Screenplay sells: selling a screenplay

Sure, lightning does strike some lucky screenwriters once in a while and they make six figures or a few million off their first or second script. Do you play the lottery? It's the same odds. Don't bet on selling a screenplay easily. It could take you ten years or more, or, sadly, even after writing 20 screenplays, your material may fail to ever sell. Thus is the life of many screenwriters. Thus many screenwriters have day jobs or careers outside of screenwriting and Hollywood film.

Check recent screenplay sales online. Just research it and you'll find data, which gives prices and the project info, and buyer.

Most spec feature scripts sell for 250,000 to 3 million. A seasoned screenwriter with a successful track record can make5-10 million a script. A first time screenwriter lucky enough to find a buyer, should be expecting maybe 300k - 800k.

But that's rare. And that would be by a studio or agency. This, assuming your script was amazing, made it through readers, execs, and to the decision makers. Very rare.

Even someone buying a script for 10k is rare. As a beginning screenwriter, you are working for FREE until you are pro... and no guarantees you'll turn pro.

Screenwriters NEED marketable scripts that agents, actors and producers think can be safe bets in a high risk environment.

Writers of film writing spec scripts and learning screenwriting need to understand structure, story, convention, format and also genre. Buyers are looking for GENRE SCRIPTS.

Indie filmmaking turned the studio system on it's ugly head. The market is saturated with content. Your script has many paths to be sold or optioned. Your best bet is find the companies who specialize in the genre that your screenplay is.

Don't count on the lottery. Count on learning how to write a screenplay well, and then dive into the business side of the film industry.