Writing for the Green Light

by Scott Kirkpatrick

  Annual Markets and How to Participate

  American Film Market (eight days in November); Santa Monica, CA—Unlike the splashy film festivals located overseas, AFM is a U.S.-based business-focused event. The market is organized by the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), which utilizes both paid and volunteer staff members for support. To get involved, here’s who you need to contact:

  American Film Market (AFM, www.americanfilmmarket.com) regularly updates its site with market related employment opportunities as well as volunteer information.

  Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA, www.ifta-onling.org) has a dedicated team year round planning and organizing the event. You can reach out by phone at (310) 446-1000 or by email at AFM@ifta.online.org Just let them know you’re interested in volunteering or getting hired and they’ll guide you the rest of the way.

  Cannes Film Festival’s Marche Du Film (twelve days in mid-May); Cannes, France—The Cannes Film Festival receives all the attention, but the real business behind the event is at the Marche du Film (“Film Market”). Unlike AFM, a great deal of financial support from the French government is provided to the Cannes Film Festival and its Marche du Film, so they are one of the rare events that can afford to pay its entire workforce—as long as they’re French citizens… . However, there are two external (third-party) services which non-French citizens can utilize (for a fee) to gain access to both the Marche du Film as well as the world famous Cannes Film Festival:

  The American Pavilion (www.ampav.com) offers student programs, which allow you to work directly with larger-scale U.S. distribution companies. Accommodations are included in their prices. For specific questions, their phone number is (310) 202-3375.

  The Creative Mind Group (www.thecreativemindgroup.com) is an internship program open to everyone. I have personally worked with many interns supplied via the Creative Mind Group and was very impressed with their services. Students come from all over the globe and seem to have very engaged group leaders showing them the ropes. Accommodations are included in their prices. You can reach out directly at (310) 674-7466.

  European Film Market (February) Berlin, Germany—Running alongside the world famous Berlin Film Festival, this market rounds out the top three film markets… . The problem is, speaking German is a must for anyone working directly with the event (for those with Deutsch language skills, they have jobs posted here: www.kbb.eu/de/jobs_und_ausbildung/stellenangebote/jobs.php); anyone else must receive sponsorship directly through a company and probably pay their own accommodations.

  The reason for not putting more of the famous film festivals (such as Sundance, Toronto, and even smaller—but growing—goodies like the Heartland Film Festival) is because few of these have a business market taking place during the event. In this example, both Cannes and Berlin are film festivals, but each has a convention style market where distribution companies attend for the express purpose of buying, selling, and packaging (putting together the financials of) new movies. Film festivals are celebrations of cinema (and are great to attend for fun), but your professional networking time will be best spent at one of the markets instead of the festivals.

  Film Commissions

  Volunteer for your local film commission. Even if you’re not in a major metropolitan area, you will be directly associated with professional individuals in and around your community that have a strong interest in films (and who are in the business of bringing film productions to your region). Film commissions offer interesting opportunities on new productions that cannot generally be found if only using Google or IMDb searches. Film Commissions have entire databases on Hollywood production companies (and development entities). Ask permission to copy email addresses, and also ask if you can be a point of contact for regional productions. Everyone you work with will have years of experience for you to glean insight from, and most of them will have legit contacts in the business who are working professionally.

  Be An Extra

  Contact a company that hires extras and tell them you want to become a film extra. You will get paid a minimum wage; however, you will gain access to the production office as well as to the film crews and the sets. Very politely, during a break, approach a member of the department you have interest in working for. Simply state, “I’m working as an extra in order to meet professionals in the [fill-in-the-blank] department. If you need any help on this film or on future projects, I’d be interested in helping out.” You’re not there to enter into a dialogue, just to announce you’re available… . It’s not a crazy idea to print up some business cards (it’s cheap as heck online these days) with just your name, cell phone, and email address. Keep it short and to the point, hand them your card, and walk away (after saying “thank you,” of course). They are busy and cannot get into deep conversations about your love of cinema. Do not use this approach with the director, nor should you use this to become an actor/actress. This is more of an approach to use with production office personnel, production assistants, and other (lower-ranking but well-connected) team members. One other note, you must actually do the original job you were hired to do, which is to be an extra in the film… . Have fun watching the crews set up the shots, you’re getting paid to network!

  The Myth of Going to the Top

  Bypassing the hierarchy of a production company and attempting to speak directly with the head-honcho decision-maker (such as the president or CEO) certainly sounds like it’d be the most effective way of moving the ball, but in reality it’s the most counterproductive … and often times detrimental to gaining any real traction with that company.

  I see it happen all the time, pushy producers or pesky screenwriters calling into our offices (sometimes several times per day) trying to reach the CEO or head of development. We’ve even had a few incidents of persons just showing up at the door unannounced claiming they had a meeting with so-and-so (or insisting they’re longtime friends and just happened to be in the neighborhood and wanted to say hello—which is fishy considering they don’t know how to pronounce our CEO’s name properly).

  The logic here makes perfect sense: If you can get in with the decision-maker, then you must be able to get a decision made in your favor; however, the above actions are seen as very unprofessional and reek of desperation.

  Don’t forcibly reach out to whomever you perceive to be a decision-maker; go instead to the more approachable employees who are already on the inside and have direct access to the people you need (and who will actually hear you out). They’re the interns and assistants! If you want your spec script to have a higher chance of being read (and have more favorable coverage written on it), then don’t waste your time going to the top of the food chain in a given company.

  It’s not only hopeful writers who’ve broken this unwritten principle; filmmakers and hopeful producers make this mistake all the time. Most people have this false impression that they must fight through the barriers of interns and assistants to get to the top executives at a company in order for action to take place. Instead, you should befriend interns and assistants. Empower them, don’t think of them as useless—they are extremely useful and strategically placed individuals. After all, interns and assistants are already on the inside of the very organization you’re trying to get your material into. They know the company politics and how their particular supervisors like not only their coffee, but how they like material to be presented to them (including at what time of day and in what temperament).

  Who You Need to Know

  What follows are the three most likely candidates for direct access to whom you can reach out to when making first contact with a production or distribution company… . Not just who they are, but what they do, and how they like information presented to them:

  Acquisitions Assistants—Executives serving in the acquisitions department are generally so pressured to find new quality content in advance of their competitors, they’re willing to go the extra mile and take phone calls (or accept unsolicited submissions) more fre
ely than others. Again, this doesn’t work in the studio world, this is more of a mini-major to indie-zone practice—but that’s the zone you’ll see the most results. Most of acquisitions execs have assistants who do the grunt work (logging data, putting little research overviews of submissions together, endless IMDb trolling, etc.). They’re your target. Although acquisitions executives (and their assistants) are really on the hunt for completed films, they’re always working hand-in-hand with their internal development teams (or have an interest in cultivating projects from scratch to serve as future producers on). The interesting thing about most acquisitions agents that I know is that they so often deal with producers—and have dealt with more troubling/annoying ones than easy ones—many of them have a mindset that they could easily stamp out their producer competition and take on a film project themselves; makes sense, they already know what works and have a powerful contact list. As a result, the acquisitions department in general is a great place to be connected both for the short term (for your immediate spec scripts) as well as the long term (for more—like co-production opportunities if you really hit it off), but reaching out directly to an acquisitions agent’s personal assistant is one of the most direct pathways you can take to getting your work into the right team member’s hands.

  Directors (or Coordinators) of Development—Not development executives; go for the director or the coordinator of development (still a prominent connection, though not the top of the food chain). The development team is sort of a collection of in-house producers; they’re on the hunt for new projects, but also are assigned productions based on upper management decisions and corporate relations. Development executives are a major part of those decisions (and are directly involved in those major high-level relationships); the directors of development (who are one step below the executive level) and their respective coordinators and assistants, are part of that key executive’s immediate team of go-to people. That means directors of development are crucial (and well-connected) inside an organization, but still have quite a bit to prove before they can move up that next rung in the corporate ladder. As a result, they are eager to find new writers, new projects, and new opportunities—not just for the company they’re working for, but also for themselves. Directors of development are at that beautifully hungry point in their professional careers, where they’re willing to put in eighteen-hour days while still accepting the grunt work. They are not only open to taking your call, they’re also looking for their own big ticket opportunity to make it on their own. If you’re scrolling the development team’s titles and aren’t seeing a director of development, then the coordinator is your next best match. After that, just call the reception desk and inquire which assistant on the development team would be best to speak with.

  Sales Teams—This one’s a bit more out of the box, because the first instinct for a writer is to approach those in a company that can actually make a film from their script… . But think big picture for a moment. If you, instead, go directly to the sales team (the employees whose job it is to make money for the company by selling its films), they will be much better suited to either (a) give you practical advice on your script or (b) push your script/contact info through to the right person within the organization—if a sales executive gets excited about your script and they tell the production team to take a look, the production team will take note—because if the films aren’t selling, no one continues working… . And sales executives must know what’s most likely to sell at the end of the day.

  Notice that agents aren’t on this list? By and large, and despite common misperception, agents aren’t all that interested in hearing from new (un-produced) writers. We’ll discuss agents in detail in Chapter Six, but to quickly touch on the main point here, if you stick to writing the gold-mine genre types, agents will actually be the ones coming to you. Agents are interested not in finding new writers, but in earning 10 percent off the success of scripts that are easily selling. Therefore, you will actually first need to develop a reputation as a writer and garner some deals before you go dealing with agents.

  Know who else didn’t make the list? Producers. That’s because being a producer really isn’t a job description or title all by itself. Instead, producers actually come from all areas of the industry (usually from development, acquisitions, or simply any zone within distribution) or serve other roles within a company or organization. A producer can really be anyone on the business side who has already built a strong network and simply gets either passionate about a script you’ve written, or sees you as a strong writer who could potentially pen something they have interest in producing. Occasionally, when scanning titles at a production/distribution company, you might come across a few producers listed on the site, but these are generally not full-time employees of that company, but rather freelancers brought in for a single project.

  Stick to the principles of the Hollywood schmooze game (always be writing, always be networking, always be learning about the rest of the business), and you’ll find your circle of contacts growing, your library of scripts improving, and your understanding of where you can fit in becoming more refined. Focus on contacting the people that can move your career forward as opposed to those who will do nothing.

  These three first-contact points are a great start to entering into Hollywood’s mysterious business world.

  Navigating the Receptionist’s Desk

  All companies (big and small) have a person designated to answer calls (or one who manages all those blindly submitted “info@company” emails). Ideally, this person is designed for guiding all those messages and delivering them to the right persons within the organization. But in reality, the reception desk is every company’s first line of defense against allowing the crazy and annoying writers and producers to gain entry. As a result, no matter who else you wish to speak to in any organization, you will first have to navigate the reception desk in order to be properly passed along (either to get directly connected by phone, or to obtain key contact names and email addresses).

  Respect the reception desk—They work very hard and take shit from everyone… . Don’t continue that cycle! Treat them like people, not like a switchboard. They have all the leverage when they pick up the call as to whether your call actually goes through to the right person, or whether it goes straight to voicemail.

  Get to the point—It’s okay to admit you’re a newbie! It’s okay to say the truth, that you have some scripts that are in line with what the company produces and that you’d like to see if there’s someone you can speak with to see if there’s “synergy” or opportunities. The more forthright with them you are, the better able they will be to get you to the right person who can actually handle your requests.

  Don’t put them on the spot—It’s okay to say, “If it’s not appropriate to put me through, that’s fine, I can always reach out to [the person you are calling, or his/her assistant] by email if that’s easier.” You’d be surprised how reluctant some people are to push you through a direct line, but how readily they’ll hand you a name and email address.

  The Query Letter Is Dead

  The most effective way to communicate with people is face-to-face (and that’s not going away anytime soon). The second most effective way is by email.

  A lot of individuals will jump in here and try to persuade you that the phone is number two in terms of reaching out, but I argue it’s email.

  Some will push you to just call blindly… . But more often than not, you’ll end up with one voicemail recording after another (and most professionals these days let those VMs pile up). So is Hollywood now devoid of phone calls? Of course not, the phone is a great way to really get a lot of quality work done in a short period of time, but now you need to make a written request for a call by email.

  But this is very good news for you! Many new writers are freaked out by the phone and get nervous discussing their ideas verbally. An email you completely control (and can read and reread before sending it off to people). And, after
all, you’re a writer, so typing (and retyping) an email should be second nature.

  Timing the Marketplace

  Don’t reach out unless you have something to offer. It’s okay to reach out and inquire if a company has interest in what you’re working on, but certainly don’t get them excited about it until it’s complete and ready to deliver. There is no worse way to tarnish your image than building up your capabilities and not being able to follow through after you’ve cast the line (essentially, overpromising and underdelivering). There is no worse missed opportunity than the one where you pitch what you’re working on and having the other side say, “Sounds great, send it over,” only you’re far from completion.

  This happens in my world all the time. Filmmakers reach out with movies, only they’re not completed. I can’t do anything with it, so the conversation goes to waste. With your script, sure you could send over a draft just so they can get a feel for what the script is, but you can never prove to someone you’re a talented writer at the rough draft phase (for all the other party knows, your exploratory draft is actually your finest writing—and they think it stinks).

  Ask for a Pitch Meeting

  First, they’re rarely called “pitch meetings.” They’re simply “meetings.” And second, there is no formula for how to obtain one other than by simply asking someone from the acquisitions department, development department, or the creative team.