Back to how to get someone to read your screenplay. Without too much waste of time. Well, maybe some waste of time. Or maybe a lot of waste of time.
I got my first screenplay made by getting money.
I made the damn movie. Yeah. Ghostkeeper. I was writer and director and owned the company. But don't think I had a lot of money. I was broke and took a little bit of the $650,000 ($1.7 million in today amount).
I think I took around $5000 for everything. Not a millionaire. You would think a film company would hire a guy to make another movie. No. Nobody. That was my fault and this is an important thing.
Nobody wants to read a script that comes from nowhere aka everywhere away from LA
Yes, the best place to be with a screenplay is LA. You need to have 310 and 818 phone numbers. Those exchanges are in areas where studios and most of the film industry lives in.
But you know that already. ?
And being in those two exchanges, you might think it's a done deal. Again, no. In fact it's easier to get someone to read your script easier. And again, no. But there is a possible because if you have friends in LA, they might help.
They can be friends who have friends, etc, etc. And it does work. But not often. Because your friends aren't all that close.
So how did I get a read? Remember Ghostkeeper, I was the big guy in Calgary Alberta but had no agent nor anyone else. Mostly because in Canada at that time, the film industry was in Toronto and Vancouver and Montreal.
And I wasn't in any of those places. Until I met a director, Paul Lynch, who was a friend of another writer who said I was a good guy. Paul was in Toronto and was returning to LA and said he'd get an agent for me.
I was happy with that. I returned to Calgary, Alberta and tried to finance another movie but couldn't raise the money. And I had another script but again, I was in Calgary, Alberta and no agents would take me. Mostly because they were model agencies
After a week or so I got a phone call (this was a long time ago) from an agent. It turned out to be Paul's agent. And he will be my agent. But the hook was that I had to be in LA. Same old story. But at least I had an agent but long distance. Didn't do much.
Then I just decided to go to LA and snoop around. Paul would help me again. So there I was, in LA with an agent. It sounds good.
But it turned out my agent wasn't all that good, he had a partner who would leave for another agency. And I had "him". Problem was that he was not a great agent. I had meetings with guys living in empty houses or cheap cafes. One guy asked me to pay for lunch as he was just about ready to get a big bunch of money.
This was what my agent sent me?
Friday:
