19.10 How much can I make if I write adult movie scripts?
Description
This article is from the Sex Movies FAQ, by director@gti.net (The Director) with numerous contributions by others.
19.10 How much can I make if I write adult movie scripts?
According to Brandy Alexandre, 99% of the director's write their
own scripts and if they are so inclined to buy one, they rarely pay
more that $100 (if that). I have heard from some other sources
that Paul Thomas paid $250 for a treatment and then botched the
script. The quote that sticks out the most in my mind is "...
there's no money in it. You put up with exactly the same bullshit
as the 'straight' industry, but for peanuts. Fuck that shit."
Back in the just-post-golden age, Zeno wrote scripts for porn-
Hollywood. Here's what he has to say....
When I began writing them, a script went to 30 whole pages (way
down from the 80-100 page scripts of the film days) for $500, down
to 13 pages (for $300), down to 10 or 11 pages (for, maybe, $200 or
$150). The more I sold, the less I made, and I began to hear
complaints that it was TOO LONG at that length. And, very quickly,
directors' girlfriends began rewriting us, and, finally writing
them without needing actual writers. I can only assume that when
they broke up with their girlfriends, they just wrote them
themselves, or, as J.D. used to say:
"Like anybody's gonna fucking care if the boom is in the shot!"
Tim Evanson says that gay porn director/producer Jerry Douglas
noted in MANSHOTS magazine in 1993 that most gay porn scripts are
at most 5-7 pages long. Many directors use in-laws or friends to
write scripts, or do it themselves. Some low-budget studios only
use outlines, and improvise dialogue or cut it out entirely in
favor of "mimed" action story-telling.
Continue to:
My Books
