For over two decades, Lee Jessup has been coaching the careers of both emerging and professional screenwriters with the goal of helping them take their career to the next level. You may also know that Jessup has been mentoring winners of the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Competition for over a decade, so she knows a thing or two about emerging writers. Given all her savvy and experience in the industry, we thought we’d check in with her to pinpoint the latest trends in the ever-evolving business of screenwriting.
Hollywood has finally rekindled its enthusiasm for feature specs. With the television space oversaturated with content, Jessup says she’s seeing feature scripts starting to get a lot of traction. So what genres are popular right now?
“At the moment, we are finding that the feature space is favoring thrillers or erotic thrillers, horror movies, and more comedies and romantic comedies, as well. We’re seeing a move away from straight dramas. Representation is very much looking at finding those actionable scripts in specifically actionable genres that the market seems to be responsive to,” she says.
By “actionable script” she means a script that is so well-defined that a manager can see a clear path to setting it up or finding the right producers.
“We’re also moving away from a trend of, ‘Let’s discover a writer with a strong voice and then develop something new with them.’ Instead, we are finding that they seem to be looking for more of those scripts that maybe still need some notes, but they can take that script out. They know who the buyers are for this,” she says.
While Hollywood is paying attention to feature specs again, it’s important to note that people are still being cautious about what they buy. But a feature script can become a great writing sample to introduce a writer to industry execs.
It’s no secret that the television industry has gone through many seismic shifts in the last decade. Earlier this year, John Landgraf, CEO of FX called out the death of “Peak TV,” or the end of the golden age of television that ran from 2013 to 2023. From the explosion of streaming services to the pandemic, to the existential threat in the form of AI (artificial intelligence) that led to a Writer’s Guild strike, the climate in television has certainly changed. Lee Jessup has seen it all firsthand with her clients.
“For emerging writers, we are moving away from the TV space and towards the feature space at the moment, because buying behaviors have really changed post-strike,” says Jessup.
Keep in mind that the industry is cyclical and this behavior is likely to revert back to a friendlier market by 2025.
“While there’s certainly still a market there, that market seems to be much more friendly to established writers who have previously worked in television. So, that’s probably the most significant change that we see in the space for new and emerging writers,” she says.
In the meantime, if TV is your thing, remember that industry traction in the feature space (such as successful general meetings) can translate to doors opening on the TV side as well.
It used to be that a writer would get an agent and then find a manager to help set up their career. Not so much anymore, says Jessup.
“Agents are just not the destination for new and emerging writers. Agents are really not coming to the table for writers early in their careers. So, the manager is as important as ever in a new writer’s career,” she says.
While it may be surprising that agents aren’t as interested in developing young writers, Jessup says it’s because, “It stopped being their job. Managers are really in the outgoing-call business and we’re finding that agents are much more about taking incoming calls for their existing clients,” she says, adding, “You have to remember that during the strike and after the strike, there have been a lot of layoffs and a lot of the agencies have consolidated. With so many less agents, the business model has changed.”
Jessup adds that agencies, and specifically the big three (UTA, CAA, WME) seem to currently be favoring creators (i.e., writers who are seeking to not just work their way up in TV but also create their own shows one day). The mid level agencies (Verve, Gersh, APA, Paradigm, Innovative, just to name a few) do not necessarily hold to the same practices, but also seem to be operating in search of writers whose careers are already in motion.
Intellectual Property still rules the movie game, but lately it seems like nostalgic IP is really having a moment. From sequels like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (which was made 36 years after the original Beetlejuice), to Gladiator II (made 24 years after the original) and the new film Saturday Night (based on a 50-year-old TV franchise), it seems movies are really looking to IP from the past – perhaps as a way to understand what’s happening today.
“Well, IP is always king. So, whenever you can bring back any project that still might have a sequel in it, then why not? All the projects that you just mentioned are IP based. But I do think that there’s an appetite for more nostalgic, campy, ‘90s movies that we’re definitely seeing out there,” she says.
Jessup says that despite the power of IP, she still encourages writers to work on original material, be it a TV pilot or feature. “Most reps, and by extension executives, often want to assess the writer’s original voice, sensibility and craft before bringing them in to adapt IP. When a writer is introduced to the industry with a script based on IP, there is always the question of how much of the story, characters, structure and voice came from the writer, and how much was already present in the original material, which the writer simply adapted,” she says.
In both television and on the big screen, stories and characters are becoming more diverse. More stories with LGBTQ+ themes are getting made. Black and brown people are getting more screen time along with people with disabilities. Jessup agrees it’s a very exciting time.
“We’re seeing a lot more women-based content. We’re seeing a lot more underrepresented stories. But you have to remember, the majority of movies in Hollywood today are not being made by the studios. They’re being made by some sector of the Independent space,” she says.
The big studios have never been big risk takers, so when films get financed or made outside of Hollywood, the possibilities become endless.
“As the movie-going audience diversifies, filmmakers, studios and financiers want to capitalize on that. We’re also seeing more diversity in scripts and we’re hoping to see more and more of that in casting, because we want movies that reflect a more diverse audience, which is who is watching. We are a diversifying country. We’re a diversifying world, so it’s important to tell stories from diversified points of view with diverse casts representing that point of view,” she says.
While some of these changing trends seem truly exciting (and maybe heartbreaking for emerging TV writers), just keep in mind that what is true today may not be true tomorrow. But for now, Jessup has this advice:
“In my experience, if you’re looking to write and submit to the industry and gain traction beyond the competition space, there’s just more opportunity in features. TV is not buying from new and emerging writers at this moment. But that can change tomorrow. And that’s part of the fun of this industry, right? Whatever’s true today can be completely revised tomorrow. But for the today that we are in, we are certainly finding that it’s all about features,” she says.
You can learn more about Lee Jessup by visiting leejessup.com.