HI people...I am here with another question: I keep reading on various forums and sites that "writers should think out of the box when trying to sell their work to Hollywood". And one example is by "getting the work to an actor/actress who's looking for a great part to play".
I don't get it - unless u actually move in such circles or know someone who knows someone who knows the actor's agent or something, there seems to be no hope of communicating with such people! Is this so?
It also depends on the actor. Many actors have their own development deals -- and those that do have their own development companies -- which often consist of little more than an office on a studio lot somewhere with a very small staff.
But that staff exists for the sole purpose of finding material for the actor to star in (sometimes for the star to produce, but that's usually secondary).
So if you can get yourself a copy of the Hollywood Creative Directory -- look up the name of the star in question. If the name is in the Directory, it will lead you to the name of their development company, which will give you the name of a director of development or a "creative exec" -- and that would be the person that you would then have to try to tackle with your script.
And remember (in case you didn't read it when I wrote it before) -- when you call and introduce yourself, and if they ask you if you have an agent -- tell them that you usually submit your material through your attorney, because that will usually get you over that bump.
Then, presuming you've been able to convince whoever you talked to that your script is worth reading, just get your family attorney (presuming you have one) to submit your script for you on his office letterhead with a letter saying, "I'm submitting the enclosed script on behalf of my client, XYZ."
If you don't have an attorney, most states have a "Volunteer Counsel for the Arts" where lawyers volunteer free or inexpensive legal services for members of the arts community, which you can take advantage of.
Or they may just tell you to send it -- or they may send you a release form.
Stars that don't have their own development companies are a bit harder to get to. As a rule, if you call up their agents, the agents are going to want to know if the project in question is "set up" -- that is, if the money to make it is already there. Obviously, it isn't.
Agents, as a rule, are looking to make their ten percent. They want their clients to become really excited about and committed to mmovies where the money is already there. Preferrable where a lot of money is already there because then they make a lot of money and the agent does to.
Agents don't particularly want their clients to become excited and committed to projects that have no money attached because it means that they're simply being used as a means to get a project sold. Nothing is solid. Nothing is coming in, and an actor's passion may be directed toward a really solid commercial venture or to God only knows what.
Agents look on their actor clients as if they were flighty young teenage girls -- they want to keep them at home, away from your script who might take their actor to lover's lane and do who knows what to them.
They only want their actors to go out with rich, respectable, scripts who already have a well-paying job, hopefully at a major studio.
That's why, as a rule, if you want to get your script to actors, you don't want to go through the agent, but rather you try to get it to them through other sources, if at all possible.
NMS
