ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

3 years, 1 month ago - James McCann

Are there any sites anyone can recommend with a list of agents, anything reputable?

3 years, 1 month ago - Peter Spencer

Jonathan's advice is spot on (at least in my case) I spent years going to short film festivals, film festivals (buy a full pass or producers pass so you can mingle in the bars etc, meet actors, directors, producers, sales agents etc). Make friends, build alliances. I went to the first London Screenwriters festival in 2010 - not only did I come away with lifelong friends and collaborators, I met people who have really risen, become showrunners, gone to Hollywood etc.(I went to LSF I think six times in total) I was in writers groups. If someone puts a play on in a pub I go see it, if someone I know makes a short film I join the crowdfunding, I drop in a few pounds, and I watch it if someone made a small UK indie movie I'd seek it out, if a friend wanted a script read, I read it. You'd be amazed at: how many people you meet go on to great heights, how people are genuinely pleased you've taken the trouble to see their play/short film/feature film. It really does help you make connections. Sounds clinical, but all you're really doing is being a decent person who tries to support others. I don't ask for anything in return. I met a short film maker through the pitch page on Shooting People, we collaborated, and seven years later when he went on to make two low budget indie features - I wrote them. They led to a nicer gig with a few terrific actors. Those actors in the trailer speak volumes for me when it comes to getting hired. And I kept writing, pitching (had screenplays optioned through Shooting People) In fact, through a pitch on SP - a director looking for a writer - I met a director who was trying to break into TV. We met a few times and writing for her was an assignment. Now she is a top top TV director but we still know each other and had lunch just before lockdown. I also - through SP - got numerous other meetings. They didn't all lead to something but they were all worthwhile. And I wrote a lot. I think by the time I got my agent I'd written 44 screenplays, had numerous assignments, adapted books and screenplays, and spec scripts optioned - and had three features produced. I was also by then working with a specific director - who had access to a HUGE star she knew since film school - and a producer with a few films to her credit. You kind of build up a momentum. Of course not every path will be the same. Some people got there much quicker than I.