Newbie here, looking for opinions.
The guys who wrote "Writing Movies for Fun and Profit," a fun, excellent book, by the way, say the fastest, best way to get agents and managers to read your script is to produce a short film and put it online on Youtube or Funny Or Die. That is, get the attention of agents and managers with a killer short which proves your talent, and they'll be interested in reading your screenplay.
That sounds logical, and these guys have had a helluva lot of success, so who am I to argue?
Here's the thing:
I made a low-budget indie feature about 10 years ago. It did well at regional film festivals, won a couple of Best Screenplays and a Best Film and got strong newspaper reviews ("funny, clever, guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.") It even got a small--very small--DVD release.
BTW, the whole movie, "Working Stiff," is here, online, if you want to watch it:
https://vimeo.com/21706922
My question is this, and I could use your advice/opinions:
Should I use the movie as a way to attract agents, managers and production companies to my new screenplay or should I leave it in the past and produce an entirely new short?
I'm proud of "Working Stiff." It was my first effort as writer/director, the audiences responded very well, it won some awards, got some good writeups, etc. But I also recognize its limitations: it's shot on 16mm film; the lack of money hurt the overall quality; some of the acting is less than professional; too many key people (absolutely including me) lacked experience, etc.
So bottom line, I 'd love to know: I haven't started querying yet. Will my promising but flawed low-budget feature help or hurt the likliehood of agents/managers/prodcos reading my new screenplay?
All opinions welcome.
The guys who wrote "Writing Movies for Fun and Profit," a fun, excellent book, by the way, say the fastest, best way to get agents and managers to read your script is to produce a short film and put it online on Youtube or Funny Or Die. That is, get the attention of agents and managers with a killer short which proves your talent, and they'll be interested in reading your screenplay.
That sounds logical, and these guys have had a helluva lot of success, so who am I to argue?
Here's the thing:
I made a low-budget indie feature about 10 years ago. It did well at regional film festivals, won a couple of Best Screenplays and a Best Film and got strong newspaper reviews ("funny, clever, guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.") It even got a small--very small--DVD release.
BTW, the whole movie, "Working Stiff," is here, online, if you want to watch it:
https://vimeo.com/21706922
My question is this, and I could use your advice/opinions:
Should I use the movie as a way to attract agents, managers and production companies to my new screenplay or should I leave it in the past and produce an entirely new short?
I'm proud of "Working Stiff." It was my first effort as writer/director, the audiences responded very well, it won some awards, got some good writeups, etc. But I also recognize its limitations: it's shot on 16mm film; the lack of money hurt the overall quality; some of the acting is less than professional; too many key people (absolutely including me) lacked experience, etc.
So bottom line, I 'd love to know: I haven't started querying yet. Will my promising but flawed low-budget feature help or hurt the likliehood of agents/managers/prodcos reading my new screenplay?
All opinions welcome.
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