How to pitch a movie idea to Paramount

In its own words

“We do not accept unsolicited submissions, including scripts, story lines, articles, fan fiction, characters, drawings, suggestions, ideas or concepts.”

“It is our policy to delete any such submission without reading it.”

What you agree to by sending something

“Any similarity between an unsolicited submission and any elements in any CBS creative work would be purely coincidental.”

What it has bought from outside

1. 1969

   Film rights to The Godfather from Mario Puzo $80,000

   “Paramount Pictures obtained the rights to the novel for $80,000, before it gained popularity.” en.wikipedia.org

2. Paranormal Activity (domestic rights, plus worldwide sequel rights) from Oren Peli US$350,000

   “Paramount Pictures, which acquired DreamWorks in 2005, bought the domestic rights to the film, and worldwide rights to any sequels, for US$350,000.” en.wikipedia.org

3. 2012

   Spec script The Cellar (became 10 Cloverfield Lane) from Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken

   “In 2012, Paramount Pictures bought the script and commenced further development under Bad Robot for Insurge Pictures, Paramount's specialty label for films with a micro-budget.” en.wikipedia.org

4. A Quiet Place script from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods

   “Platinum Dunes' Michael Bay had a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures and showed their script to the studio.” en.wikipedia.org

Other companies that take a movie idea

• Angel StudiosHas a submission portalAngel Studios takes projects only as a Torch, filmed work its Angel Guild streams to gauge interest.

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  NetflixOnly through an agentNetflix reads nothing it did not ask for.

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  Apple TV+Does not take outside ideasApple does not accept, review or consider ideas or creative material it did not request, and anything sent anyway becomes Apple’s property…

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  DreamWorks AnimationDoes not take outside ideasDreamWorks Animation falls under NBCUniversal’s terms, which will not review story or character ideas it did not ask for.

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  LucasfilmDoes not take outside ideasLucasfilm accepts no unsolicited product, artwork, story idea or other creative material, and returns what is sent.

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  PixarDoes not take outside ideasPixar takes no creative submission of any kind.

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  SkydanceDoes not take outside ideasSkydance accepts no unsolicited scripts, story lines, characters or ideas, and deletes them unread.

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  Sony PicturesDoes not take outside ideasSony Pictures seeks no unsolicited ideas for films, shows, books or music, and treats anything sent anyway as licensed to it.

All of them, open doors first