Writing for Disney

[Prince Eric]

Hey, what's up guys? I need you advice so I can give to a friend. He's an extremely talented playwright and he's had a couple of his original plays brought to the stage in local theaters. He has a really huge interest in fairy tales and he wants to one day put his own spin on a beloved children's classic. He actually came up with a really good concept for one, and as it turns out, it's one that Disney has in development! It's not even in pre-production, and of course, it's plauged with writing problems. I want to know, How does one go about pitching their screenplays to Disney? I told him that he needs to get an agent, and then get his agent to pitch his ideas to not only Disney, but other studios. I know that Disney is doing a return to fairy tales in the near future, and they are know to change writers and even hire outside sources to do their writing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. This is in fairy tale realm that we're talking about, so there really shouldn't be disputes about copyrights or movie rights.

[AwallaceUNC]

All I know to say is to make use of contacts! A good number of people can be gotten ahold of that are high-up in the company. Of course, responses aren't always likely, but you've gotta start somewhere. I kind of set out to become known in segments of segments (lol) of the music industry, and just did it through contacts, and their contacts, etc, and managed to do so. Therefore, I have great faith in this. But there might be some other ways, I just really don't know. Perhaps someone else might? Just trying to help, as I too am a writer and can appreciate his aspirations

-Aaron

[Ludwig Von Drake]

Usually they don't accept ideas unless you are under contract with them.

[karlsen]

The only way is like yourself sugested, getting an agent to get his script to Disney.

No one at Disney (or other studios) will even read anything sent to them, and that is a rule that they got.

The reason for this is because majour studios gets lots of scripts from people and some time they are bound to make a movie that looks like one of those scripts.

If the studio had read the script and then made another version of it themselves they could get sued for millions by the screenwriter. So to prevent those things they have the rule that nobody reads anything that they don't are told to read.

A man that I know is working as a director in Hollywood (he has made Agent Cody Banks and One Night at Mc'Cools) and he tells that he gets lots of scripts from people that want him to make their movie. But he can not read a single one of them out of fear of the lawsuits.

So an agent is the only way to go.

[toonaspie]

I am looking into a career as a storyboard/sketch artist. I believe where animated features are concerned this is the best way to be able to pitch ideas for stories

lookie here

http://disney.go.com/disneycareers/whow ... ation.html

[AwallaceUNC]

Ok, a friend of mine is an aspiring screenwriter (he's a registered member here, but with very few posts). He's sending in a request to DreamWorks to solicit his screenplay. Once you request a solicitation, they may or may not deem it worthy of soliciting. If they do, then you get to send it in. Maybe Disney works the same way.

-Aaron