Meh. This stuff had kind of always gone on. I remember Blake Snyder describing his marketing tricks from the 90s In Save the Cat which came off as obnoxious. And filming a trailer for an unrepped spec is expensive and extremely risky. Seems so anyway.

Filming a trailer is expensive and doesn't pay off, but making a compelling short film that ALSO works as a proof of concept doesn't hurt.

Robert, you're right, there has been this ebb and flow of spec script gimmicks for many years, as noted in the post I did about Grim Night, how agents sent out ticking clocks with the spec "Ticking Man" back in 1990. However the teaser trailer is a more recent phenomenon. Still, the story has to work on the page, no matter how elaborate or good the gimmick.

Key word: "compelling". Makes no sense to produce a marginal short. But I think you're right, Jimmy, certainly about the increase of short films in circulation the last few years largely due to digital filmmaking.

The teaser is here to stay, because it answers a question that a script cannot: Do you know how to make a movie?

Scott, one thing I'm wondering about is the "sizzle" reel/trailer that young directors will put together - made up of bits of other films to give a sense of style, pace, tone, etc. - and whether screenwriters may start to use this. Have you heard much about these or seen any of them recently? The stuff accompanying this particular spec (one night in boredom) looked terrible - i couldn't even get thru two of those Youtube clips.

That "one sheet" is horrible. If this sells, well, I'll eat my hat.

Once some bad trailers start making the rounds, people will feel burned, stop clicking on the links, and you'll read in the next hot screenwriting book, "No fancy packages, no trailers, no soundtrack songs sent as mp3 files" yadda yadda yadda. I think what we're feeling is that, now that scripts are no longer send via FedEx or messenger, people have found a new way to get around the "don't do this for attention" rule, but with enough time and enough garbage flooding the market, the rule will expand to include this stuff, too.

I think if this site and its one-sheet are any indication, then this trend will continue to be left to the worst of the worst. Sadly, the writer of this particular piece apparently did not have anyone kind enough to forcefully drag him away from the computer before it was too late -- or teach him to use spell check.

If you can pull off "the bells & whistles", more power to you.

Could someone answer this as if I'm five because I'm a bit confused. Please define, "there is a spec going out..." A: A manager or agent is currently shopping this thing around? Or B: The writer blindly shoots out the spec, link and one-sheet in hopes of a bite?

Sorry... I clicked the link then realized a management company attached itself to the spec. Must... hold... tongue...

I agree. Unfortunately for the writers of One Night In Compton the answer is a big NO. They would have been better off not making any "trailers". Having an Xtranormal animation represent your script is a terrible idea. I want to make a trailer or clip of my next script. Not just for the marketing. It would be a great experience. The people who made the Grim Night trailer did a really good job so in that instance I think it helped them for sure.

Yeah, I was really distracted by the animation to understand what they were saying...