MFJF map · UK
The script development process: from first read to green light
A film does not start on a set. It starts in a small office where somebody reads something and decides it could be a film. A healthy independent company keeps ten to twenty projects in development knowing two or three will be made; that is the business model, not failure.
Where material comes fromThe hunt never stops
Producers are not waiting for a perfect script to arrive.
RightsBefore real money is spent
Nothing can be developed until the company controls the rights.
Paying for developmentMoney before a single frame
Writer fees, legal fees, research and travel, a script editor, a line producer to budget and schedule, a lookbook or sizzle reel, office overhead.
Drafts and notesFour months to two years
With money in place a screenwriter is contracted, on UK terms that follow the minimum agreements between Pact and the Writers' Guild.
Who reads youThe chain a script climbs
A feature does not get made because a producer loves it. It reaches the producer because a reader gave it a Consider and an assistant passed it on.
Packaging and the green lightThen the markets
Once there is a draft the producer believes in, the job becomes attaching the elements that make the film financeable.
