August’s Spotlight of the Month: Daniel Riser

For August, we caught up with Daniel Riser, founder of greenwriter.org, a new website for screenwriters to house their screenplays for production companies and directors to find while helping to save an estimated 5,000 trees per year. Catch the full catalogue due out later this month and read below to see how Daniel and the people at greenwriter.org are helping Hollywood make going green just a little sexier.

So what exactly is greenwriter.org?
Greenwriter.org is a web service designed to streamline the conventional process agents and producers use when finding scripts, while creating environmental awareness.

What made you want to “reinvent the way we buy and sell screenplays”?
I wanted to reinvent screenplay distribution because I was tired of seeing a general acceptance of mindless waste, both in regards to printed paper and writer’s works. There are dozens of online venues a screenwriter can use to showcase his work but they all charge $60 to $1,500 to submit a PDF. That’s when I decided to rebuild the system from the ground up.

Are you a screenwriter yourself?
Yes. I’ve got the cynicism and coffee mug to prove it.

How did you become involved in screenwriting?
I was eight years old. Bought some old James Bond novels at a used book store. My parents quickly found my chauvinist contraband and confiscated it. I wasn’t about to let that stop me so I sat down and wrote movie versions of the books. Next thing I know I’m 19 years old writing an action film for an independent company and we go out all over the world to film it. That’s when I bought the coffee mug.

For those of us not in the film business, do screenwriters really use that much paper?
Short answer: Yes. An average screenplay is 90 to 120 pages in length. Your run-of-the-mill screenplay guide recommends printing ten copies (at least) Most of which go to agents (unless God himself has smiled on your charmed life and you already have one) and a few random production companies across Los Angeles. About 200,000 screenplays make it into circulation every year.

How much paper would you estimate the film industry uses for things like scripts?
Oh boy. Well a “greenlit” script gets copied at least 100 times for the various members of the three stages of production (pre, principle, post) and then any revisions to the screenplay are also printed for each member. This obviously doesn’t include storyboards, index cards, shot lists, production schedules, etcetera. If I had to present an estimated figure I’d say at least 16,000 sheets per production for the screenplay itself.

How much paper or how many trees will the film industry save with the help of your website?
If 1/2 of industry professionals use Greenwriter as their content provider and 1/2 of the agents encourage their clients to do the same (we are developing a privatized feature for established writers) AND assuming 3/4 of screenplays are printed on recycled stock… we would still save 5,000 trees per year.

We love that Greenwriter helps the environment, but doesn’t it also help writers and production companies?
We are non-profit to the writers and their works because we want them to have a safe haven, free from exploitation or abuse. In order to stay in business we have customized our architecture to fit the needs of industry professionals who will pay for a professional interface that exceeds traditional online screenplay catalogs.

This service was designed to help struggling agents find excellent writers seeking representation, directors looking for the perfect “blueprint” to launch their professional career, actors of all success levels to find a star vehicle, independent investors who are interested in funding low budget films and increase a veteran producer’s productivity without printing a single sheet of paper.

Your nine person company is based in LA. Are you all writers?
Most of us are involved in entertainment and media but there are only two writers; myself and Trevor Berry; a dialog specialist. I’m more of a story editor/structure aficionado.

Aside from offering an essentially green service, does greenwriter implement any other green strategies in the office?
Our staff is environmentally responsible. The company recently purchased two Hybrids and we even had our office sign made in recycled materials. The only thing that isn’t Green is our flat screen TV. We’re movie people here so we have to have the biggest TV we can get our hands on. I think we succeeded.

Your Slogan for the site is “Let’s Save 90 million pages in 6 months” do you think you will reach that goal in 6 months or less?
100 screenplays were uploaded on our first day. I believe with all my heart that we can accomplish our goal but it’s not intended to be a race. Our original slogan was a statement. We’re proud of the service we have in store for everyone (Catalog is revealed late August) and we believe producers will see the benefit our digital product will bring them. If writers can see the opportunity we have created for them we will have no problem saving paper, saving trees and greening an industry that desperately needs it.

Where do you see Greenwriter a year from now?
We are hard at work crafting a perfect place for everyone involved in the screenwriting industry with plans to expand into television pilots, webisodes, commercials, novels, journalism, comic books, songs and other literary markets by the end of this year. We want to provide a venue where illustrators, editors, musicians and other artists can showcase their work before a global audience for free. Each category will be meticulously crafted by experts in their respective industries but it all begins with screenplays and our dedicated staff is making sure it’s worth the wait.

For more information on Daniel, Greenwriter or reading/selling screenplays online, check out greenwriter.org.

Thanks to Erin Kuhlmann for this interview!