Very unique situation - how to query manager/agent?

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  • #16
    Re: Very unique situation - how to query manager/agent?

    Originally posted by JoeNYC View Post
    It's a better look to have a manager tote your horn about the great press, etc., than you toting your own horn.
    Regardless of who totes the horn, at somepoint someone really needs to toot it.

    It's a shame that when the managing gets tough, Cokeyskunk's manager quits managing.
    Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
    "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

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    • #17
      Re: Very unique situation - how to query manager/agent?

      Originally posted by finalact4 View Post
      and i'm not sure, but if you send a query looking to hire an agent or manager without the express consent of the copyright holder, it seems that you are in fact, infringing on their IP rights.

      so what i would say, is if the franchise owner has given you permission to use the material as a sample, then yes, i would send a query letter stating in the subject line that you have a "Spec Script authorized by the Franchise Holder," and name the franchise. that should at least get the email opened and read.

      But if you do not have authorization by the franchise holder to use the material, it is not yours to showcase, or represent as your own work, because the reality is that the franchise owner still owns all the rights, and you have "no rights" to the work you actually wrote.
      Well that part isn't really true. You don't need rights to write a script and send it to managers (or agents or producers). Every year, the Blacklist includes scripts featuring persons and properties (mostly persons) to whom/which the writer has obtained no rights.

      You can't *make* the film, of course, without having the rights secured-- and it's hard to sell a script that no one can legally make. And it's hard to get people to read a script that no would rationally buy. But there's no law preventing you from sending the script out.

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      • #18
        Re: Very unique situation - how to query manager/agent?

        Originally posted by Cokeyskunk View Post
        So, I need to know the best way to query: must I go traditional formatting, or would a quick, descriptive email with links be the best option?
        There is another option. (One that a pro used/uses that sometimes posts here.)

        He understands it and says it a lot better than me, but this is general idea of how it works.

        Call the people you want to read your script. When they say you need an agent/manager to submit the script, you say I normally submit through my lawyer, would that be OK? Apparently, they usually or often say yes. Hire a lawyer to write a one paragraph cover letter on his stationery, introducing you as his client and mentioning the script that you are submitting.

        Pay the lawyer. Send (or more likely) scan the cover letter. Submit it with your script.

        I hope I didn't screw that up too badly, but this is the basic method that got a pro started in the business, who didn't live in LA.
        "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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        • #19
          Re: Very unique situation - how to query manager/agent?

          Originally posted by AnyOtherName View Post
          Well that part isn't really true. You don't need rights to write a script and send it to managers (or agents or producers). Every year, the Blacklist includes scripts featuring persons and properties (mostly persons) to whom/which the writer has obtained no rights.

          You can't *make* the film, of course, without having the rights secured-- and it's hard to sell a script that no one can legally make. And it's hard to get people to read a script that no would rationally buy. But there's no law preventing you from sending the script out.
          Unless the people are dead, of course, and then it gets a little easier, depending on whether or not there's an estate.

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          • #20
            Re: Very unique situation - how to query manager/agent?

            Use the phone.

            If your phone marketing skills aren't that mad, practice first. Find some catchphrases that will keep people on the line. See if your rep will at least do the courtesy of sending your material to another rep (so that the film rep knows that someone has already vetted the material).

            Take notes from this thread: you led with "wrote in an existing IP" and you've received a lot of "here's why that'll never sell." If you had buried that nugget, the advice would have been far different.

            Consider that your L.A. audience will have that same reaction and adjust your pitch accordingly. I'm not saying that you should lie or not be informative about that hurdle -- just don't put the largest hurdle up at the start of the race.

            (And do your research first to pitch to agents with an interest in the IP or genre that you've written in.)

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            • #21
              Re: Very unique situation - how to query manager/agent?

              Originally posted by Cokeyskunk View Post
              I mean, I could ask him to send an email (or many) on my behalf, but would it really be worth it? Wouldn't it mean more coming from me, showing my ambition to get the work done?
              Yes, it would be worth it to have your current manager reach out.
              I get that he's not an LA manager but having a representative reach out on your behalf does add a certain air of legitimacy that you won't have reaching out on your own. I'm actually surprised he's not taking this as an opportunity to make some LA contacts of his own.

              My advice is to do the leg work and use IMBD Pro to make a list of 15-20 LA/NYC managers you think might be a good fit. Find emails for them and then ask your current manager to reach out on your behalf. Explain to him that you've been told that you'll have a better chance of being read/considered if he reaches out on your behalf. It just ... has better optics.

              Also - focus on a manager, not an agent. Managers are more interested in working with and developing talent and are more inclined to take a flyer on you. It's really really hard to get an agent interested if they can't readily sell something of yours.

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