THREAD - Because I've sold (and made) a number of horror and sci-fi projects, those are the scripts that I'm sent. Here are a few observations for up & coming writers from having read hundreds of scripts in those genres... 1/

The first is DO NOT write those genres if you don't like them. You may have heard it's "easier" to sell horror/sci-fi scripts. Lots of writers heard the same exact thing, so the market is flooded with mediocre scripts from writers who didn't really like those genres. 2/

I can't tell you how many times I've had writers tell me they wrote a horror script because "those are easy to sell." As you can imagine, the writers who said that wrote a script that was generic and boring. Because if you don't like the genre, you can't do it well. 3/

They are NOT easy to sell. The fans of those genres are very savvy. They reject anything that feels generic or familiar. The bar is therefore quite high for films in those genres to stand out and be successful. 4/

And, as you might expect, executives/agents/managers have read a LOT of scripts in those genres. So we're equally picky. Because so much has been written in those genres, we know it's hard to get traction on a script unless it's unique and intriguing. 5/

You need to know and research those genres if you want to write in them. You need to know what's been done before, so you can figure out your unique concept that stands out in the crowded marketplace. 6/

Often the best concepts are simply twists on what's been done before. But they twist it in a unique way that we haven't seen before. "I've seen this story a million times, but NEVER like that!" And if you don't know what's done before, how can you twist it into something new? 7/

TLDR? Horror and sci-fi are two of the popular commercial genres for scripts. So if you're writing something in those genres, then you need to do your research so you know what will stand out! 8/