Just as there are many ways to sell a screenplay, many things can happen after its sale. It’s almost like a Choose Your Own Adventure book—it’s one story with many potential endings. Get an A-list director attached? Turn to page 63. Talent drop out? Turn to page 41. The project gets scrapped? Go back to the beginning of the book. 

Like anything else in Hollywood, there’s no set path after you’ve sold your first screenplay. That said, there is a general path you can expect. Here’s what normally goes down during a screenplay sale. 

Toast to Your Own Success

Congrats! Selling a screenplay is what we’re all working our butts off for, and getting the call at all is a major accomplishment. You no longer have to feel like an imposter when you tell people at parties you’re a screenwriter because you’re doing what makes you a pro: getting paid.

The WGA minimum for an original screenplay is $117,279, but if it’s a non-WGA project, you could get paid a lot less. This is a major milestone, so it’s okay to treat yourself but don’t go crazy, because you’re going to have to pay your agent, manager, and lawyer (if you have them), which will take out about 25% of your payday. You’ll also have to pay taxes, which will take out about another 30%.

So go ahead and take yourself out to dinner, but don’t fly to Paris to do it. 

Read More: How To Use Smaller Projects as a Writing Career Springboard

Work Out the Contract

If you haven’t already, you’re going to want to lawyer up. You don’t have to take the first offer they give you, and going back and forth with the contract is totally normal. An entertainment lawyer can help you navigate the contract and make sure you’re getting the little things you might not think about, like sequel rights. 

An entertainment lawyer will usually take 5%, but it’s worth it. At the very least, a lawyer will make you feel comfortable that the (electronic) piece of paper you’re (Docu)signing is on the level.

You Now No Longer Own the Script

Once you’ve signed over the rights, you’ve signed over control of your project. It’s no longer your baby; it’s their product. Taking this leap might feel a little scary, but it is a major step towards getting your project made.

Selling a spec means meticulously getting your script in perfect shape so someone can change it after it’s sold. It’s like buying a home. You might love the natural light from the bay windows but feel that the kitchen needs a breakfast nook. So, you’ll need to knock down a few walls.

You’re now going to have to tailor your script to their needs, so the next step you can generally expect is a development meeting where your producers will go over the changes they want you to make. 

Rewrite the Script

Screenplay sales normally unfold in steps, and one of those steps is a guaranteed rewrite. The overall price tag of your script sale will include a fee for the script itself and another fee for the rewrite. The amount of time you get depends on production, but in a non-we-need-this-now world, you should get about 10 weeks to work on it. 

Selling a script doesn’t mean your work is over. It means you have to roll your sleeves a little further up your arms. Now you actually have to make the changes that you discussed during the production meeting. It’s totally normal for things to change due to budget, or even taste. Be gracious and trust that your producers know what they’re doing. Fresh eyes might see something that you can’t because you’ve been looking at the project for so long. 

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, don’t be afraid to bounce ideas off your team if you get stuck, and don’t be crotchety about the changes you’re asked to make. And don’t procrastinate!

Read More: How to Receive Notes as a Screenwriter

Brace Yourself to Get Taken Off

After your rewrites are done, you might get taken off of the project. It’s not personal. It’s the process.

While TV is more writer-friendly, features are notorious for leaving writers out of the loop since they’re generally considered more of a director’s medium. Again, the script is no longer your child at this point. You’ve given it up for adoption and have to trust that its new parents will give it a good upbringing.

Sometimes the production company will want to bring a writer with more expertise on the subject of the script. For instance, if you wrote a female-driven rom-com and you’re a guy, they might want to bring in a lady writer to make it feel more authentic. Or they might want to bring in a writer with a different skill set. If your structure is solid, they might want to bring in a writer who excels at witty quips to give the dialogue a polish. Again, it’s not personal – it’s part of the collaborative process of filmmaking.

Development Hell and Packaging Purgatory

After your rewrite, the path to production diverges quite a bit. There’s no standard way a movie gets made. You have to hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and be at peace with whatever outcome happens.  

The company you sold it to might decide that they want to scrap the project, and your script will now live only as a file on someone’s computer. They might decide they want to do even more rewrites, and hopefully, your script is now somebody else’s problem.

They might decide to attach talent because they think it’s good enough. In this case, we will send the screenplay to directors and actors if they aren’t already attached. You guessed it, even more rewrites on the script will be done to tailor it to the needs of the talent. But just because a script has a director or star attached doesn’t mean it’s an automatic go. Someone could drop out and it’s back to square one.

That said, if things are slow, it doesn’t automatically mean that it’s not happening. This industry is notorious for its “hurry up and wait,” so be prepared to be patient.

A myriad of things can happen when the script gets to this stage. But no matter which path your script goes down, you’re still a paid screenwriter, and that’s something nobody can take away from you, and the treat you got yourself in step one will forever remind you of that.

The Script Goes Into Production

We’re making movies here! This is the step of the process where your movie is actually shot. Where trucks and trailers will be brought in so actors can breathe life into something you pulled out of your imagination. Congrats! You can celebrate and brag about this milestone, provided your contract allows you to share the news.

Just because your script is on its feet doesn’t mean there won’t be changes. There will probably be tweaks—both minor and major—to adjust for the needs of production. An actor might not like a line. A horse might not be available. You and your script will have to roll with the punches.

Depending on the project, they might ask you to be on hand to help with changes, or they might keep you as far away from the set as possible—not because they don’t like you. Writers have a (deserved or undeserved) reputation for being precious with their words, and they might want to avoid having a finicky scribe on set.

Try to get a set visit if you can—you get to eat snacks and everyone is super nice to you.

Write Your Next Project

As Jay-Z says, “On to the next one.”

At this point in the process, the process starts all over again! You can’t rest on your laurels, so it’s smart to work on your next project after you’ve completed your first one—or even while you’re working on your first one.

With one sale under your belt, you’re now back on page one of the Choose Your Own Adventure Book, ready for the next adventure to come your way!

Read More: You Have Great Opportunities, Regardless of What’s Happening in the Entertainment Industry