12 ITEMS THAT WILL YOU GET IN THE GAME

          You’ve taken the classes and seminars on writing.  You’ve tried comedy, action and one sci-fi thriller.  You probably think they are better than they are. But, none of them are as great as you thought they would be.  You went to a couple of pitch fests, maybe you even managed to talk a production company exec into reading one of your projects.  This is usually followed by a huge silence.  Well, let’s see, the next move was to send query letters to agents.  Again, you are greeted by the huge silence.  It’s very hard to understand what has happened.  You tell yourself and all of your friends and family that you’ve done everything right.  What’s wrong with Hollywood?  Those people are terrible.  They don’t know a good thing when they see it.  Why are you being ignored? 

          The answers to these and other questions you may have are not very complicated.  Without realizing it you have made a lot of big mistakes. Most new writers manage to glean a bit of good advice from teachers and lecturers and some of the screenwriting books they have read.  Unfortunately, the information is too broad based and non-specific.  It’s also possible that, like most people you only hear what you want to hear. 

          The following are hard and fast rules that you need to know and to follow in order to have a successful career in mainstream television and films:

1.     Your writing samples are crucial.  If you want a career you must have a minimum of three (3) great samples, IN THE SAME GENRE. 

2.    Never write sequels to your own scripts or of any previously produced films.

3.    Never write outside the box.  Keep your sample in the mainstream.  Stay within the tried and true three (3) act structure.  Do not try to reinvent the wheel.

4.    If you choose a bona fide Script Consultant, listen to their advice and follow it.  Do not simply change consultants if you don’t hear what you want to hear.  They are paid to find the problems in your projects.  Follow their advice.

5.    Live in the greater Los Angeles area.  You can certainly wait until you have the requisite amount of great samples, but after that you must move to L.A.  No one wants to represent or buy a script from a good writer who lives out of town.  This is absolute.

6.    If you are lucky enough to get someone to read your material, you must follow-up with them.  Wait a couple of weeks, and then send an email to ask if they’ve had a chance to look at your script.  Make friends with the assistants to get information and help.

7.    Never be cloying, argumentative, verbally abusive, angry or petulant.

8.    Connect with other writers through seminars, WGA programs and writer’s groups.   Keep in touch with them, meet for coffee share information.

9.    Understand that anytime you go to a seminar you should consider the speaker to be a new contact.  Follow up with a quick thank you note right after the lecture.  Tell them a little about yourself and your project.  Ask if they will read it.  Keep in touch with them occasionally.

10.Never pitch a project that isn’t ready to be read by a professional.

11.If you are lucky enough to get someone to agree to look at one of your projects, you must have it in their hands within two (2) days.

12.Above all, hang in there and don’t quit.  Tenacity in Hollywood is extremely well rewarded both creatively and financially.

Michele Wallerstein is a Script Consultant, a former agent and the author of “MIND YOUR BUSINESS: A Hollywood Literary Agent’s Guide To Your Writing Career”.  www.novelconsultant.com

For a consultation call me at:  818 501 2826

THE SIMPLE ROAD INTO SHOWBIZ

          Four days ago I moderated a discussion group for a group of fifteen new writers.  The guests we interviewed were agents and managers from very prestigious companies.  The event was held in an elegant room at a gorgeous hotel in the heart of Beverly Hills.  We took a lunch break at a nearby restaurant where I sat with the group and answered questions and gave advice to them on their writing careers.  The day lasted four and a half hours and I was not paid to do this.  It was exhausting and draining for me.  I had to be “on” all day.  It’s like a performance.

          If you are wondering why I am rambling on about this I will explain.  New screenwriters everywhere are dying to get into the business of the Hollywood studio system and to sell their movies.  They constantly complain that the doors are closed to them and that they can’t get past the gatekeepers.  After having been introduced to my group as a former agent and current script consultant these folks asked all kinds of questions and got honest, down-to-earth answers from me.  I brought my business cards as well as some of my book; “MIND YOUR BUSINESS:  A Hollywood Literary Agent’s Guide To Your Writing Career”.  Four people bought my book and a few took my cards.  As I mentioned, it is now four days later and not one of the group has sent a thank you note to me.  Perhaps it sounds silly or egotistical to you……but it is an egregious error on their part.   They had spent those hours with someone who was open to them, who has spent thirty years in the business of Hollywood and who could and would willingly help them with their careers.  A thank you note is a way to insure a new contact, continue a connection, form a friendship and get a way into the business they need. This is the heart of networking.

          I even explained this to them by way of suggesting they write to the guest speakers. It couldn’t have been made clearer to them.

          The world is speeding along.  Days fly by.  People connect via email and FB and Twitter.  In Hollywood the connections are much more personal.  There are breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks meetings.  It is face time.  There are Hollywood parties and gatherings.  Every deal is based on relationships.

          When someone extends a hand, grab it with all you’ve got.  It may be the life and career saver that you need.

WRITING CONSULTATIONS??

What do you expect from a professional consultation on your screenplays?

            If you want someone to tell you how great your project is then don’t come to me.  My job is to help you make your script better……much better.  If you simply want to hear wonderful comments on your writing, then give it to your relatives.  They will love your work.  They also love you. On the other hand, I haven’t got a clue whether you are the dearest person in the world or evil incarnate.  I only know you via your writing.  Give that some thought.  Obviously what I am saying is that I don’t have any other agenda other than making you a better writer, making your material marketable and helping you learn for your future work.  How bad is that?

            For 25 years I worked in Hollywood as a professional literary agent.  I’ve represented hundreds of writers and read thousands of scripts.  I’ve sold innumerable movies, TV movies, and TV series.  I’ve helped my clients improve their writing and watched them grow into bankable, rich and successful people.  The “good” clients listened to me.  The “bad” clients faded into oblivion.

            The point is that you must have a fairly thick skin to be a pro.  You need to hear what’s wrong with your work as well as what’s right.  Try to step back emotionally when you receive feedback from your consultant.  You need to work on really understanding what we are saying and know that we are saying it to help you.

            You are paying good money for good advice.  Make sure you vet anyone you are considering as a consultant.  Know the difference between a consultation and coverage.  Go to Google.com for information about the background of your choices.  There are a lot of people out there who have no idea how to help you.  Make sure you hire a pro. 

            Get serious about your writing career and spend the money to get your writing into shape. If you don’t do this, you will wander around aimlessly for years and years.  It’s a terrible limbo.

            If you are interested in improving your writing, email me for a consultation at: novelconsult@yahoo.com and for heaven’s sake, read my book:  MIND YOUR BUSINESS: A Hollywood Literary Agent’s Guide To Your Writing Career” at www.Amazon.com or email me for a signed copy.

            I guess you could call this article my way of showing you tough love.  Writing for the screen is a calling at not an avocation.  You are working alone in a vacuum so much of the time that it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.  I wish you well.

MICHELE WALLERSTEIN THE WRITER'S CONSULTANT & THE AUTHOR OF "MIND YOUR BUSINESS": BIG vs SMALL

MICHELE WALLERSTEIN THE WRITER'S CONSULTANT & THE AUTHOR OF "MIND YOUR BUSINESS": BIG vs SMALL: The way I see it you have three choices as a screenwriter.  You can write simply for your own entertainment, which is indeed a very odd choi...

BIG vs SMALL

The way I see it you have three choices as a screenwriter.  You can write simply for your own entertainment, which is indeed a very odd choice.  You can write to sell or, which is a wonderful dream, or you can write to get into the business of writing professionally.

If you choose the third option you have some huge choices to make.  The first one is whether you want to writer for mainstream motion pictures or whether you like the idea of being one of those maverick type independently financed filmmakers.  Big decision, but not written in stone.  It's one of those things that let you slide from one goal to another. 

As a member of LinkedIn I answer lots of questions posed by new writers on the site.  Often I've found that I am answering questions as if all of the writers want to write for the Hollywood studio world, when in reality they seem to want to make little indies.  I spent my 25 years as a Hollywood literary agent so my viewpoint is always there.  I've been trying to understand the mindset of someone trying to make low-budget pictures.  This is hard for me. 

Why would writers set their sites so low?  Why would anyone want to make pictures that can only be cast with C- actors and director wannabes?  People on LinkedIn post questions about packaging A list actors to their little films.  What could they be thinking????????   These actors would NEVER even see their scripts,  their agents and managers would never let that happen.  One of my first clients was a young out-of-work actor named Kurt Russell.  He had been a huge child/young-adult star that was now in the throes of no man's land.  Later he once again became a huge star.  I remember him telling a mutual friend that he had three stacks of screenplays on his desk.  One was a stack of films that already had financing attached that would net him millions of dollars.  Another one was of scripts proffered by high level relationship people and the third was a stack by the wannabe new writers that somehow got to him.  He admitted that he would never read the third stack.

I guess what I'm trying to say is:  why not go for the gold?  If your want to do something try to make it big.  Not because you will make more money (although this is quite true), but because if you get into the bigs eventually you will be able to make the movies that you want to make, and make them the way you want them.

Learn to write better, be patient, have the hero on every page, make the budget big, place the locale in a big or small US city, write in a recognizable genre, make us love the main characters, keep the plot simple and the characters complex. 

If you do it right you will have those doors swing open to you.  Hell, they'll send a car to pick you up.
They might not option your scripts but they will hire you to write something else.  It's a wonderful experience for you.

Go the the gold......it's out there.

ON BEING REWRITTEN

by Michele Wallerstein
Author of:
“MIND YOUR BUSINESS: A Hollywood Literary Agent’s Guide To Your Writing Career”

Be prepared. That’s the best advice I can give to new writers. Be prepared to be rewritten, overruled, ignored and even forgotten. It’s a tough business that you are knocking yourself out to get into. It’s also rewarding, exciting, fun and eventually financially amazing. If you are ready to accept all of the above, then, by all means, get those fingers flying on your computer and aim your sites on Hollywood.
If you know what to expect, you’ll make better choices and have less concerns. Here’s the skinny on what will happen when you finally write the right screenplay that garners you an offer from a major production company:
1. The company will ask for a free option. “Oh, no”, you will say to your agent, “I thought they would offer me money”. Your agent will have to explain that producers don’t pay option fees unless the writer is BIG, EXPERIENCED and someone that the studios are dying to get. Producers are not the people who pay for options. Studios pay for options. If you have a good agent they will have submitted your screenplay to producers prior to studios. This way the studio people will know that a particular production company will be attached to see to it that a good film is made. Studios often have agreements with production companies. This means that they want to make movies with those producers. So, what this means is there is now a good script and a good production company. The option period that your agent will give the producer will allow them the time to: (a) Take the project to a star and/or director and (b) Present the project to their studio.
2. There will be a contract, negotiated by your agent, wherein it will state that X amount of dollars will be paid to you in the event a studio (or an independent third party financier) wants to move forward with the project. The deal will divide up the payments to you as installments (steps) for rewrites, polishes, production bonuses, and a purchase price. These steps are not promised to you. They only occur if and when they are required by the studio. The contract will be transferred to the studio in its entirety. This means that whatever the producer promised you in their contract must be accepted by the studio. The studio will now be responsible for paying you the option price as well as whatever other fees have been spelled out in the initial agreement. Just like in any other business, the folks with the money have all the power.
3. When you have agreed to the contract you will probably get the chance to do the first rewrite on your screenplay. Please note that I said “probably”. First you will have meetings with the producer(s), their assistants, their development executives and possibly a studio executive or two. If you are good in the meetings (see Chapter 21, in my book, “MIND YOUR BUSINESS: A Hollywood Literary Agent’s Guide To Your Writing Career”) you will begin the rewrite.
4. Once you turn in that first rewrite things begin to get tricky. Inevitably there will be requests for more rewrites. The question as to who will do these next rewrites is up to the studio and producers. You and your agent will have no say in this decision. If you read your contract carefully you will note that further rewrites by you are “optional”. This means that the studio has the right to either hire you or someone else to do those rewrites. All new writers have this in their contracts. There is no getting around it.
5. Try as you might, you will never be able to second guess what these studio executives will decide nor why they will make those particular decisions. You will probably never know why another writer is hired to rewrite you. They won’t tell your agent and they certainly won’t tell you. There are innumerable scenarios that may occur. The studio may owe another writer for a different project that didn’t go forward, or the producer has a friend that they want to give some work to, or, over lunch, the studio executive mentioned your project to another writer who came up with ideas that the executive loved, or there was some other situation that has arisen. It’s a moot point, so move ahead and work on your next project.
6. Remember that your purchase price and production bonus are often tied to your on-screen credit. In the event you share that screen credit with other writers, your fees will be diminished. The screen credit will be determined by an impartial panel at the Writers Guild of America.
My final comments are for you to simply do the best job you can and keep moving forward. If you are responsible, agreeable, creative and clever, you will eventually have more power and decision making choices. Remember that this is the beginning of your writing career and that, like other industries, you will find that your status will improve with each new project.

SCREENWRITING CONTESTS

          Okay, you finished the world’s greatest screenplay.  You’ve sweated out the hours and hours of work.  You’ve managed to get through the days of self-doubt.  You might even have managed to stay married through it all.  Here it is, that great masterpiece, staring you in the face.  You say to yourself: “What do I do now?” 

          The answers come to you in droves.  There are agents, managers, producers, studio executives, lawyers and consultants that might see your genius and want to buy your script, sign you to contract and/or at least refer you to a powerful friend.  If only you knew who they were and how to get to them.  There’s the rub.  Then, there’s that little voice either in your head or whispered by a friend or screaming at you from the myriad of internet blogs and sites.  It says:  “ENTER THE SCRIPT IN A CONTEST!”  Well that sounds like a very good idea.  It is a good idea if you know exactly what to do if you win, place or even show in that contest.

          Winning a script competition is a great feeling and it often comes with a few dollars as a prize.  It might even show some of your friends and relatives that you actually do have some talent.  All of this is fine, but what does it do insofar as your professional career is concerned? 

          Unless you take the next steps, entering and even winning contests doesn’t do a thing for you.  The steps begin with your showing up at the film festival, event, seminar, etc., that has sponsored your contest.  You must be there to receive your award or prize and to be seen by the people in attendance.  Next, you must connect with everyone who is a professional in Hollywood who attends that event.  Do your networking in a powerful and positive way with these people.  You are someone that they need to know because you’ve won or placed in the contest and because you have a terrific and marketable screenplay that they should read.

          Make sure that you have the basic information on all of those professional Hollywood people.  Get their names, addresses, emails, phone numbers and their exact titles as well as the names of the companies for whom they work.  After that you must make sure they have your business card or at least a piece of paper with your name, address, email and a reminder note that you are a writer that they met at the “such & such” event.

          Now you are home and the real work begins.  Follow up with those people and remind them that you met and that you were in the contest.  Ask if you can send the screenplay or any other original screenplay that you have.

          The next step to using a contest positively in your life is to write query letters to other agents, managers and producers or development executives wherein you mention one or two of the contests that you’ve won or placed in.  Never mention more than a couple of contests.  These people want information delivered to them quickly and precisely. They are not interested in a list of you accomplishments. 

          If you continue to enter many, many contests without following the above, you will be wasting a tremendous amount of your valuable time and energy.  Use that time and that energy to write another screenplay, or rewrite the ones you have.

          A contest is merely means to an end for getting your foot in that Hollywood door.  Use it wisely.