Does anyone else see an issue with having 12 princesses?

If you can't handle an opinionated discussion then disconnect from the internet (especially forums) and give up your dream of being a screenwriter because you'll cry yourself to sleep after you get your first studio notes.

Dismissing either side's argument as "haters gonna hate" or that they just aren't good enough writers is pointless hot air. It's okay to disagree. It makes you rethink your argument and either strengthen it or evolve to a new viewpoint.

I believe this thread began as "I see having 12 princesses as a problem. Anyone else dealing with that problem?" I don't think Luke ever said it couldn't be solved, just that it was a problem. I think a lot of people are jumping on his question because if you didn't think it was a problem then you may feel (consciously or not) that it reflects on your story or writing ability if you didn't see the problem and solve the problem.

12 Princesses can work. Sure. It's probably not impossible. But it doesn't work currently - thus Amazon is looking for rewriters. It's also the reason why the majority of great movies involve only one or two main characters. You have 90-120 minutes to take the audience on a journey. With one main character you have one road to travel (twisting and colorful as it may be). You can cover a lot of distance emotionally or physically on that one road in that amount of time. And that gives the audience a great journey and feeling of epicness and transformation. The more characters you add the less screen time you can give to each of those roads and the shorter the journey you can take them on. Fantasy almost requires epic scope. So not only are you fighting providing a great enough character arc and development for 12 characters, you're also fighting the genre. You can't fix the script problem with close-ups because you're not the director or DP. You can point to the exceptions to the rule like 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and Ocean's 11, but you also have to examine how they dealt with the problem of having so many focus characters. You can't simply say "it's been done so it's not a problem".

I think these conversations are great for exploring ideas, getting feedback and insight from others and bettering ourselves as writers and thinkers. The question is never moot even after Amazon chooses a writer because the answers apply to future stories and problems. For those of you that want the discussion to end just because you disagree with what is being said then you simply have to stop reading. Don't bore us with posts about how there's nothing to discuss. It only becomes a pissing contest when all you have to offer is piss.

Shane has touched upon one of the issues I currently have with AS.

They handed over a million dollars to a script that they couldn't sell and currently doesn't work. This makes me very worried that they have no idea what they are doing.

Their judges looked over all the entries of that year, and decided 12 princesses, with all of it's problems, was the best there was.

I only lived in Hollywood for less than a year, but I got the sense of the culture there; Sharks. I think AS is being taken for a ride by just a few very motivated con-people, who are out to give a false impression to AS of all the money they can make, the franchise potential, and the lucrative residuals everyone keeps talking about.

These Sharks will say anything to get you to hand over money, they did the same thing to the video game industry a few years back. They went to different video game studios and told them grand schemes of making their games into movies. There were rumors of "Halo" and others, but they just fleeced them for millions and gave them cheap productions just to show that they did something with their money.

If these sharks have infiltrated AS, there's no telling what they're up to.

I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, because I'd like to stay positive, but when I read 12 princesses a few months ago for the first time, I was like, "What? This got a million dollars?"

I know people in Hollywood like to put up a positive face, they really don't say anything totally negative to you to your face. There is no Simon Cowell there. But if no one is buying your script, no matter how many positive things are said of it, they absolutely secretly hate it.

No buyers = no love.

AS seems like they realized they were being taken for a ride, and so they got rid of their million dollar contests, and seem to have much more realistic expectations. Two years of not selling anything and millions of dollars later will do that to a business.

Anyway, I am cautious of handing my scripts over to AS. I don't really have any other options currently. But the way they've handled past decisions makes me question whether or not they know anything about this business and how much hard work and dedication and skill goes into making a great movie. If they can't respect this craft, then how can I expect them to respect my ideas?

Luke,

I don't think it's an issue of con men and sharks. It's just that Amazon doesn't know what they're doing and they're learning and making mistakes as they go. They originally thought they could offer lots of money and go around the writer's guild to find those scripts that people in Hollywood weren't seeing. A good idea, in theory. The problem is that any writer truly worth a million dollars is going to break in to Hollywood one way or another. If you have a million dollar script and haven't shown it to someone that can get it into the hands of someone important then you really have to ask yourself how much you really want to be a screenwriter. They also figured that if they went around the guild then they couldn't hire a pro to punch up a script if needed.

From what I've read, Amazon hired some reputable producers to take the material to production. I think the problem is that they are not yet a studio. There's no infrastructure to actually make a movie. Hollywood has been doing it for a hundred years. If Sony or Disney or Dreamworks gets a script, they also have the people and process in place to make it. If Amazon gets a script... well, they'll have to find a production company, they'll have to learn how to deal with the unions, etc. They don't own (that I know of) any soundstages. They probably don't have any talent or director's deals in place. In other words they are starting from scratch. And they have to be extra cautious because their first movie out of the gate is going to give them their repuation. It's easy enough for the big studios that have been doing this forever to have huge expensive bombs. I imagine Amazon is really sweating these first films. They have to make film in independent kind of way, but they'll be judged like a big studio.

They don't really have a brand yet either. Everyone knows what a disney film is or a pixar film or a newline. Amazon doesn't yet know how they want to define themselves. So they'll probably buy a lot of scripts "just in case" but then not make them. Most Hollywood studios have shelves and shelves full of scripts they bought "just in case".

It's going to take a few years for them to figure out what they are doing and what they really want. Until that time it's going to cause us and them a lot of anxiety. Eventually, though, they are going to have to figure it out because they need content. They sell Kindles just to sell content. The more they have to rely on outside sources the less control they have and the less money they make. It also makes them beholden to the industry that produces the content. Think of all the issues they had with book publishers (and still have).

I believe A S handed over a million for the test movie, not the script.