When should I panic?
A two parter: First, after several years of false starts, I’ve finally finished a script I think is pretty good. I have a friend who is a pretty established movie writer, and he has a manager at an established company. Friend gave Manager the Script. After two months, Manager finally read the Script and called me up and said he really liked it a lot and was excited about it. But Script is an unusual sci-fi comedy and perhaps a tough sell (a director and or star would need to be attached) and so Manager needs to “find consensus” with others at his company, so I need to wait for others at the company to read it. Time passes.
After a couple of weeks, I have another conversation with Manager, who tells me nothing has happened but people are out of town — be patient, let’s connect a week from today. A week passes and no call. Another week-and-a-half passes, and I email. Another three days, and I call. Manager is “in a meeting.” Will call back.
Friend, who knows Manager well, has said, “Manager will not give you the silent treatment. If he doesn’t like the script, he will say ‘I don’t like it. Sorry. Bye.’”
After several days, I’ve gotten no response from Manager on the call or email.
Second, meanwhile:
I have another friend (Friend 2) whose very good buddy is a partner (in TV) at a large Agency. (Script is a feature.) Solely as a favor to Friend 2, Agent agrees to read script. I drop off Script in the Agency’s mail room. Time passes.
Nine weeks later, Friend 2 asks Agent about the Script. Agent’s assistant tells Friend 2 to tell me to resend the latest version of Script to Assistant, because Agent is going to take it home over the weekend. Done.
Two weeks later, Friend 2 and Agent have lunch. Agent says, “Sorry, I haven’t read Script yet. I or one of my associates will read it.”
A week or two later, I leave my first voicemail with Agent’s Assistant, asking if I can have any info on whether the script has been read or gotten any coverage.
A week later, I have heard nothing back.
Am I fucked?
– bagadonuts
Your story is my story is almost every story of an aspiring screenwriter in Hollywood. In my case, the agency was CAA, the friend was an instructor at USC, and the waiting game went on for about two months before we finally got a pass. But during those two months, I came home from work every day staring at the answering machine (it was still the answering machine era), hoping for word about the script.
Bagadonuts, you are not fucked. You are just stuck in the waiting cycle which hits everyone. And so you know, the waiting doesn’t magically go away as you progress further into your career. Just the people change. Instead of waiting to hear what an agent or manager thought of your script, you’re waiting to hear back about what the studio chief is thinking. But he’s busy dealing with a crisis on This Other Movie. So he’ll get to it when he can.
Best advice: Always have multiple things out there. Follow up on a reasonable schedule, but never speculate that silence means doom.
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December 6th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
I guess it’s like applying for that first job out of school. Just open multiple leads (most of them will be dead ends) and follow-up with the ones that look promising. It may take several months, but delay is not necessarily a “no.”
December 6th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Sounds like the world of dating! It may only be a couple of days in dating, but it feels like two months. Welcome to being a chick!
December 6th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Bagadonuts,
Just channel your frustration into your next script. Condition yourself to think that it doesn’t matter if people are taking their time or not responding at all to your current script, because they’re going to be falling all over themselves for your next one as soon as you finish it.
Eric Roth claims to have written thirty scripts before anything happened to him. So be prepared to write a bunch.
Also, ScriptShark will recommend good material they cover to a long list of agents and managers in town–you could give them a shot, too. Their readers are all experienced veterans. If your stuff is good enough, they won’t miss.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
I once heard back from a producer/manager about a script 11 months after I sent it.
No, I’m not kidding.
The point is, send it and move on. Yes, a little persistence is okay. A call or two. After that, you know what? If they read it and like it, they’ll find you.
You should never stop work on the next project because you’re waiting to hear on the last one. Think of this time as a bonus! One of the things an agent or manager will ask you is what else you got … they’re giving you time to make sure that your “else” is kick ass, too!
December 6th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Bago - wait until you have an agent “go wide” with a screenplay to 15 production companies in one day. Please…pass the valium….
Sounds like you’re definitely on the right track.
December 6th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Bagadonuts,
I’m actually looking forward to being in your shoes soon, if that helps. Best of luck.
December 7th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
It happens to everyone. Don’t wait on people, spec it out to others. Also spend your time split between revising and a new unrelated project. Working on other things gives you more distance to do better revisions.
December 7th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
Great response John! I completely agree. My managers just went out wide with our script. Waiting for word was tough. But we stayed busy writing.
Unfortunately many people passed (though there’s still one studio who “might” buy it). However the response to the writing was very, very good.
Point is the day we heard the bad news from most of the studios we hit FADE OUT on another script and sent it that morning to our managers. The managers are VERY excited about it and will spec THAT one out in early 2007. So it’s so important to KEEP WRITING and never wait.
December 7th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
Used to think silence was a no. Then we pitched this one idea to a cable network that didn’t respond for two months. They wanted the idea, two months after we thought it was dead. Keep on writing, Baga.
December 7th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Dara’s right. My buddy just sold a script to Fox and got a two script deal. It took him NINE MONTHS to sell it! Months and months of following up and hearing nothing. THEN he gets a call…we loved the script, we’re gonna buy it! Silence is not always a no…far from it!
December 19th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
If you want a good idea for a follow on to “The Good Shepard” get in touch. If you could get the ear of Di Nero, Roth, or their agents, and you pich well, go to it.