Looking for some information on spec submission methods for these different scenarios.

Producer friend who is connected (and related) to some big names (company is a different genre though)…

Submissions to agencies (always under the impression larger agencies go though thousands of specs so chance getting yours read always slim)…

Scott Myers and the GITS crew…

So just asking if anyone has had experiences with these methods?

It’s probably fair to say that there is some layer of this subtext in nearly all the questions I receive about screenwriting. Basically — “Now that I’ve written it, how do I go about selling it?”

There are hundreds of agents, managers, and producers in Hwood. In theory, there should be no problem. Submit the script directly to them. Unfortunately most of the major to mid-level even lower level Hwood players will not accept “unsolicited material.”

What is unsolicited material? Any script that isn’t represented by an agent, manager, or entertainment lawyer.

“But how can an agent or manager represent my script… if they won’t accept unsolicited material in the first place?”

That’s the Catch-22. Technically you have to be represented to be read… and you can’t be read unless you’re represented.

[The reasons why the "unsolicited material" caveat exists are multiple. Avoid nuisance lawsuits, manage the flow of material. But the main reason is this: Potential reps, producers, or studios don't want to get inundated with crap scripts. Scripts that are repped by an agent, manager, or entertainment lawyer will have been through one at least one layer of professional review, thereby winnowing out (presumably) the crappiest of crap scripts.]

There are ways around the system. For example, if you know someone… who knows someone… who knows someone… who works in the entertainment business… sometimes that person will agree to read your script. And if they like your script, they can slip it to someone.. who knows someone… who knows someone… who works on the script sales side of things in Hwood.

In other words, your basic Six Degrees of Separation approach.

Another approach is more of a direct strategy. Create a list of mid-level agencies and managers.
Draft a letter of inquiry about your script. Then blanket these outfits with your letter. Most of your letters will likely go unanswered. But some of them will generate a response. “We don’t accept unsolicited material.” To be expected.

However if at the bottom of that letter, there is an actual name of an actual person who works at the agency or management firm, typically an assistant, then you’ve created a crack in the Hwood Fortress.

You call the agency or management company and ask for the assistant by name. This may take several messages to get them to return your call. But if you’re persistent enough… and important note – very nice – eventually they will call you back.

When they do, you explain — very nicely — how you wrote them a letter of inquiry and you thank them for being kind enough to respond. This is where your skills as a human being come in handy. You try to warm up this person. Engage them in any way you can. Just keep them talking. Keep the chat brief. Don’t be pushy. But make sure you get across three points:

1. You think you have written a great script.

2. You’re willing to sign a waiver-release form.

3. Is there anybody there – a new agent, a young manager, an assistant – who would be wiling to read your script?

They’ll probably say no. You say thanks, then hang up. And call them back — very nicely — in another week. Then another week… and another week.

Each time you ask — very nicely — if there’s any one who would be willing to read your script.

Eventually you’ll get one person to agree. And if you can get just one person to say yes… one person who responds positively to your persistence and ‘very nice-itude’… then you’ve cracked the wall.

From this point on, any other agent, manager, or lawyer you call, you can honestly say, “Hey, Such-And-Such Management Company is reading my script. Could I send it to you?”

The fact that somebody else within the Hwood nexus is already reading your script makes it easier for this new person with whom you’re talking to say yes, too.

And suddenly, your script is being read at a half-dozen agencies.

So to review, for a complete outsider there is the “Six Degrees of Separation” route: Find somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who works in The Biz. And there is the “Weasel Way,” where you ‘weasel’ your way in by — very nicely — working Hwood assistants.

But as always, the key is this: Write a great script.

[Originally posted August 14, 2009]

UPDATE: A lot has changed in two years. First Tom Benedek and I have been in touch with a lot of managers this year, and there seems to be significantly more openness on their part to queries from writers. In fact, during a live Q&A with a manager in a recent Screenwriting Master Class course, the manager specifically invited the writers in the class to send his company email queries.

And speaking of email, it reduces the distance between you and Hollywood to a just few keystrokes. If you remember the movie Hanna that came out this year, here’s how its screenwriter Seth Lochhead found representation [from this interview]:

Lochhead shares an interesting anecdote about how he got his script in front of buyers: He sent out 400 emails to people in the business:

“A lot were one-sentence emails. A girl is trained to be an assassin; would you like to read my script.”

It can be that easy, if you’ve got a great story concept and an eye-catching logline.

But how to get their email addresses?

This may be the best $23.95 you spend. Subscribe to DoneDealPro.com. There you can find links to most Hollywood lit agencies and managers, many with email addresses.

So while my original advice [noted above] still stands [except I would replace email for query letters], you have a clear path to Hollywood:

* Write a great script
* Write an eye-catching logline
* Email managers

And if you want to know which managers are the most active in the spec script marketplace?

2008 Spec Script Sales: Agents and Managers

2009 Spec Script Sales: Agents and Managers

2010 Spec Script Sales: Agents and Managers

Good luck!