Hey, as a UK script consultant and BAFTA shortlisted script writer for hire I get a surprising amount of emails from people who have a great true life story that they think will make a fabulous film or TV show – and they want to hire a ghost writer to turn the story into a script or a book.
Is a ghost written script better than a book?
So, the big questions is – Which is better? To have the story written up as a script or screenplay (by a pro scriptwriter like me)?
Or is it better to have the story written as a book by a professional ghost writer service?
It’s a good question. Surely if you want your idea to appear on the big screen a script is better than a book? Isn’t it?
Well the answer for a variety of reasons is NO.
A professionally written book often has more chance of being picked up by the likes of Netflix and Amazon than a screenplay does.
Why is this?
Bizarrely, from a standing start with no industry connections – a ghost written book has a better shot of being made into a film than an original script. The reason is entirely a legal one.
Most UK and US production companies WILL NOT ACCEPT unsolicited scripts or screenplays for VERY sound LEGAL reasons. These are legal reasons that affected unsolicited screenplays only.
If a book, is published and available on the likes of Amazon, a lot of these legal constraints disappear – because the book is already in the public domain and available for anyone to read (unlike an unsolicited spec script).
So, producers can legally read a published book, without the same level of legal threat attached to an unsolicited script.
Ghostwritten books beat ghost written screenplays – legally.
So, from the standpoint of getting YOUR story out there – a book is easier to get in front of producers, production companies and broadcasters (and streamers).
So, if you’re looking to get your story on film or TV – hiring a ghostwriter to write up the story as a book – is often the best way forward.
Novel Ghost Writing Service
There are many companies across the UK that offer a book ghostwriter service – the one I’d recommend is StoryTerrace. They’re the leading UK company for Ghostwriters – have featured on TVs ‘Dragon’s Den’ and have had some great success stories too – for the books they’ve been hired to ghost-write for clients who approach them.
Once your story is written up into a book – you can still hire me to adapt it to the screen – but the first port of call – and the chance to get the book read – is to contact StoryTerrace – make sure you tell them that I recommended you – they’ll treat you well.
Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire and UK script consultant for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award-winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer.
His directorial debut, the rubber reality horror thriller ‘Markham’ was released in 2020, his second feature film as director ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ hit the screen in 2021. You can find out more about Matthew’s work as a director here.
You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. Matthew is also a judge in the Page Turner Awards 2022.