Are Specs Worth Your Time?

You’ve been turning over this fabulous idea, but you’re torn. For every story of someone who has hit it big with an original idea, there are hundreds of specs that never get sold. So is that spec you’re working on worthwhile? Feature writer Daniel Kunka (whose spec for Lift turned into a film on Netflix) says there are benefits beyond the potential sale. 

Photo by Moises Marquez

Q: In today’s marketplace and with companies focused on big IP projects, what’s the value of writing a spec script as a feature writer? Is it even worth it? 

Daniel Kunka: As an established feature writer, I get this question more than any other and in some ways it’s the easiest question to answer…

YES. 

Yes, it is worth it for you to write your spec script. I’m not sure there’s ever a set of conditions where I would answer “no.” To put it simply, writing spec scripts is the most tried and true method to both starting a career and maintaining a career as a feature writer.

“But spec scripts don’t sell as much as they used to!” I hear this a lot. And maybe it’s true. But a spec script has a lot more value than just selling. A spec script can also become a calling card for you as a writer.

I wrote a spec script in 2014 called Yellowstone Falls. It sold to a financier, I’ve done rewrites, we’ve had several different directors attached and it’s still in active development (those wolf pups never die). Short of being made, it’s been very successful for me in a business sense. But almost more importantly it’s become the Daniel Kunka script that no one ever forgets. I can’t tell you the number of meetings I’ve taken in the last 10 years where an exec immediately asks me about it or remembers where they were when they first read it. And if it’s not Yellowstone, it’s usually another spec that I wrote that they enjoyed or told their boss to read or almost got someone to buy.

A weird thing about this town is how memories are long and short. Spec scripts help with both conditions. If you’re not actively putting out new material in front of executives, it’s very easy for them to forget you’re even around. Spec scripts are your way to tell the town: “Nope, I’m still here!” Inevitably when you do produce new material, it’s those old specs that executives remember that can help you get better, faster reads. And if you’re lucky enough to sell a spec, it doesn’t guarantee your next one will sell, but it also doesn’t hurt.

In the end, feature writers write movies. And yes, it’s great to be paid up front to do the job, but you are in control of a spec script. It is the ultimate gamble on yourself. And yes –you may write a spec that doesn’t sell. It happens! But in my experience the benefit of writing a spec far outweighs the negative.

And if it does sell? There’s no better feeling as a writer in all of Hollywood. 

Looking for more feature writing advice? WGAW members are invited to use Ask a Screenwriter, a tool in the WGA Platform that connects members for short conversations on specific career related topics.