pros and cons of querying agents with "based on my life

[J off course]

This is sometime down the road (still writing it ), but what are the pros and cons of querying an agent with a screenplay you have written based on specific events in your own life?
Does it immediately send up a red flag with agents as amateurish?
Even if the concept is titillating, would that be a handicap to getting it read? Would it be better to just query it as a work of your imagination and then when the agent (If they read it) asks you, "How do you know so much about this?", you tell the agent, "because I lived it"?
I'm thinking showcasing it's marketability. It has a "page six" attraction or it can be an Oprah show.
I've never queried before, and maybe I'm thinking of jumping too many hoops to be noticed and I'm better off concentrating on the story?

[boski62]

J,

I think if you have an especially unique, interesting, or unusual profession (or have initmate knowledge of one), or have actually experienced some dramatic/cinematic life event: triumphed over a disease/survived a tragedy, crime etc., you should definitely include this in your query letter. Absolutely. It'll set it apart from a goodly percentage of the rest of the queries.

I think the kind of "based on my life" kind of stories that appear as amateurish are the ones that are based on "...my high school experiences with my buddies...my college experiences with my buddies...my romantic and social experiences of my early twenties..." kind of stuff. None of that stuff's distinctive or marketable at face value.

But if you have something that would make a good Movie of The Week and you're the expert on it, definitely let the query reader know this. MOW producers are looking for this kind of stuff all the time. Feature producers, too, if it's got cinematic potential.