# Why do outsiders want to write scripts for hollywood so much? And for free?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 19, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482 "2011-05-19T18:07:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/1 "2011-05-19T18:07:18Z")
Ok I heard some hollywood big timer complain that he went into a bathroom stall and someone saw him go in so ran back got his script and slid it under the door.
There were all sorts of other references I’ve heard about this; Matt Groening I think said they had to return boucoup unread fan-made scripts for the Simpsons back to sender (and unread so they don’t get sued for plagerism or something).
Ok, so I give up: What is with outsiders wanting to write scripts? I can see the average dude poppin’ a beer and watching the latest hijinks of Cartman on South Park, but bustin’ out the old typewriter and pushing out a script and then somehow finding and sending that script to the south park creators? pretty whack sounding to me.
Can someone explain this?
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/2 "2011-05-19T18:27:52Z")
> [@sassyfras](#):
>
> Matt Groening I think said they had to return boucoup unread fan-made scripts for the Simpsons back to sender
Perhaps they were inspired by the episode “[The Front](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Front_(The_Simpsons))” and dream of the same thing happening to them?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/3 "2011-05-19T18:29:42Z")
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/4 "2011-05-19T18:31:21Z")
It’s not ‘for free’. They hope the person will like the script and buy it.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/5 "2011-05-19T18:34:31Z")
Or pay for subsequent scripts, because that first one (by a complete amateur) was so gosh-darned, knee-slappingly hilarious.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/6 "2011-05-19T18:35:15Z")
It’s not just people who believe they can write a brilliant script. Lots of people think they can write the Great American Novel.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/7 "2011-05-19T19:03:39Z")
Well you can either dedicate your life to living in LA, working your way up from the bottom, learning the trade and hopefully maybe someday becoming a writer on a show or selling a movie script…
Or, you can live your life as a commoner and write a script, hoping to sort of “jump the line.” If you don’t succeed, you’re not a failed writer as you would be in the first scenario. You’re still a grocery store clerk or an accountant or whatever.
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### Author:  [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/8 "2011-05-19T19:47:00Z")
According to the Writer’s Guild of America:
> [@](#):
>
> To guarantee that freelancers have opportunities to break in, the WGA requires that all episodic series hire a mandated minimum of freelance writers each season.
From [here](http://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/writers_resources/ep1b.pdf) (warning: pdf).
“Episodic series” here means television series. Most TV shows have a stable of in-house writers, but there are (theoretically) a few opportunities for an outsider to submit a script and get paid for a writing credit.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/9 "2011-05-19T19:54:31Z")
Maybe they think that the starlets sleep with the writer? 😃
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/10 "2011-05-20T01:33:54Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> Well you can either dedicate your life to living in LA, working your way up from the bottom, learning the trade and hopefully maybe someday becoming a writer on a show or selling a movie script…
Except that writers don’t “work their way up from the bottom.” (What would “the bottom” be for a writer?) You “become” a scriptwriter by getting a script done. It doesn’t really matter how. Usually it’s by way of some kind of connection with a producer–or simply by having clout in the first place. Mainstream Hollywood movies rarely germinate as a script per se. It’s not like a script is so good that it inevitably becomes an actual film simply by the sheer force of its quality. Usually there is the mechanism, motivation and resources to make a film, and then those people involved look for the kind of script they want. If their paths cross with someone who has a script they like, it can happen. Of course as a matter of routine those people are going to be in contact with people who already have a track record for scripts they like. They’re certainly not going to be perusing the mailbox of full of unsolicited scripts at CAA.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/11 "2011-05-20T02:06:00Z")
I always thought that “working your way up from the bottom” in Hollywood meant starting in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/12 "2011-05-20T05:08:58Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> I always thought that “working your way up from the bottom” in Hollywood meant starting in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency.
Well, okay, but then you end up head of the mail department–not a script writer.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/13 "2011-05-20T06:01:45Z")
It seems to me almost every currently successful scriptwriter started out as an outsider, submitting scripts in every way possible, legitimate or not, in the hope of being discovered, be it spec script competitions, making their own films and being discovered by an agent, or giving them to people already within the industry.
So why do others do it? Because it works.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/14 "2011-05-20T06:43:19Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> It seems to me almost every currently successful scriptwriter started out as an outsider, submitting scripts in every way possible, legitimate or not, in the hope of being discovered, be it spec script competitions, making their own films and being discovered by an agent, or giving them to people already within the industry.
>
> So why do others do it? Because it works.
But what the OP describes doesn’t work in that same way. They just get way too many scripts to read from every guy and his brother’s massage therapist.
It’s really a question of what you mean by “outsider.” People send completely unsolicited scripts in to Hollywood for the same reason they buy lottery tickets. It’s nice to dream.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/15 "2011-05-20T14:00:31Z")
People also do it because they think current scripts are crap.
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/16 "2011-05-20T14:25:43Z")
> [@sassyfras](#):
>
> Ok I heard some hollywood big timer complain that he went into a bathroom stall and someone saw him go in so ran back got his script and slid it under the door.
>
> There were all sorts of other references I’ve heard about this; Matt Groening I think said they had to return boucoup unread fan-made scripts for the Simpsons back to sender.
I knew a stripper whose life dream was to write for _The Simpsons_. Sorry to hear it was all for naught.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/17 "2011-05-20T14:28:22Z")
As with most ambitions, the answer is “To get laid.”
Admittedly, it’s an indirect approach to the problem.
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### Author:  [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/18 "2011-05-20T14:44:57Z")
> [@guizot](#):
>
> Except that writers don’t “work their way up from the bottom.” (What would “the bottom” be for a writer?) You “become” a scriptwriter by getting a script done. It doesn’t really matter how. Usually it’s by way of some kind of connection with a producer–or simply by having clout in the first place. Mainstream Hollywood movies rarely germinate as a script per se. It’s not like a script is so good that it inevitably becomes an actual film simply by the sheer force of its quality. Usually there is the mechanism, motivation and resources to make a film, and then those people involved look for the kind of script they want. If their paths cross with someone who has a script they like, it can happen. Of course as a matter of routine those people are going to be in contact with people who already have a track record for scripts they like. They’re certainly not going to be perusing the mailbox of full of unsolicited scripts at CAA.
This is only sort of accurate. It is possible to work your way up from the bottom and it is also the most common way of becoming successful. Generally speaking, the career path is:
1. film school - learn about filmmaking and actually write/make a few shorts or even one feature. Connect with your fellow students
2. crappy film/TV job - Work as a production assisstant on sets, work as a personal assistant to somebody with money and power or as some sort of office drone. Work with people outside of work hours putting together plays/low budget shorts/digital shorts, etc. Also, write screenplays all the time. Hopefully, around this time you find an agent who’s willing to pitch your screenplay to studios.
3. People get to know you and ask you to help out with some writing problem they have. You deliver and they ask you to do more work. Or maybe your agent hits paydirt and finds you some work.
4. Somebody buys your screenplay! Overnight success!
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/19 "2011-05-20T19:39:15Z")
> [@guizot](#):
>
> It’s really a question of what you mean by “outsider.” People send completely unsolicited scripts in to Hollywood for the same reason they buy lottery tickets. It’s nice to dream.
There is a difference, IMHO, between someone who is trying to hit the lottery by breaking into the entertainment business and someone who is actually looking to pursue a career.
The first is the guy working the regular 9 to 5 job he hates who thinks he will be the next Larry David if he can just get that pilot he’s been writing in his spare time picked up by someone.
For the other group, I don’t really know much about that industry, but like any highly competetive career whether it’s Hollywood, Wall Street, Silicon Valley or whatever, I imagine one does not just “fall into it” unless your last name happens to be Baldwin, Coppela, Howard or Pinkett-Smith. You pretty much have to go to film school, move out to LA or NYC and bust your ass writing and trying to get connected to the business however you can. I see these NYU film students out all the time filming little film shorts. A lot of them join improv groups or work as interns or PAs at MTV or some other studio or production company. Any job that will get them the connections they need.
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### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-outsiders-want-to-write-scripts-for-hollywood-so-much-and-for-free/582482/20 "2011-05-20T19:44:56Z")
> [@phreesh](#):
>
> 1. Somebody buys your screenplay! Overnight success!
I think part of the OP question was why people would do it without wanting to get paid.
Wouldn’t it be awesome for the story you came up with could end up on the big screen starring George Clooney\* and Catherine Zeta-Jones\*\*? Even if you didn’t get paid, wouldn’t it be awesome?
-Joe
\*Probably Tom Sizemore
\*\*Probably Kathy Griffin
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