#scripts written each year?

Question

Apologies if this has been asked before, but what would you all guestimate is the number of feature screenplays written and registered each year (i.e. what is the competition)? WGA registration numbers likely include quite a few shorts besides features, so that figure could be misleading. Is there any way to really know with some certainty, to at least be inside the ballpark, or is it all just voodoo guessing?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Apologies if this has been asked before, but what would you all guestimate is the number of feature screenplays written ... to really know with some certainty, to at least be inside the ballpark, or is it all just voodoo guessing?[/nq]
The only thing resembling a benchmark is WGA registration. It's not an absolute measure, but it is indicative. I see the figure 35,000 - 50,000 bandied about.
But that number isn't a real measure of the competition. It's quantitative and ignores the qualitative and it ignores all those scripts that have an inside track.
What can an outsider realistically expect from a spec script?

If it's really, really good, it may snag you an agent.

Statistically the chances of a sale are very low.
The chances of an option are lower.
The chances of being produced are so close to nil that you'd need a mcroscope to see them.
Your REAL competition is yourself. Are you up to the challenge?

Here's a story you might want to study.
It was in the Montreal Gazette a day or two ago.

Local writer made it big in Hollywood
BILL BROWNSTEIN
The Gazette
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Peter Lenkov left Concordia before getting a degree, but suggests students shouldn't follow his example.
Truth be told: Peter Lenkov was three credits short of getting his degree in film from Concordia University. It still pains him.

That was 22 years ago. Some would say he's made amends and should be given a degree today.
Why? Since bolting Concordia and Montreal for Hollywood 22 years ago, Lenkov wrote a slew of screenplays - notably, the box-office smash Demolition Man, with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. He then landed a fulltime gig as a writer and executive producer on the hit TV

series 24. After four years with the latter series, he has spent the last four years as writer/executive producer on CSI New York.

Not bad for a kid from Chomedey without a degree. Lenkov has returned to his roots this weekend to share his experiences with film and communications students from Concordia who are about to graduate.

But after listening to Lenkov talk for an hour inside a classroom on the Loyola campus, a couple of the students are starting to feel emboldened enough to follow Lenkov's lead and head for Hollywood immediately, with their scripts tucked under their arms and without their degrees.

Hang on, Lenkov implores them, Hollywood can wait a bit longer for their creative inputs.
Dominique Roy, a film/communications major, wants to know whether Lenkov's parents encouraged him to try his luck in Hollywood. "Hardly," says the still-baby-faced 44-year-old. "They wanted me to become a lawyer. Like my two brothers. Writers don't make money - lawyers do, they would tell me."
Probably, Lenkov's parents changed their tune when their son sold his Demolition Man script for $500,000 some 18 months after arriving in Hollywood. And that's pocket change compared to what a script, be it for film or for episodes of 24 and CSI, sells for today. Not to mention the exec-producer stipend on top of that. And from what Lenkov has heard, Hollywood, like many other places, is bursting at the seams with barristers, many of whom are unemployed.

poetry and short stories, then he branched out into screenplays. He also tells the class one of the reasons he quit Concordia three credits short was because he was at odds with his teachers.
"They wanted me to do overly arty stuff and they felt I wanted to be writing Indiana Jones. They weren't far wrong. So I went to Hollywood. I felt I had no other options. I knew this is what I wanted to do. I also had blinders on."
Which is to say he knew no one there. Had no connections. Had little cash. And had to resort to his imagination.
Like the time he called Steven Spielberg's office and tried to pass himself off as renowned script-writer Chris Columbus. He didn't get far.

"Oddly enough, three years later, I was invited to Spielberg's office," Lenkov recalls. "Demolition Man had just come out and they were interested in perhaps me writing something for them. I mentioned the stunt I pulled and Spielberg's assistant checks on her computer. Sure enough, I was on their security list as another lunatic to watch out for."
'Exhausted. Fingers are killing me. I'm writing 18 hours a day. I'm running on fumes.' When not writing, I checked the trade papers and took note of everyone who was anyone. I was desperate. I even snuck on to the Paramount lot and left a note on the car windshield of the Fonz, Henry Winkler. I had one completed script in hand and was determined to show it to everyone I could."
Lenkov landed work a few months after arriving, but not quite the glam job he had in mind. He was hired to answer phones for a producer for $150 a week. Perhaps it was as a result of the constant badgering, but this producer ended up taking an option on Lenkov's script. And the rest is ... you know.
"I was writing every kind of genre imaginable back then," he tells the students. "I even tried writing a male version of Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters. It was ridiculous. The trick is to find your own voice and write about what you know. It's hard work, but it's really doable if you have the drive. In fact, this is the greatest time for writers in this field. When I started, the options were film and TV. Today, there is so much more and better TV. Plus the web and video games. Opportunities are endless."
Chris Zanti, who's completing a post-grad degree in communications, wants to know if one has to compromise values - a delicate way of saying to sell out - if one heads to Hollywood. But Lenkov says he manages to get in social messages even into fare as commercial as CSI: New York. "Still, one must understand it's called show business and realize the business goes hand in hand with the show," Lenkov adds.

"Most important of all, though, is that you have to know how to deal with criticism and rejection. I've been rejected by the best. Even though I'm executive producer of the show, my scripts get scrutinized by everyone on the writing team. I encourage that, even though it can still be a paralyzing experience."
Student Poppy Desclouds tells Lenkov she now feels so inspired to pursue her dreams. She then asks about a typical day. Lenkov tells her he gets up at 5 a.m., writes from 5:30 to 8:30, then makes breakfast for his wife and three kids (a fourth is on the way). "Is that it?" she asks.

"No," Lenkov shoots back with a wry smile. "Then I go to my day-job, where I write and produce the next 10 hours. I don't have to dress up for the job, but, make no mistake, it's work. The key is to face that blank page and write every day. It's like working out a muscle. You can't stop."

What Washington needs is adult supervision.
- Barack Obama

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Apologies if this has been asked before, but what would you all guestimate is the number of feature screenplays written ... to really know with some certainty, to at least be inside the ballpark, or is it all just voodoo guessing?[/nq]
What you probably want to know is how many scripts are registered with the WGA each year. That would give you an idea of how many are written either to a professional standard, or at least with commercial intent.

I poked around the WGA site (www.wga.org) but couldn't find a FAQ with that info on it (although the site has really improved, overall, in recent years). The number that used to be bandied about was 50,000 per year. No idea what it is anymore.
Alan Brooks

A with an Underwood
Somebody

That.
MWSM FAQ: http://www.panix.com/~mwsm/faq.html
Filtering Trolls: http://www.panix.com/~mwsm/trolls.html

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Apologies if this has been asked before, but what would you all guestimate is the number of feature screenplays written and registered each year (i.e. what is the competition)? WGA registration numbers likely include quite a few shorts besides features, so that figure could be misleading. Is there any way to really know with some certainty, to at least be inside the ballpark, or is it all just voodoo guessing?[/nq]
Oodles and gobs and shitloads.
The question is: How many are great and how many don't get read past page five?
The great ones are a "whole lot less".

Usenet · Answer

..
[nq:1]I poked around the WGA site (www.wga.org) but couldn't find a FAQ with that info on it (although the site has really improved, overall, in recent years). The number that used to be bandied about was 50,000 per year. No idea what it is anymore.[/nq]
But I think that figure would include short scripts too wouldn't it? I am wondering about the number of feature length screenplays. I just checked and the WGA registration page defaults to "SCREENPLAY" although the menu dropbox does have an option for "SHORT" far down the list. But I should think a large number of those 50,000 scripts are shorts rather than features.

Usenet · Answer

..
[nq:1]Oodles and gobs and shitloads. The question is: How many are great and how many don't get read past page five? The great ones are a "whole lot less".[/nq]
Oh I completely agree. Just curious on the number. Even if 50,000 feature scripts are circulating that really would not bother me; I have heard 95% are junk, not even formatted properly, and another 5% do not even have a structure, bringing the 50,000 down to 2,500 formatted and structured (turning points, etc). Now how many of the
2500 are high concept, a great story? Maybe 1000? Now if a writer canwrite such a screenplay every year and aggressively pursue marketing her/his screenplays..., well, voodoo of course but I think a great story, structured, formatted, high concept, just has to find its way eventually through the gauntlet and get picked up. But I am a noob, speaking out of ignorance, just playing with numbers.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]..[/nq]
[nq:2]I poked around the WGA site (www.wga.org) but couldn't find ... the site has really improved, overall, in recent years). [/nq]
[nq:1]But I think that figure would include short scripts too wouldn't it? I am wondering about the number of feature ... far down the list. But I should think a large number of those 50,000 scripts are shorts rather than features.[/nq]
So what? I mean, if you remopve all the shorts and the proposals and concepts, you're still going to end up with a number that is a) huge and b) an approximation.
Which is another way of saying what I said earlier, registrations are an indication of... well, registrations. It's quantitative not qualitative. 85% of those scripts are total ****.

What Washington needs is adult supervision.
- Barack Obama

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]..[/nq]
[nq:2]Oodles and gobs and shitloads. The question is: How many ... page five? The great ones are a "whole lot less".[/nq]
[nq:1]Oh I completely agree. Just curious on the number. Even if 50,000 feature scripts are circulating that really would not ... through the gauntlet and get picked up. But I am a noob, speaking out of ignorance, just playing with numbers.[/nq]
A rather pointless exercise if you ask me. All it takes is ONE person to like YOUR script and believe me, they aren't calculating the numbers of scripts registered.

What Washington needs is adult supervision.
- Barack Obama

#scripts written each year?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions