Looking for a mature business relationship

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  • #16
    Re: Looking for a mature business relationship

    Originally posted by Filmmagician View Post
    When you think you've got your script to its most perfect state, and you feel you've done all you can do, send it to the Screenplay Mechanic.
    I second this! Drew is the best. He has done coverage for over 8,000 screenplays (including for most studios). Knowing how your script compares to 8,000 other screenplays is priceless in my opinion.
    Manfred Lopez Grem
    WGA Writer - Director | Zero Gravity Management

    REEL - IMDB

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    • #17
      Re: Looking for a mature business relationship

      Originally posted by prolixpen View Post
      I felt like having a strategy for a brand extension would be value-added. I don’t understand what the objection is to presenting a sales strategy beyond the first story.
      If you are a known name, this would be a discussion you definitely would be having in meetings. But without a couple of sales and produced hits behind your name, it's just "noise" as far as agents would be concerned.

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      • #18
        Re: Looking for a mature business relationship

        Originally posted by DangoForth View Post
        If you are a known name, this would be a discussion you definitely would be having in meetings. But without a couple of sales and produced hits behind your name, it's just "noise" as far as agents would be concerned.
        This. Absolutely this.

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        • #19
          Re: Looking for a mature business relationship

          Confidence in your work is a great thing. If you don't believe in it, who will? That being said, this industry will tell you whether it's justified fairly quickly. The cream will often rise to the top if it's cream, once you find the right fit for it. So if you feel good about where it's at, start the query process and see what happens.

          Personally, I've never hired readers. I had one or two couple trusted friends with writers' brains provide some basic feedback. Beyond that - I let query responses (or sometimes lack thereof) tell me whether I was on the right track or not. Mostly, I just believed in my work, kept up the hustle, read a lot of produced screenplays for research and comparison, and played the query game like crazy.

          Cut to now - I have a major manager from a top firm, one project set to film this year, one project attaching an A-list actor's production company, one project with serious interest from a buyer with a $1B in funding at their disposal, and an exciting new spec freshly out on the town this week. The point here: different strokes for different folks. This industry and the road to success isn't one size fits all. There are some standards and basic "rules" you have to follow, yes. But different things work out for different people in different ways.

          As far as the franchise thing, reps know fairly quickly whether something has franchise potential, so let the first script speak for itself and if they respond well, then mention how you envision it as a franchise and see if they agree. Odds are if they do, they'll have already mentioned it to you in their initial feedback. But even in this case, they'll still want to focus their energy on making the first movie happen and be the best it can be, and deal with sequels, spin-offs, etc down the line.

          My final advice to you - is that when someone says things you don't like or agree with or feel mildly insulted by, try not to go in on them with too much defensiveness or a blow up. Always keep a cool head. You'll be in positions with managers, agents, and producers where they'll really push back at you on script elements or business tactics or contract negotiations, and if you react to them how you've reacted to some of the posters here who were just trying to help and give you some nuggets based on their experience, you may burn a lot of bridges. And that'd be unfortunate if your work really is solid. Just let your work do the talking and stay chill and hopefully it'll all work out as you hope.
          Last edited by Lahlowen; 05-05-2018, 09:14 AM.

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