Give the banana to the monkey: Giving Hollywood the screenplays it knows how to sell
Posted by Lee Jessup on Thursday, June 10, 2010 in Script Development • Industry News • (1) Comments • Permalink •
My friend Tracey Becker, who found, developed and ultimately produced “Finding Neverland” has a great saying: Give the banana to the monkey. For a long time, I contemplated what she meant as it relates to the industry, until one day, in the middle of a panel we were both on, the proverbial light bulb finally turned on. Better yet, it exploded in my head.
Give Hollywood the sort of movies they want. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel or redefine the wheel until you get the monkey to trust you as a good banana source in the first place.
Get production companies the sort of scripts they know how to sell, place, and produce. The monkey wants a banana = a company that’s specialized in comedy scripts is not looking to buy your family drama. Sure, in a better world it would love to make all sorts of film, but the reality for them is that all their connections with buyers, studios and distributors have been built on the back of the comedies they’ve delivered in the past. And until something radical happens, Hollywood is going to look for comedies to come from them.
Find managers who know how to sell your genre. Who’ve placed the sort of script you’re peddling in the past. They’ll know how to work with it, and how to get it the attention it deserves.
Once the monkey trusts you as the ultimate banana pusher, to deliver an endless quality supply of the bananas it craves, it might be willing to try a peach. An apple. Maybe even a fruit salad one day. But first, you have to establish trust that you will be able to satisfy its hunger in the most basic, trusted, and comfortable way.
