Dumb luck; or how I successfully contacted a high-profile agent

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  • Dumb luck; or how I successfully contacted a high-profile agent

    Hey guys, new here. Going to tell you a brief story.

    I've been querying away for a month or two now, learning from mistakes as I go. One of the sillier time-wastes has been querying any and every production company that has an email listed on IMDBPro. As you would guess, this has resulted in numerous automatic return emails and non-responses.

    However, I found one listing there for an executive's email address at a major production company (it's owned by one of the 5 or 10 most powerful figures in Hollywood). So I queried said executive and got a response back from an assistant (summarized):

    "We don't take unsolicited material, sorry. By the way, how the hell did you get our executive's email address??"

    To which I apologized for being intrusive and told them how I found it. They then thanked me in a follow up email and said off-hand:

    "We don't take unsolicited material. You'll have to go through our agent, Mr. ___ at ___."

    I look up this agent, and without telling you his name, he is BIG. Like Ari Gold type big (though seemingly not a crazy person).

    So I figure I have nothing to lose, and I give it a shot. I get the agent's email address and send him a quick note: "Hey, the folks at ____ production company told me to get in touch with you regarding my screenplay." And I followed it with my standard query. And lo and behold...it WORKED. His assistant emailed me back and requested the script for him (or likely his assistant) to read.

    I know this all premature and will probably amount to nothing, but it still feels crazy and fortuitous that I walked backwards into the ear of a top top top agent who otherwise would never give an unproduced, unsigned writer the time of day.

    So the question is...how to I make sure I don't squander this opportunity? Any thoughts?

  • #2
    Re: Dumb luck; or how I successfully contacted a high-profile agent

    Originally posted by Chesteraarthur2 View Post
    So the question is...how to I make sure I don't squander this opportunity? Any thoughts?
    Don't send him a script that sucks.

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    • #3
      Re: Dumb luck; or how I successfully contacted a high-profile agent

      Originally posted by docgonzo View Post
      Don't send him a script that sucks.
      facts.
      "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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      • #4
        Re: Dumb luck; or how I successfully contacted a high-profile agent

        Originally posted by docgonzo View Post
        Don't send him a script that sucks.
        Damn, I already blew it

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        • #5
          Re: Dumb luck; or how I successfully contacted a high-profile agent

          Originally posted by Chesteraarthur2 View Post
          So the question is...how to I make sure I don't squander this opportunity? Any thoughts?
          First of all, congrats on finding a way to get noticed in an absolute oceanful of hopefuls.

          Secondly, you've learned the same thing I learned long ago - yes, you have to follow the same rules as everyone else, but you don't have to do things exactly the same way. Finding a back door in somewhere can sometimes grant you the access no one else can seem to achieve.

          Third, just coming from my own perspective, I would wait a month and then - if no response yet - send a follow-up checking in and asking if they have any questions you could answer about the script or if they might have any feedback, assuming they've had a chance to get to it.

          Be polite. Be courteous. Be thankful. Be receptive.

          Best of luck, and welcome to "Tier 1". It's always an accomplishment to be invited to take that first step.

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          • #6
            Re: Dumb luck; or how I successfully contacted a high-profile agent

            Originally posted by Cokeyskunk View Post
            First of all, congrats on finding a way to get noticed in an absolute oceanful of hopefuls.

            Secondly, you've learned the same thing I learned long ago - yes, you have to follow the same rules as everyone else, but you don't have to do things exactly the same way. Finding a back door in somewhere can sometimes grant you the access no one else can seem to achieve.

            Third, just coming from my own perspective, I would wait a month and then - if no response yet - send a follow-up checking in and asking if they have any questions you could answer about the script or if they might have any feedback, assuming they've had a chance to get to it.

            Be polite. Be courteous. Be thankful. Be receptive.

            Best of luck, and welcome to "Tier 1". It's always an accomplishment to be invited to take that first step.
            Thanks man! I am approaching the 1 month mark on my first set of read requests, so I will probably start following up in the coming weeks.

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