Research: screenplay & screenwriters

Directors who have written their own script:

Paul Haggis:

• First screenwriter to write two best film Oscar winners
• Won Academy Awards for best picture and Best Original Screenplay
• Wrote, directed and produced In the Valley of Elah
• In 2006, his screenplays included Clint Eastwood productions Flags of our Fathers (2006)

Quentin Tarantino:

• When he was a first time director and screenwriter Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs appeared at the Sundance Film Festival
• Was nominated for best picture, best director and best original screenplay at the 1995 Academy Awards
• Wrote and co-starred in film From Dusk Till Dawn with George Clooney
• In 1995 he directed Four Rooms with friends and auteurs

Roman Polanski:

• Film director, producer, writer and actor
• Considers one of the truly international film makers having made films in Poland, France, England and the USA
• Co-wrote two films - Repulsion (1965) and Cul-De-Sac (1966) with Gerard Brach
• Made a US release Chinatown (1974) and won nearly all the most important film awards including Oscar for Best Director

Christopher Nolan:

• Wrote and directed the film Memento (2000) which was a short story based on his brother Jonathan
• Directed, co-wrote and produced the film The Dark Knight which went to gross more than a billion dollars at the world wide box office
• Directed and produced from his own original screenplay the sci-fi Inception (2010)
• Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas have their own production company Syncopy

Literary Agent (for screenwriters):

Alan Brodie:

Brodie runs a literary agency: Alan Brodie Representations whose clients are writers, directors and people who make and compose their own television programs, theatre productions, radio show and films. He has a long list of dramatists, musical theatre, selected rights and estates clients.  Its website http://www.alanbrodie.com/ gives out information if you are interested in any of his clients or are interested into being represented by Alan Brodie.

Optioning:

An agreement using a contract between a potential producer and writer or third party holding ownership of a screenplay.  Options allow producers to control the rights of a screenplay or material without having to spend as much upfront.  A screenwriter can either have their screenplay optioned by a producer or option the rights to an existing piece of material if they wish to adapt it.