What goes into a Screenplay Website?
What does a screenwriter portfolio look like?
Your screenwriter portfolio is a personal website. On this website, you can include an about me page, a copy of your CV, work examples, testimonials, a list of awards, a list of past clients and a video showreel. Basically, you can include anything you believe will sell you as a writer. Most importantly, make sure this is a focused screenwriter portfolio don’t confuse people hiring you with multiple job titles.
Your CV
Best to do this as a PDF, then attach. Like this. Jeff Ross Creative CV
Scripts
You’ll want to put full scripts up here. This page: https://www.timwestland.com Keeps the scripts behind an ‘email me the script’ section. This is incredibly annoying.
Whereas most writer’s sites allow at least a preview of the scripts, if not the whole thing.
What should your samples look like? PDF. No typos. All correctly formatted. As perfect as you can make it or don’t put it up.
Video Showreel…. These are great in the sense that you can show how your words on the page are transformed to the screen.
Social media is more and more important all the time. Book sellers are looking at booktok more than anything else for sales. They want the author to do the work for them. Honestly, this is not a bad route for you. Control of your perceived image is essential. So have all your links to social media available.
Influences…. A page of movies you love and why is a great way to showcase your influences. Write something insightful about a few of your favorite films. Add this as a page. This might be something you delete in time, but I’ve found that producers and agents want that ‘Oh, she’s like X’ idea. It helps people understand what it is you like, and what you’d like to be like.
A process ‘blog’. I found this was the most visited page of mine during the times when I had one. People love to see your process. Where did your idea come from? How did you organize it? How long did it take you to write it? All of these answers draw people into YOU.
Game & TV writing - so, you’re not interested in being a features writer. When it comes to game and TV writing, there are some real differences. With Game writing you’ll want to put samples of a worldbuilding bible online. Something to show you know how to build worlds and characters and conflict. Then some scripts. Basic ones of your own creation, side missions for games you love (spec), main missions even for games you like, or imagine a sequel. The narrative director wants to see that you can write in MANY styles.
Agents want to see your work as well and know that you can write in different genres. So watch some episodes of a show, read the scripts, and write your own. A few scenes will often do. Grab a comedy, a drama, a police/medical/fire series, &c. Write a full episode if you like. Modern writers need to be flexible. You have the skills to write anything, prove it.
Your goal with this page is to appear like a person people would want to work with. What kind of people do people want to work with?
Professional: So your samples and CV need to show this. Read and re-read and then leave alone for a week then read and re-read everything again. A single spelling mistake or weird slugline will turn people off. MANY of the people I’ve worked with are LOOKING to eliminate potential contenders. A missed typo is enough for them to consider you unprofessional and look elsewhere.
Knowledgeable: Prove you know scripts inside and out. This is where the blog can come in handy. Dissect scripts for what you feel makes them work. Have you letterboxed lists available so you can show you’ve watched a wide variety of media. Unless your letterboxd is all snarky, then maybe don’t list it. Give yourself projects to move through (One movie from every year, one comedy, one drama, one sci-fi, one historical, go again) Talk about what you’ve learned from these films.
Interesting: Do you travel? Have hobbies that might lend themselves to specific types of films? Have had past experiences you can draw upon?
Interested: One of the things I tell my students is instead of saying ‘I don’t like this, it sucks.’ Instead say ‘this isn’t for me….right now.’ Show that you are interested in everything. Be curious about things you are not curious about. Hate math? Well, maybe look into some of the interesting concepts in math happening now. But let people know you’re coming at this from a place of ignorance and disinterest.
Innovative: This goes back to showing your work. I used to have a writer’s blog where I’d put up a page of work, or even just a paragraph, and explain what I was attempting to do in the pages. Why I made the decisions I did. When they came (at the start, or after re-writing, &c.) Students loved this as it helped them with their essays. But, I can see this working for screenwriters as well.
ABOUT ME - Who are you? Where did you come from? What do you do? What do you like? I like David Koepp’s layout: https://davidkoepp.com
Testimonials - If you’re going to be a writer for hire, it is very useful to have people you have worked for in the past write something nice about you. This makes a great connection as well in case someone you’ve worked for is someone other people know.
If you don’t have anyone currently to give this info, leave this section out until you do.
Past clients and past productions and IMDB. All of these should be on your page. Produced, not produced, in production, whatever you can put up there.