from? You know, my craziest film, you know, I did? It can come from the most random places in the world. So, it really depends?
Ashley: Yeah. Okay, let’s just walk through your writing process a little bit. You were co-writer of this project. And I’ve written scripts where or with other people. So, I’m always curious, to kind of hear what you’re actual writing process looks like? Do you guys get in the same room with each other? What tools, collaborations, tools do you use to write together? Just how does that process go?
Pearry: Usually the first case is, you know, see what comes out of this story together, over all story? And what we do is, try to come up, I don’t want to say, half-treatment, in this. We don’t get into too many details kind of things. And that the first thing that I try to do? Is usually for me, is write the complete first draft first. And once I finish with the first draft, you know, we look at it and say, that’s bad. And once we see where it is? We fix, rewrite, then we’ll probably go with a script amend, just do headers, and paragraph description of scenes, stuff like that. But, it’s usually, by the time we start writing? I really had the intro of the producer able to By the Horns Entertainment. So, once we knew what the story was about? It was a very simple matter of writing it. And then sending it over to you know, my second screenwriter. And we always know what our thoughts are already. So, there are things he doesn’t touch. Like visual stuff, that’s the thing about the script. He usually never touches that. So, Josh, he’s very lucky, he’s very good at that. But when it comes to dialog and things like that. He’s much, much stronger than me. And so, usually you have to trust him on that one a little bit more. And so, it depends, so me and my process definitely let each of us have our creative spurge first. And then once we have that, we can both sit down and say, “Okay, what creatively are my
strength?” And let’s try basically on this structured first draft. How do we contribute each of them, us, into this? And that’s how it’s seen, yeah.
Ashley: So, the way it, and I’m just trying to sum up what you guys said, make sure I understand it. So, basically, this sort of half-treatment your talking about, it’s you and another writer. And you guys are in the same room. And then once you kind of have that done. You flush it out a little bit further. And then hand it off to another writer.
Pearry: Right.
Ashley: Kind of polish it up.
Pearry: I assume me, your meaning? Same head space. Because we’ve never even met.
Ashley: Okay, really?
Pearry: Yeah.
Ashley: Is it via. Skype or something like that?
Pearry: A-huh.
Ashley: Okay, okay, okay. Perfect, perfect. That’s interesting to know. And how long does this process take, when you guys are writing this screenplay? Just from like, the start, and how much time do you spend on this half-treatment?
Pearry: You know, you surly know, when it comes to a producer interest and a script. A producer is not interested in a script. And we are just doing it on Skype. Me, and another writer have spent about six months to a year on it. Usually when a producer is interested, and he has a plan. How to sell it, where to sell it, and all that ready. We sometimes have anywhere from a few weeks, to two months to finish.
Ashley: Okay, yeah, yeah. So, you can get it down if you have to in that spot.
Pearry: You have to yeah.
Ashley: Alright. So, let’s talk a little bit about this. It sounds like, with this particular project, you had a producer involved very, very, early on. So, did you pitch it to him, as just a sort of loose idea? And then he said, “Yeah, I’ll get behind that project.”
Pearry: You learn a thing about pitching. You lose skin on and make a big mistake on. Is that when you pitch a screenplay. You kind of pitch the story and how wonderful it is. You should never ever pitch it that way. It’s just the fastest way to pitch it to a producer. Is to pitch it how he sees or does it. So, don’t worry about your story yet. You will be about how he’s going to sell it. So, by showing him, the
mock-up poster. By showing him the one sheets and all that. You know he gets an angle, you know, “Wow, I could sell this movie.” And I’m like, yeah, got it too. (Laughing) So, you know, that’s really how you go. You got to make him see it. When he sees it, he’s got to visualize it himself. You know, mush in all the shades of fm, this place is selling it. He’s got to visualize that, if he can’t visualize it? She’s not going to want to do the extra idea.
Ashley: Yeah, okay, I see. And you are an artist yourself. So, you can create these posters and the one sheets.
Pearry: Absolutely. I’m not saying, I’m the best artist in the world. I would say, even if you go, I got my education on Photoshop on You Denning, so guts. And it’s really not that hard, you know, to learn Photoshop. And right now, Photoshop is so, you know, $50.00 a month, such a good investment. You know, it is, very, very, good thing. Because of us screenwriters, we know how to write scripts. I’ve read so many good scripts. You know, sometimes when my agent, or he hands me a good script. And I look at this, how am I going to sell it? Unless I am able to put in a huge start into it, it’s impossible. And so, I think I’m experienced. Screenwriters understand the process very well. But then, you have to also understand the end product, the end process. If you don’t understand the end process? Your process is useless, you know. If you want to create, you know, a sport. You got to know how to sell it.
Ashley: Yeah, yeah.
Pearry: You got to know how it will be packaged. You got to know why people will buy it? You know, inventors at least have that ability to see. Okay, I want to create this end product. And then they can still see how to package it. How to sell it, and what stores they are going to sell it.
Ashley: Now one thing, a lot of conversations I have with producers, they are always looking for, you know, some way of like, tapping into literary material that already exists. And this story kinda does this. It’s a kind of modern day retelling of Sleeping Beauty. How much did that sort of go into your thought process? In terms of when you came up with this idea. Did you purposely want to attach yourself to a classic, you know, story like Sleeping Beauty, that you knew a producer would be interested? Just how much sort of did that affect your thought process? And did you, how much do you think it effected the producer who you pitched it to?
Pearry: It was everything, to be honest with you. It was a, well, producers. When producers are interested in script ideas, I need to know that. You really are buying into intellectual property. people would instantly recognize, you know, that kill sheet and things like that, that’s how people buy it. So, yeah, it has a lot to do with it, ya know. My hired producers and everything else you can give you. Even that will get yourself ahead. Everybody knows: Ironman, Superman, Batman, and all that. That’s all you know, a create it so easily. But, you know, has a lot of, I get a lot of original ideas. Talk, unless, the producers goes, “Oh, my goodness.” I can judge this contact position. Great, and I think a lot of screenwriters try to fall into that, have it all, you know, pitching. The reason why you need me, I need you. They made a movie, like a comedy version of it. You know, they try to use other films. But, you shift the problem with that. That isn’t a part of yourself. That’s on the back of your DVD. There’s only the description of that flick. So, what is it, you got to get out there. You always got to say, do I have good advice? So, screenwriters really need to start looking. And start understanding that the process of film. Because it’s going to help them tremendously. You know, knowing what kind of film to put together? Kind of know what to go for, trends. By the time you write your script, the trends maybe gone? So, instead focus on how you can make a film that really sells. If there’s one thing that anything I have to look at. I always say, please, please, go look at, you know, at the distribution side of it. Please look at, you know, when you’re at Nextflix, go look at the movies. Go look at what the hottest movie is? This kind of context, remain popular. You know constantly with people, and what are those? And then don’t just context, those are just things, you know. Really, you can tell your story. You can tell a story of, you know, a let’s say a ogre misunderstood orphan, for example. You can tell it as a science fiction, you can tell it as a horror, you can tell it as a comedy, you can tell it as a drama. And so a story has not a whole lot of sense. But now you’ve got a bunch of vehicles, they’ve got no context. And you can tell it. I have a producer who cannot tell horror from sci-fi, and I have another producer, who maybe could tell. And so, it really depends on, you know, the people around you and understanding your resources, and understanding how to sell it. What would be, really be part of the winning formula for what makes you a professional. It makes the job harder. Word about what they say about you and your script, makes it harder.
Ashley: Yeah. So, maybe you can tell us a release schedule? Do you know when it’s coming out? And how people can see it?
Pearry: It’s pre-coming out on probably May 13th and June 6th. And after that after we bottle it, it will be out ITunes, you know, the usual suspect.
Ashley: Well, Pearry I really appreciate you coming on and talking with me. It’s been a fascinating interview. I really enjoyed the film. So, good luck with it.
Pearry: Thank you very much sir. I really appreciate this.
Ashley: Thank you, we’ll talk to ya later.
[24:46]
Ashley: I just want to mention two things, I’m doing at “Selling Your Screenplay” to help screenwriters find producers who are looking for material. First I’ve created a monthly newsletter that will be sent directly to producers. Every member of SYS Select can submit one log-line per newsletter. I went an Emailed my large database of 5000/6000 producers and asked them if they would like to receive this monthly newsletter of pitches. So far I have a little over 300 producers who have signed up to receive this newsletter. These are producers who are hungry for material and happy to read scripts from new writers. So, if you want to participate in this pitch newsletter. And get your script into the hands of these producers. Sign-up at – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/select, again that’s – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/select.
And secondly, I’ve partnered with one of the premier screenwriting leads, so I can syndicate their leads to SYS Select Services Members. These, there are lots of great pages of leads coming in each week from our partner. Recently, I’ve been getting probably ten to twelve high quality paid leads per week for screenwriter. These are producers and production companies who are actively looking to buy new material. Or are looking to hire a screenwriter for a specific project. If you sign-up for SYS Select, you’ll get these leads Emailed directly to you several times per week. These leads run the gambit, from production companies looking for a specific type spec. script. To producers looking to hire a screenwriter to write up one of their specific ideas. Or to write up some option piece of material they might want or have. Like a novel or a newspaper article or something like that? There are producers looking for, shorts, there are producers looking for features. There are producers looking for TV and web series pilots. It’s a huge aray of different types of projects. So, no matter what type of stuff you’re working on? I’m sure every month, you’ll be able to find some type of leads that apply to you. And these leads are exclusive to our partner and to SYS Select Members. Again, to sign-up go to – www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/select. Selling Your Screenplay Select Members, there’s quite a bit of our services that two things I just mentioned, monthly newsletter pitch to producers. You get access to that. Obviously you also get the leads that I just mentioned. The other big thing you get through SYS Select. Is that you get access to our form, the SYS Select Form. And in there, you can post your log-line and quarry letter. And we will help you out, we will critique it, we’ll help you make it better. The other big thing that is in the SYS Select Form, again this is all a part of the SYS Select Membership. You also get access to about twelve online classes that I and others have taught over the last couple of years. All the paid classes that I have recorded. I put them in the SYS Select Form. So, if you join, you will have access to that. And then there’s a large huge aray of different topics that I have covered. All the different stages of writing your script. And then there are some specific things about writing low budget films, writing shorts, pitching, lots of different classes in there. So I think there is about a dozen of them. And you can see what all the classes are, just by going to www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/classes. And then you can look at all the classes we learned. Get all of those paid classes are in SYS Select Form, if you are looking to check out any of them.
So, I just want to talk briefly about next week’s episode. I’m going to be interviewing Sean Nalaboff, who wrote and directed the new indie art house dramedy, “Hard Sell.” It’s a good contrast to the sort of usual drama genre films I talk about. The hard, the action, thriller genre films that are coming through “Selling Your Screenplay.” This really sort of very much an Indie arthouse dramedy. So, if you’re interested in writing that type of material, this is a great interview for you to listen to. Sean is just a guy that went out, and you know, wrote a script. And a little bit mental. But he’s a hustler, and between him and his partner raised the money for this movie. And you know, we talk about that in some detail. So, keep an eye out for that episode next week.
So, to wrap things up, I’m going to touch on a few things from today’s interview with Pearry Teo. One of the big take aways from me. For the take aways for me, with this interview is. Just the re-telling of a modern day classic story. And really think about this, I know, Hollywood gets a lot of sort of flak of being uncreative. And you know, all they do is produce, you know, remakes, sequels, and but, you know, there’s a reason for that. And it’s the same sort of reason, it’s not just because these people are uncreative. It’s a financial reason, it’s about marketing the film. It’s about risk. It’s about being able to create a movie that stands a reasonable chance of recouping the money. And this is sort of what Pearry’s film is doing on sort of a different angle. As I said, there’s a reason there’s so many sequels, prequels, made every year. Sequels, prequels, and remakes, made every year. You, it really is just because distributors have a known commodity. Which makes the whole process a lot less risky. And makes the film much easier to sell at the studio level. This is going to involve optioning and adapting something like a hit novel. Like a Stephen King novel. You know, property already has a built in market that’s what the studio’s in a lot of occasions will do. They will go after those pieces of material because they again, has a built in market. But, adapting something that’s in the public domain, that’s well known, is also a great way to potentially do this. You know, I don’t have the resources to option, you know, big literary properties from you know, “A-List” authors like: Stephen King, and most of the people like this don’t either. But, you know, you’re essentially, when you go and adapt something that’s in the public domain. You’re essentially writing a sequel, prequel, or remake. In a lot of these cases, a lot of old, you know, Eger Allen Poe stories, they’ve already made movies about these things. And then it totally doesn’t matter. So, you’re doing a remake perhaps on that. But the great thing is, the only things that are in the public domain, is that you don’t have to pay. Like fees, if they’re in the public domain, so anybody can use them. I talk about this a good bit on the Podcast last fall. I get hired to write a spoof, last October. And that’s a similar type of thing. Where the producers were basically hoping to ride the coat-tails of a recent successful film. Without having to pay a licensing fee. But, without having to do a prequel, sequel, or remake on that successful film. You do a spoof and then you can kind of play off that success a little bit. So, there’s a lot of creative ways to do this? But what you’re really doing is, you’re giving the distributors a marketing hook. You’re giving them something that they can go out to the market and already has some sort of public awareness. If you just make a movie, it, and I’m basically doing this with my crime action thriller, “The Pinch.” I’m just going out and making a movie. It’s going to be a much more difficult sell. Whereas if you go out and do something like with, “Sleeping Beauty.” People have heard of that story, there’s a little bit of sort of awareness out there. And so, someone might like that sort. And remember that story from their childhood or something? And that just is a little bit you’re attaching yourself to that thing that is already famous. And you’re able to use that hook to a sort of marketing angle. And potentially get people to watch this movie. And distributors are well aware of this, and they need, you know, those marketing hooks to be able to sell a film. So, it’s something that’s definitely worth thinking about. You know, it’s something in the back my mind. I’m thinking about as well. Hey, what stories are out there that I can adapt? You do want to do your due diligence and make sure that what you’re adapting is in the public domain. It’s not always as simple or as easy as you might think, so, definitely check this out. I’m not a lawyer, I don’t play one TV. So, I don’t Email me, hey this is in the public domain because I can’t help you with that because those kinds of legal things. Just as I was thinking about this Podcast episode, of what I was going to say? I started to do a little research, on like, as an example,
“The H.P. Love Craft Story.” You know, he’s got a lot of sort of thriller stories that could easily be adapted. And I just Google searched him, and he died a long time ago, like 1937. And then I started to search old, and what is actually in the public domain? And it’s not that clear, it, just in my five-minute search. It was a lot of a little bit confusing to me. You know, there’s different levels of copywriting. There’s different levels of extend copy-write. There’s extensions that, and there’s filing copy write notices. So, you just have to be a little bit aware of that. Obviously, something is 100’s of years old, like Shakespeare for instance? You know it’s in the public domain. There is not anyone who hasn’t kind of licensing over stuff that’s 400 years old. But, you know, stuff that’s like 75, or 80 years old, there might be some issue at 100 years old? I would think 100 years old there would be probably pretty safe. But, again, I’m not a lawyer. So, definitely do your due diligence. Because the whole point of doing something like this? I guess is to get those marketing hooks, and you might just shoot yourself in the foot? If you end up writing it, and adapting something that you don’t have the rights to. And is not in the public domain, than you’ve gone into the other direction. You’ve made something very, very difficult, and is very, very difficult to sell that. Because then you’ve got to make sure that you’ve secured those rights. Or, at the very least, you know the person and your producer is going to have to secure those rights. That may or may not be an easy thing to do? So, bottom line, this story is very, very old. They probably did some research, and then probably talked to a lawyer. Because it’s not always this close or clear, what’s in the public domain. As what’s in the public domain and is not. Again, I just want to mention at the end of this thing. In a lot of cases, these stories have been made. Edger Allen Poe, was the great example. A lot of his stories have been turned into movies over the years. But, I don’t think that matters? I think that there’s still room in the market place for an original, unique twist on something on some of these classic stories. You know, you’ll do your own spin. You’ll be your own unique voice to some of these things. And I think if you could get a script that has some sort of public awareness? It’s in the public domain, but how to raise some public awareness? I think that would be a great script to have. And some of the producers would be interested in it, if you are looking to produce something yourself? I think it would be something that would be potentially. You would have a good chance of selling well. And as I said, this, the reason why I’m talking about this is? Because, look at what Pearry has done with his film. And look at how he answered that question when he, I asked him, of him.
Anyway, that is the show, thank you for listening.
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