Plot Device
07-25-2007, 04:55 AM
Hi guys.
I am the official transcriptionist for a start-up project called HollywoodByPhone.com. It's a new avenue (actually a paid subscription service) for scriptwriters to be able to talk directly over the phone with working Hollywood. That includes literary agents, literary managers, and executives from Hollywood production companies -- all of whom are actively seeking scripts.
http://www.screenplaybyphone.com/hbp4TL.html
Once a week, a live conference call takes place -- and YOU can be in on that conference call. Each call is hosted by screenwriter Chris Soth, and each weekly guest will always be a working executive or agent or manager from Hollywood. The format is very similar to a talk radio show where Hollywood executives walk through a lively and interesting interview and talk about how they came to be in Hollywood and what their current job entails. And then listeners are allowed to ask questions during the phone call.
Now here's the REALLY cool part!
MOST of the phone calls end with a formal invitation to all listeners to send an e-mail query on their scripts to the guest.
Guests so far have included:
Andrew Kersey of Kersey Management
Danny Manus of Clifford Werber Productions
Brad Butler of Mayhem Pictures
and all three of the above guests have concluded their interviews with formal invitations to all HollywoodByPhone listeners to go ahead and send them e-mail queries on their scripts (and yes! -- an e-mail address got provided during all three calls).
Here's a review of the service from One Slack Martian:
http://oneslackmartian.blogspot.com/2007/07/to-chris-wif-love.html
Here's an excerpt from the recent Danny Manus interview of July 10, 2007:
CHRIS: I’ve got another question coming from the 773 Area Code. And the last two numbers are 4-5. So I’ve un-muted you. Speak up if that described you.
RICH: Yeah. This is Rich. I’m calling from Chicago. And I think Danny just actually answered my question – I wanted to get his e-mail.
CHRIS: Okay! We’ve got that coming up. Absolutely.
RICH: And I am going to the Fade In Pitch Fest this week in LA, and I just wondered if Danny had any advice for me.
CHIRS: I think that’s a great question. He had mentioned that he attends lots of pitch fests. And that’s right here on my list to ask Danny about. Can you speak a little bit about pitch fests? And your experiences with them? And give some advice too? A lot of our listeners, I think, attend a lot of the pitch fests, whether it be at Screenwriter’s Expo or Fade In or the Great American Pitch Fest, all of which are great events.
DANNY: All are good events. I do a lot of pitch fests. I was at Great American a couple weeks ago, and I’ve done them for years. And they are a great tool for both execs and writers.
I say there are some things that writers do right off the bat that turn execs off. Also, know where you’re going. There are some pitch fests that seem more “scammy” than others. There are some great ones. Great American. Screenwriting Expo is a big one—it’s probably the biggest of the year. Whether it’s the best, you can judge for yourself, but I’m there every year. Great American, Fade In I have done. I know a lot of people that do do Fade In. I will say from personal experience, and I’m being very honest and blunt (and they may not call me after this) but I feel like the quality of Fade In Pitch Fest has gone down in the last few years.
CHRIS: I’m going to chime in and say that these opinions are not necessarily those of HBP.com. But we’re asking YOUR opinion. And actually, I haven’t been to any of them. But this is great to get your opinion.
DANNY: Yeah, those are the three big ones, I think, in LA. And of course, I’m going to Portland in August for one. I’m going to Vancouver in November for one. And if they ever have that one in Hawaii they keep promising us, I’ll be there too.
CHRIS: That’s automatically a good one!
DANNY: Pitch fests are a great place to get experience pitching. It’s a great place to make some new contacts with other writers and execs that you wouldn’t normally maybe have a chance to meet. And I do –- as long as they’re not too expensive for the writer -- I do suggest going to them. However, never ever go if your script is not finished. If you have thirty pages done and an outline for the rest, you should not be at a pitch fest. If you don’t know your story so well that you don’t need an index card to read off of while you’re pitching, you shouldn’t be at a pitch fest. Because we will, sometimes –- sometimes just because we’re bored of sitting there and we want to spice it up -- we’ll stop you in the middle of a pitch and ask you a couple of question -- and you have to be able to get back into your story as seamlessly as possible. You’ve really got to know your story -- your characters -- know what happens in your second act. Make sure that it is a commercial and really fleshed out idea. Make sure your formatting is right.
--And I got this at Great American! Someone was pitching a book that they wrote. And I said “Great! It sounds really interesting!” And I emailed them Tuesday after the pitch fest and I said: “Do you have a script?”
And she said, “Well, no, I haven’t written a script yet.”
And I said, “Oh, but you have the book!”
And she said, “Yeah, I have the book.”
And I said, “Great! Send me the book! I’d love to read it. We’re willing to work on the adaptation with you if we love it.”
And she said, “Well … it’s in German.”
And I said, “Oh. Well … do you have a translation?”
And she goes, “No.”
I said, “Well, how are you going to send me a book in German? What am I supposed to DO with that?”
She’s like, “Well, I’m working on it.”
If you’re working on it -- and that’s not to say that ideas don’t change, and often at pitches people will make suggestions. I do. At almost every pitch, I will make a suggestion on your story that I think might improve it. And if you change it, that’s fine. But your script in your mind should be done and complete or you’re wasting valuable money and valuable time of your own AND execs. We are not interested in hearing a pitch to which a script does not exist.
I will also say some little things on pitch fests—and these are small, tiny things:
Dress professionally. People come in with costumes -- they are laughed out of the room! We do, execs -- because we have nothing better to do --we’ll talk about the worst pitches, and the best pitches, and the most ridiculous pitches of the day. Be normal! Be yourself. Be normal. Be professional. I’ve had people come and pitch me in full diving gear -- snorkel and all! We have to look at you and speak to you and know that we can bring you in to a meeting with a studio exec -- with a higher-up, with a president of a studio. And I can’t bring someone in who comes in in devil horns, or a robe, or magical wizard outfit, or whatever it is. It’s just not professional. You can have some visuals, or a trailer. (Some people come in with these crazy trailers. It’s impressive. Not necessary but impressive.) Just be normal. Don’t have the flop sweat -- which happens! I sweat a lot! If you’re going to a professional thing, try to just seem like you’re having a normal conversation. And, “Oh! You know what the topic is THIS conversation is? My great story! You want to hear it?”
Start out with, “I’ve got a great comedy for you." -- "I’ve got a great team comedy." -- "I’ve got,” whatever it is. Let us know what it is. Let us know if it’s your first script or not (we’ll probably ask that). Let us know things like if it’s won a screenwriting contest. Which -- on a separate note, the same goes for pitch fests and screenwriting contests. There are some great ones in LA: The Disney Fellowship, Nichols, Miramax I think has an open door (a couple of companies have open door festivals that are at Screenwriters Expo). Things like that are great contests to enter. [But] if you won third prize in the Wisconsin Regional Whatever Festival, it’s not worth it. It’s not worth your money to apply to those, and it’s not worth mentioning. Because nobody -- very honestly and bluntly -- nobody in LA cares. If you won an LA or New York festival, mention it. If you won one of the big festivals or placed as a semi-final or finalist, mention that right off the bat: “I have a great team comedy that’s placed in the quarter-finals of Nichols.” The exec is going to take notice first thing. They’ll go “Great! What is it?” So, you want to hit them first thing with something that’s really going to attract [them]. And just know your story, and act like you’re having a normal conversation.
Try not to be nervous. Trust me --a lot of the execs that go are either execs or assistants, and it could be THEIR first pitch fest, and they are JUST as nervous as you, because I was [at] my first pitch fest.
CHRIS: With all of those don’t you’ve mentioned, you HAVE optioned material from pitch fests. Is that correct?
DANNY: I have. I did. I optioned two things from Great American (before I was at Clifford Werber), one thing when I was at Sandstorm, and then one thing on my own because Sandstorm didn’t want to pay for it. And I loved it that much that I optioned it on my own. (Unfortunately nothing ever came of it and the option reverted back to the writer, only because I left Sandstorm at that point.) And then we did option one thing at Clifford Werber Productions of virtualpitchfest.com’s, which I do think is a good site.
CHRIS: And virtualpitchfest.com is exactly what our writers are going to do after they get your e-mail, which is queries sent to you, in this case, through that web site.
DANNY: Yeah. For whatever the amount of money is, they can send--I don’t know how many queries, I don’t know how the money works. They basically sign up at the site, they send queries to the site, they choose the companies they want to query. [And then] the site emails us and says we have a query in our mailbox. And we go and read the query and say if we want to read the script or not -- and why or why not. Which is great because the biggest fear of execs is that we give our e-mail address out to a huge group of writers and we are inundated with queries. Not that I won’t do it. But it is a fear, and that’s why at pitch fests and panels and Screenwriting Expo or something, I do not give my e-mail out.
And later on in the same interview:
CHRIS: We’re talking about pitch fests earlier. You have optioned material -- even as far away as ILLINOIS. And you gave us a lot of things NOT to do -- no devil horns or wizard costumes. I just want to say: that’s how I normally dress. You weren’t seeing me on an off day. But what did these people do that really separated them that are the do’s of the pitch fests, versus the don’t’s that you were enumerating before –- equally useful, of course?
DANNY: The do’s -- the people I’m trying to think of the actual people that I optioned from.
One –- it wasn’t even a great script, it was an incredible idea. And it had a lot of potential. And that was enough. It was a good enough script that I saw the development possibilities in it. The writer was working on commercials in Florida. That’s where he lived -- he lived in Florida. He was a commercials director and a local music videos director. (I don’t even remember what the other person was doing.) But they just came off as genuine, as normal, and as people who really had a passion for their story without knocking you over with it and just being totally over the top.
You want to be passionate. Know your story. Be excited about your story, because if you’re not, we’re not going to be. If it’s a comedy, you don’t have to be funny -- you don’t have to be a stand-up comedian to write good comedy. But you should be able to highlight and talk about and express in a funny way the funniest moments of your script. Because if you’re pitching me the three funniest moment of your script, and I’m not even giggling, it might not be that funny. And that’s a problem! So just acting normal, dressing normal, being professional.
Try not to be nervous, but we understand that you are. We’re not going to bite your heads off --we’re nice people. We just want to hear your stories. We’re there for the same reason you are: to find great contacts, and find great new writers and material.
Just being normal is so important! -- I can’t tell you! And “normal’ is a subjective thing, it really is -- but there’s a line. And everybody kind of knows what it is --at least on our side of the table. We can tell -- I say this honestly! -- I can tell within thirty seconds if you are somebody I can put in a room with a studio exec. I can tell within the first minute of [your] pitching your story, usually, if it’s something that’s viable. And that comes with practice. That just comes with taking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pitches that you learn what’s good and bad right off the bat and what’s workable and who’s workable -- with. It’s important to us to know and to be comfortable with the fact that we’re going to have to work with YOU for the next year or two of our life. And if you are NOT someone that I can be confident and comfortable with working next to for the next year of my life, then no matter how good your script is, it probably isn’t going to be for us. It’s that comfort level that you get with a writer. And sometimes even on the high end it’s not there. We have writer meetings with A-List writers who come in, and they’re douche-bags! And you sit there and you go: “You know what? You could get a movie made, but I don’t know if I really want to work with you for the next two years of my life! Life is too short!” And it’s even shorter at a pitch fest, because it’s only five minutes long. THAT is the biggest “do.” Just be genuine, be passionate, and be normal! And that is MORE than half the battle. And know your story.
CHRIS: Absolutely. I probably mentioned that this call would be about an hour, hour and fifteen minutes. We’re over time that now. But I have a couple of more questions. Can you hang out a few more minutes?
DANNY: I’m in no huge rush.
CHRIS: Okay! That’s great! I see we’ve got a question here from the 604 Area Code. It’s time to raise that hand if you have a question before we sign off, gang. I’ve got a question from the 604 Area Code, last number is 3-5.
CALLER: I’ve been writing for about 6 years now and I’ve got about eighteen TV credits up here in Canada. And it’s kind of time to go down there, but I’m just wondering about work visas and that sort of thing and how that works with your production company. If you were to option or buy something, how work visas work. That’s the only reason I’m not down there. I’ve got the credits up here—I’ve got about eighteen TV credits. But I can’t get –- you know?
CHRIS: I recognize that area code as Vancouver now. You’re NOT lying. You ARE in Canada.
[laughter]
DANNY: I do know a couple of producers in Canada, and I do the Great Canadian Pitch Fest. Very honestly, I don’t think I could speak that intelligently about work visas. I don’t know enough about it or how it works. I will say that we’ll take good material from wherever it comes. And quite frankly, because Canada has such great production incentives, that sometimes having a writer from Canada is points toward the incentive. So sometimes it’s a plus. But I don’t think you need a work visa to option anything to anyone. But I don’t know -- let’s say we optioned something of yours, coming here to develop -- I honestly don’t know how it works. I haven’t had that experience yet. I love the Canadians! But I haven’t hired any to work.
CHRIS: But you do see it with those incentives all the time. I mean, InkTip has been doing some promotion for us and they’re a great service, InkTip.com. People query for scripts there, and they very often will say the writer must be Canadian. So it can really work to your benefit some of the time. I also don’t know about the work visas here. And that’s a good question for an immigration lawyer rather than either of us on this call.
DANNY: It is. It’s a great question. I just honestly don’t know the answer.
CHRIS: I don’t think it’s prohibitive. I think if someone wants to hire you, they will make it happen. In the TV world, if someone wishes to buy a piece of writing, they CAN. I don’t think there’s any international laws that stop them. I think as far as the actual ins and outs of official papers, and that kind of thing, an attorney is your best bet.
CALLER: Okay!
CHRIS: Thank you so much for your question, and spread the word up there in the Great White North.
I am the official transcriptionist for a start-up project called HollywoodByPhone.com. It's a new avenue (actually a paid subscription service) for scriptwriters to be able to talk directly over the phone with working Hollywood. That includes literary agents, literary managers, and executives from Hollywood production companies -- all of whom are actively seeking scripts.
http://www.screenplaybyphone.com/hbp4TL.html
Once a week, a live conference call takes place -- and YOU can be in on that conference call. Each call is hosted by screenwriter Chris Soth, and each weekly guest will always be a working executive or agent or manager from Hollywood. The format is very similar to a talk radio show where Hollywood executives walk through a lively and interesting interview and talk about how they came to be in Hollywood and what their current job entails. And then listeners are allowed to ask questions during the phone call.
Now here's the REALLY cool part!
MOST of the phone calls end with a formal invitation to all listeners to send an e-mail query on their scripts to the guest.
Guests so far have included:
Andrew Kersey of Kersey Management
Danny Manus of Clifford Werber Productions
Brad Butler of Mayhem Pictures
and all three of the above guests have concluded their interviews with formal invitations to all HollywoodByPhone listeners to go ahead and send them e-mail queries on their scripts (and yes! -- an e-mail address got provided during all three calls).
Here's a review of the service from One Slack Martian:
http://oneslackmartian.blogspot.com/2007/07/to-chris-wif-love.html
Here's an excerpt from the recent Danny Manus interview of July 10, 2007:
CHRIS: I’ve got another question coming from the 773 Area Code. And the last two numbers are 4-5. So I’ve un-muted you. Speak up if that described you.
RICH: Yeah. This is Rich. I’m calling from Chicago. And I think Danny just actually answered my question – I wanted to get his e-mail.
CHRIS: Okay! We’ve got that coming up. Absolutely.
RICH: And I am going to the Fade In Pitch Fest this week in LA, and I just wondered if Danny had any advice for me.
CHIRS: I think that’s a great question. He had mentioned that he attends lots of pitch fests. And that’s right here on my list to ask Danny about. Can you speak a little bit about pitch fests? And your experiences with them? And give some advice too? A lot of our listeners, I think, attend a lot of the pitch fests, whether it be at Screenwriter’s Expo or Fade In or the Great American Pitch Fest, all of which are great events.
DANNY: All are good events. I do a lot of pitch fests. I was at Great American a couple weeks ago, and I’ve done them for years. And they are a great tool for both execs and writers.
I say there are some things that writers do right off the bat that turn execs off. Also, know where you’re going. There are some pitch fests that seem more “scammy” than others. There are some great ones. Great American. Screenwriting Expo is a big one—it’s probably the biggest of the year. Whether it’s the best, you can judge for yourself, but I’m there every year. Great American, Fade In I have done. I know a lot of people that do do Fade In. I will say from personal experience, and I’m being very honest and blunt (and they may not call me after this) but I feel like the quality of Fade In Pitch Fest has gone down in the last few years.
CHRIS: I’m going to chime in and say that these opinions are not necessarily those of HBP.com. But we’re asking YOUR opinion. And actually, I haven’t been to any of them. But this is great to get your opinion.
DANNY: Yeah, those are the three big ones, I think, in LA. And of course, I’m going to Portland in August for one. I’m going to Vancouver in November for one. And if they ever have that one in Hawaii they keep promising us, I’ll be there too.
CHRIS: That’s automatically a good one!
DANNY: Pitch fests are a great place to get experience pitching. It’s a great place to make some new contacts with other writers and execs that you wouldn’t normally maybe have a chance to meet. And I do –- as long as they’re not too expensive for the writer -- I do suggest going to them. However, never ever go if your script is not finished. If you have thirty pages done and an outline for the rest, you should not be at a pitch fest. If you don’t know your story so well that you don’t need an index card to read off of while you’re pitching, you shouldn’t be at a pitch fest. Because we will, sometimes –- sometimes just because we’re bored of sitting there and we want to spice it up -- we’ll stop you in the middle of a pitch and ask you a couple of question -- and you have to be able to get back into your story as seamlessly as possible. You’ve really got to know your story -- your characters -- know what happens in your second act. Make sure that it is a commercial and really fleshed out idea. Make sure your formatting is right.
--And I got this at Great American! Someone was pitching a book that they wrote. And I said “Great! It sounds really interesting!” And I emailed them Tuesday after the pitch fest and I said: “Do you have a script?”
And she said, “Well, no, I haven’t written a script yet.”
And I said, “Oh, but you have the book!”
And she said, “Yeah, I have the book.”
And I said, “Great! Send me the book! I’d love to read it. We’re willing to work on the adaptation with you if we love it.”
And she said, “Well … it’s in German.”
And I said, “Oh. Well … do you have a translation?”
And she goes, “No.”
I said, “Well, how are you going to send me a book in German? What am I supposed to DO with that?”
She’s like, “Well, I’m working on it.”
If you’re working on it -- and that’s not to say that ideas don’t change, and often at pitches people will make suggestions. I do. At almost every pitch, I will make a suggestion on your story that I think might improve it. And if you change it, that’s fine. But your script in your mind should be done and complete or you’re wasting valuable money and valuable time of your own AND execs. We are not interested in hearing a pitch to which a script does not exist.
I will also say some little things on pitch fests—and these are small, tiny things:
Dress professionally. People come in with costumes -- they are laughed out of the room! We do, execs -- because we have nothing better to do --we’ll talk about the worst pitches, and the best pitches, and the most ridiculous pitches of the day. Be normal! Be yourself. Be normal. Be professional. I’ve had people come and pitch me in full diving gear -- snorkel and all! We have to look at you and speak to you and know that we can bring you in to a meeting with a studio exec -- with a higher-up, with a president of a studio. And I can’t bring someone in who comes in in devil horns, or a robe, or magical wizard outfit, or whatever it is. It’s just not professional. You can have some visuals, or a trailer. (Some people come in with these crazy trailers. It’s impressive. Not necessary but impressive.) Just be normal. Don’t have the flop sweat -- which happens! I sweat a lot! If you’re going to a professional thing, try to just seem like you’re having a normal conversation. And, “Oh! You know what the topic is THIS conversation is? My great story! You want to hear it?”
Start out with, “I’ve got a great comedy for you." -- "I’ve got a great team comedy." -- "I’ve got,” whatever it is. Let us know what it is. Let us know if it’s your first script or not (we’ll probably ask that). Let us know things like if it’s won a screenwriting contest. Which -- on a separate note, the same goes for pitch fests and screenwriting contests. There are some great ones in LA: The Disney Fellowship, Nichols, Miramax I think has an open door (a couple of companies have open door festivals that are at Screenwriters Expo). Things like that are great contests to enter. [But] if you won third prize in the Wisconsin Regional Whatever Festival, it’s not worth it. It’s not worth your money to apply to those, and it’s not worth mentioning. Because nobody -- very honestly and bluntly -- nobody in LA cares. If you won an LA or New York festival, mention it. If you won one of the big festivals or placed as a semi-final or finalist, mention that right off the bat: “I have a great team comedy that’s placed in the quarter-finals of Nichols.” The exec is going to take notice first thing. They’ll go “Great! What is it?” So, you want to hit them first thing with something that’s really going to attract [them]. And just know your story, and act like you’re having a normal conversation.
Try not to be nervous. Trust me --a lot of the execs that go are either execs or assistants, and it could be THEIR first pitch fest, and they are JUST as nervous as you, because I was [at] my first pitch fest.
CHRIS: With all of those don’t you’ve mentioned, you HAVE optioned material from pitch fests. Is that correct?
DANNY: I have. I did. I optioned two things from Great American (before I was at Clifford Werber), one thing when I was at Sandstorm, and then one thing on my own because Sandstorm didn’t want to pay for it. And I loved it that much that I optioned it on my own. (Unfortunately nothing ever came of it and the option reverted back to the writer, only because I left Sandstorm at that point.) And then we did option one thing at Clifford Werber Productions of virtualpitchfest.com’s, which I do think is a good site.
CHRIS: And virtualpitchfest.com is exactly what our writers are going to do after they get your e-mail, which is queries sent to you, in this case, through that web site.
DANNY: Yeah. For whatever the amount of money is, they can send--I don’t know how many queries, I don’t know how the money works. They basically sign up at the site, they send queries to the site, they choose the companies they want to query. [And then] the site emails us and says we have a query in our mailbox. And we go and read the query and say if we want to read the script or not -- and why or why not. Which is great because the biggest fear of execs is that we give our e-mail address out to a huge group of writers and we are inundated with queries. Not that I won’t do it. But it is a fear, and that’s why at pitch fests and panels and Screenwriting Expo or something, I do not give my e-mail out.
And later on in the same interview:
CHRIS: We’re talking about pitch fests earlier. You have optioned material -- even as far away as ILLINOIS. And you gave us a lot of things NOT to do -- no devil horns or wizard costumes. I just want to say: that’s how I normally dress. You weren’t seeing me on an off day. But what did these people do that really separated them that are the do’s of the pitch fests, versus the don’t’s that you were enumerating before –- equally useful, of course?
DANNY: The do’s -- the people I’m trying to think of the actual people that I optioned from.
One –- it wasn’t even a great script, it was an incredible idea. And it had a lot of potential. And that was enough. It was a good enough script that I saw the development possibilities in it. The writer was working on commercials in Florida. That’s where he lived -- he lived in Florida. He was a commercials director and a local music videos director. (I don’t even remember what the other person was doing.) But they just came off as genuine, as normal, and as people who really had a passion for their story without knocking you over with it and just being totally over the top.
You want to be passionate. Know your story. Be excited about your story, because if you’re not, we’re not going to be. If it’s a comedy, you don’t have to be funny -- you don’t have to be a stand-up comedian to write good comedy. But you should be able to highlight and talk about and express in a funny way the funniest moments of your script. Because if you’re pitching me the three funniest moment of your script, and I’m not even giggling, it might not be that funny. And that’s a problem! So just acting normal, dressing normal, being professional.
Try not to be nervous, but we understand that you are. We’re not going to bite your heads off --we’re nice people. We just want to hear your stories. We’re there for the same reason you are: to find great contacts, and find great new writers and material.
Just being normal is so important! -- I can’t tell you! And “normal’ is a subjective thing, it really is -- but there’s a line. And everybody kind of knows what it is --at least on our side of the table. We can tell -- I say this honestly! -- I can tell within thirty seconds if you are somebody I can put in a room with a studio exec. I can tell within the first minute of [your] pitching your story, usually, if it’s something that’s viable. And that comes with practice. That just comes with taking hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pitches that you learn what’s good and bad right off the bat and what’s workable and who’s workable -- with. It’s important to us to know and to be comfortable with the fact that we’re going to have to work with YOU for the next year or two of our life. And if you are NOT someone that I can be confident and comfortable with working next to for the next year of my life, then no matter how good your script is, it probably isn’t going to be for us. It’s that comfort level that you get with a writer. And sometimes even on the high end it’s not there. We have writer meetings with A-List writers who come in, and they’re douche-bags! And you sit there and you go: “You know what? You could get a movie made, but I don’t know if I really want to work with you for the next two years of my life! Life is too short!” And it’s even shorter at a pitch fest, because it’s only five minutes long. THAT is the biggest “do.” Just be genuine, be passionate, and be normal! And that is MORE than half the battle. And know your story.
CHRIS: Absolutely. I probably mentioned that this call would be about an hour, hour and fifteen minutes. We’re over time that now. But I have a couple of more questions. Can you hang out a few more minutes?
DANNY: I’m in no huge rush.
CHRIS: Okay! That’s great! I see we’ve got a question here from the 604 Area Code. It’s time to raise that hand if you have a question before we sign off, gang. I’ve got a question from the 604 Area Code, last number is 3-5.
CALLER: I’ve been writing for about 6 years now and I’ve got about eighteen TV credits up here in Canada. And it’s kind of time to go down there, but I’m just wondering about work visas and that sort of thing and how that works with your production company. If you were to option or buy something, how work visas work. That’s the only reason I’m not down there. I’ve got the credits up here—I’ve got about eighteen TV credits. But I can’t get –- you know?
CHRIS: I recognize that area code as Vancouver now. You’re NOT lying. You ARE in Canada.
[laughter]
DANNY: I do know a couple of producers in Canada, and I do the Great Canadian Pitch Fest. Very honestly, I don’t think I could speak that intelligently about work visas. I don’t know enough about it or how it works. I will say that we’ll take good material from wherever it comes. And quite frankly, because Canada has such great production incentives, that sometimes having a writer from Canada is points toward the incentive. So sometimes it’s a plus. But I don’t think you need a work visa to option anything to anyone. But I don’t know -- let’s say we optioned something of yours, coming here to develop -- I honestly don’t know how it works. I haven’t had that experience yet. I love the Canadians! But I haven’t hired any to work.
CHRIS: But you do see it with those incentives all the time. I mean, InkTip has been doing some promotion for us and they’re a great service, InkTip.com. People query for scripts there, and they very often will say the writer must be Canadian. So it can really work to your benefit some of the time. I also don’t know about the work visas here. And that’s a good question for an immigration lawyer rather than either of us on this call.
DANNY: It is. It’s a great question. I just honestly don’t know the answer.
CHRIS: I don’t think it’s prohibitive. I think if someone wants to hire you, they will make it happen. In the TV world, if someone wishes to buy a piece of writing, they CAN. I don’t think there’s any international laws that stop them. I think as far as the actual ins and outs of official papers, and that kind of thing, an attorney is your best bet.
CALLER: Okay!
CHRIS: Thank you so much for your question, and spread the word up there in the Great White North.