MOONDANCE INFO & INSIDER TIPS ON HOW TO GET A LITERARY AGENT

by Elizabeth English on February 5, 2015

AURORA BOREALIS

REGULAR DEADLINE: MAY 30 ($75)

For your best chance to win, send in your entry early!

LATE DEADLINE: JUNE 30 ($100)

See our submission categories HERE!

Read our submission guidelines HERE!

Entry Form HERE!

Withoutabox for Moondance International Film Festival is now fully active for this season’s call for entries: www.withoutabox.com/login/1240

Check out the website for more info:

WEBSITE: www.moondancefilmfestival.com

NEWS-BLOG: www.moondancefilmfestival.com/blog

EMAIL: [email protected]

The Moondance International Film Festival is much more than an annual film festival! It is a unique community, a supportive, productive, and creative year-round collaboration between independent filmmakers and movie audiences, between writers, composers and the world of filmed entertainment.

~ HOW TO GET A LITERARY AGENT ~

reelauthors.com

**What Agents Want (and Don’t Want) to See**

By Elizabeth English

First, call, email or write to literary agents who are listed online as being willing to look at unsolicited screenplays. Do not send a logline, synopsis, or script unless you are invited to do so! Keep your query letter or cover letter short and concise, no more than a single page long.

How to find listed agents:

The Hollywood Creative Directory’s Agent/Management directory
Writers Digest
Writers Guild of America (East & West)

Guidelines for getting an agent:

Write killer titles, loglines and one-sheet synopses for the all the scripts you want to submit to agents.
Write up a one-sheet document with titles and loglines of all your completed screenplays. You may be asked to send these before sending in a screenplay.
Presentation of script: be sure to have a plain cardstock cover, front and back; a title page with all your contact info; three-hole punch white paper; two solid-brass brads in the top and bottom hole.
“Attachments”, in the form of actors, director, producer, and most importantly: money, to your project, will always help get almost any agent interested. Mention this, if applicable, in your cover letter. These days, however, most agents only want to see submissions as attachments via email. Be sure to have a great cover letter, with your contact info and with the script attachment.
Have more than one screenplay completed. At least three of your best screenplays need to be completed & ready to go, when and if requested.
Make sure your script is either copyrighted or registered with the Writers Guild, before sending it to anyone.
Don’t hesitate to sign the agent’s or production company’s release form.
In your initial phone call or e-mail, try to find out what genre of story that agent is looking for, at the moment. Agents generally know exactly what the buyers want to see, and will usually only request those genres. But needs change all the time, and at a moment’s notice, so let them know what you have, even if they’re not looking for that at the time of your call.
Story: This is the first thing agents look at, when considering whether to read your script or not. Unique story, well-told.
Writing ability and style. Everything depends on this.
Dialog: your ability to write good, memorable and believable dialog is paramount.
Format and structure: in submitting your work to an agent, you should be sure the script is in proper format and structure. There are many books and online articles on these vital subjects. Edit every word of the script with a fine-toothed comb, and correct all spelling, punctuation and syntax errors.
Budget: yes, a screenwriter needs to know about this. Many buyers are looking for specific subjects with very specific production budgets. Currently, a low-budget feature film will be $10-20 million, for example. If your script requires action scenes and/or CGI graphics, double that figure.
If you know The Business at all, make the agent aware of this, so he or she will know you are a professional.
Let the prospective agent know you are completely open to re-writes and edits of your scripts. You will almost always be asked to do re-writes, sometimes “on spec”, so prepare yourself mentally and be agreeable to it.
Be willing and able to pitch your screenplay to production companies and studios, with the agent, in person. If you live far from L.A., let the agent know you can arrange to go there for pitching appointments.
Be friendly and easy-going, yet professional and self-confident. Hollywood, even though it’s a “shark-pit” at times, is run on connections and contacts. If they don’t like you, and don’t feel they can work with you, you don’t have a chance there.
Be honest! Never, ever hype yourself or your script unless the information is absolutely provable. If you’ve won a contest with your script, let them know. And if you’ve been submitting your scripts around to everybody for years, and they ask, tell the truth. Production companies and studios keep lists of what has been submitted, by whom, and you don’t want to embarrass your new agent!

How to get “discovered”:

InkTip.com is a good website to post your scripts on, to be seen by many agents, producers, and development company executives)
If you live in or near Los Angeles, attend parties and other events where Hollywood types will be.
Enter film festival & writing competitions, and win!

What should an agent do for you?

Send out your loglines and one sheet synopses, and scripts to Development Executives at production companies and studios
Give suggestions on potential edits and re-writes that may be needed to sell the script
Set up pitch sessions for you at production companies and studios
Get the best deal he or she can for you, above schedule of WGA minimums.
Encourage and inspire you to create new material and projects.

What an agent should NOT do:

Charge you a fee for reading your scripts.

What agents DO NOT want to see a script that is:

unsolicited, sent to them “cold”, with no phone call, e-mail or letter first
too long (over 130 pages), or too short (under 90 pages)
bound incorrectly (no brads, no cover, no title page)
not formatted correctly & has grammatical and/or spelling errors
a query letter and/or synopsis that is more than one page long
more than one page long
mostly descriptions of people and locations, like a novel
unrealistic or has stilted/boring dialog
more than 100 scenes (each scene costs money)
a prospective production budget over that what is requested
not in the genre requested
containing any typos, misspellings or poor syntax
without conflict in the plot and story-line
without interesting, memorable characters & dialog.

What agents DO NOT want to see a writer who:

calls or e-mails sooner than 2 weeks after the agent received the script
is unwilling to consider re-writes and edits.

SUGGESTED READING & RESOURCES:

InkTip.com Post your loglines, synopses, screenplays &/or TV pilots on this popular & successful website to have your work looked at & considered by agents, producers and directors. This one is the real deal!

RELEVANT E-ZINE ARTICLES BY ELIZABETH ENGLISH

Titles & Loglines: https://moondancefilmfestival.com/Article-16-Titles.html
Pitching in Hollywood: https://moondancefilmfestival.com/Article-15-Pitching.html
Making of a Hollywood Film: https://moondancefilmfestival.com/Article-13-Hwood.htmlTwo Brads or Three?: www.moondancefilmfestival.com/Article-07-Brads.html
Characters in Screenplays: https://moondancefilmfestival.com/Article-06-Character.html
Conflict in Scripts: https://moondancefilmfestival.com/Article-05-Dreams.html

BOOKS

Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434
Linda Seger’s How to Make a Good Screenplay Great
Linda Seger’s How to Make a Good Screenwriter Great
David Howard’s A Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay

MAGAZINES

Creative Screenwriting
Scr(i)pt Magazine

MOONDANCE RECOMMENDS

www.aforcemorepowerful.org

USING NON-VIOLENT CONFLICT RESOLUTION
TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY & HUMAN RIGHTS

Award winning documentaries tracing the history of nonviolent conflicts around the world. Pushing back against those who try to define you and learning how to define yourself, using creative non-violence to fight for one’s rights to be who you are.

GEENA DAVIS INSTITUTE ON GENDER IN MEDIA

Founded by Academy Award®-winning actor Geena Davis, the Institute is the only research-based organization working with media and entertainment companies with cutting-edge research, education, and advocacy programs to dramatically improve how girls and women are reflected in media targeting children 11 and under. For more information visit: www.seejane.org.

Davis pushes for better representation of women in film, TV

Geena Davis is among the Hollywood stars pushing for better representation of women in the TV and film industries, including more female directors of big-budget films. Maria Giese from the Directors Guild of America and Stacy L. Smith, a researcher at the University of Southern California, are also working toward the same goal: more women in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

Women need stronger roles, Flynn, Arquette and Chastain say

Patricia Arquette, Jessica Chastain and Gillian Flynn are using award season attention to put out a call for better roles for women in Hollywood. “Looking at the Oscar nominations…it was a sparse wasteland, except in the Best Actress category where they had to be women. I think we can do a lot better. We don’t need to start congratulating ourselves yet,” said Flynn, author of “Gone Girl.”

AMY LYNDON’S ADVICE FOR ACTORS, DIRECTORS, WRITERS & COMPOSERS:

“The Lyndon Technique”

CREATE AN EMOTIONAL JOURNAL

Can you easily access your emotions and then switch to another one, and another one, and another one, effortlessly? This emotional journal will help tune up your instrument so that you can hit it on a dime, whether acting in a film or on stage, directing a film or stage-play, composing music, and when writing a screenplay or story. Use this journal of emotions and reactions you perceive within yourself, and emotional reactions that you see in others, in different situations, and in reactions to dialog heard, for making your writing, filmmaking, acting, and musical compositions for film scores more relatable & realistic! READ MORE ABOUT THE LYNDON TECHNIQUE

Make Movies With Us!

Internships: Project 562 is currently accepting applications for Interns to travel with us! If you are interested please FILL OUT THIS FORM. We are incredibly excited to tell you about our new Project 562 film series and invite you to be a part of it. We are seeking 12 filmmakers to join us on the road throughout 2015 (one filmmaker for every month) on the road to document the daily doings of Project 562 with the intention of eventually creating a full length documentary. Our goal is to create at least three short films per month for our audiences to stay up to date about Project 562! If you are interested, or know somebody who may be interested, please email us!

Taos, Pueblo, New Mexico

Project 562 has partnered with The Indigenous Warrior Institute (IWI ) to be a part of creating positive experiences for Indigenous Youth! June 10-20, 2015, we will be offering a 10-day summer camp where students will learn to live as Indigenous Warriors by being exposed to time-honored cultural practices deeply rooted in traditional Hawaiian knowledge.

Sponsorships: If you would like to become an official Project 562 sponsor, please contact [email protected].

A MOONDANCER WRITES US:

“My co-director and I have known about the Moondance Film Festival for quite some time now. As independent, first-time filmmakers, we love the festival’s mission to entertain, to inform, to inspire, to encourage and to educate.” ~ Ben Prawer and Jesse Swedlund

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

African Animals sculpture: r-atencio.blogspot.com.jpg

“It is almost as presumptuous to think you can do nothing as it is to think you can do everything.” ~ Phillips Brooks

Cornwall Path, photo by Michael Wiese

“It takes every step of our long, winding journey to arrive at the realization of this moment. We cannot awaken one minute sooner; we can only arrive to this moment right on time – right now.” ~ Lynne Forrest

Three Planets

I CHOOSE…

To live by choice, not by chance

To make changes, not excuses

To be motivated, not manipulated

To be useful, not used

To excel, not compete

I choose self-esteem, not self-pity

I choose to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinions of others

~ Author Unknown

“Satire is a sort of mirror, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own.” ~ Jonathan Swift

InkTip Script Listing:
List your script on InkTip so that producers and reps can find you.
InkTip helps writers sell their scripts and get representation.
Producers have made more than 200 films from scripts and writers
they found through InkTip!

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Questions or Comments?

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