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I know a lot of screenwriters. I mean, a LOT. Friends, acquaintances, former students, colleagues, waiters, actors, parking lot attendants. Since my book, "THE SCREENWRITER WITHIN" was published I get contacted several times a week by people who liked the book or someone with a questin.
And because I'm in frequent contact with many of these people I pick up bits and pieces of information, industry gossip, trends, producers and agents to avoid, cool development people, etc. And just as people share stuff with me, I share with them, even if it's just something like "I heard that Producer A is looking for an action comedy. Didn't you write one of those four years ago when they weren't buying action comedies?"
You can call this networking or schmoozing or backscratching or whatever, but it's important to do and if you're not getting out and meeting other screenwriters and sharing anecdotes, insights or horror stories you're not being a professional.
Of the screenwriters (and television writers) I know who've sold scripts and gotten deals and even had scripts made they all, with rare exception, were good at this. If they had no contacts, they made them by writing letters, making phone calls, sending e-mails. Many times nothing happened. I know people who send 4 sentence query letters to agents and head them returned unread with a disclaimer that they aren't excepting them. I mean, the lowest common denominator of getting someone to read your work is a query letter and if they won't read that, what can you do?
Well, you find a way. There is always a way. It may not work on the first 20 agents or producers you contact, but it might work on the 21st. Everybody who has ever gotten a deal didn't go to UCLA Film School or Harvard or NYU. Some people--dare I say, most people--don't know anyone. Lyndon Johnson is famous for saying "It's not who you know, it's who you get to know."
That's cool. And smart. And very sound advice.
You're a screenwriter. Get to know some more people like you. There's safety and comfort in numbers.
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