Niche opportunity here? What do you think?
 

Hi all

(I'm cross posting this on a couple of other boards - it's a bit specific and I want to increase my chances of finding someone "in the know")

Anyway...

Something just popped into my life which could represent an opportunity.

As some of you know, my wife and I run an online proofreading business (www.proofreadingservices.com). It brings in more than it costs (which makes it "successful"), but the income stream can be a bit lumpy.

This morning we got a reqest from a guy who wants to know if we can proof and put into "screenplay format" a piece he has written.

"Screenplay format"? What's that? I thought. Seems like folks who submit screen plays to film types (producers, whatever, or whoever you send screenplays to!) have to make sure they adhere to a very rigidly defined format, which appears to be just that - a particular format. Nothing more fancy than that.

I did a bit of Google hunting and found that there is even softwre which takes care of the job, though I suspect that a good knowledge of Word might do just as well.

So what do you think? A nice litle niche to pursue - proofreading for screenplays, or don't waste my time?

Any movie-types out there who can tell me if I'm talking twaddle?

Thanks:-)

Philip
p.s. - don't bother picking me up on any typos in this post - I can spell perfectly but can't type worth a damn:-)




100% Accurate Proofreading

What you have to ask yourself...
 

Phillip (or Philip, whichever the case may be),

is Does it generate more money than it costs?

Can you develop a template for it that will allow you to transfer text formated pages (or Word.doc pages) into a screen-play format?

Are there already templates developed you can buy and use?

How much work is involved in the conversion?

If your normal price is $1.00 per page, how much do you charge for the added service? $2.50 per page?

Does this client belong to a writer's group he can recommend your service to or is he a loner?

Do you want to start advertising this service to create an additional income stream?

Do you want to create a manuscript division for novels?

Frankly, I'd go for it and even if I didn't make a dime on this one, as long as I broke even, I'd use it to generate future business by advertising it.