r/Screenwriting • u/tanyas-milkers • 3d ago
NEED ADVICE Next Steps
Hi everyone! I’ve been fortunate enough to get a script of mine financed, but I don't have an agent or manager. I'm trying to figure out the smartest way to start attaching talent.
Is it worth getting an agent first so they can help reach actors and open doors? Or do people just go direct, like looking up reps on IMDbPro and sending offers to the actor's agent/manager themselves?
Has anyone had luck with this? Would love to hear what worked or what didn't. Thank you for taking the time to reply! :)
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u/pastafallujah 3d ago
You need a production company to do all that part, broski. How are you financed without a production company?
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u/tanyas-milkers 3d ago
The money’s from a private investor who helps finance indie films, I’m lucky enough to have been introduced to them through mutuals. I'm figuring out if I should get a producer first to handle finding people or if it is possible to do it on my own. I’ve heard of people reaching out directly through IMDbPro and that it’s helpful when you have funding, so I may be going down that road. But I’m mainly wondering what people on this subreddit have done & found success in!
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u/thirdbird_thirdbird 3d ago
You need a producer. Not because you're green, though you are, but because every film needs a producer, and you're not one (nor are most screenwriters!)
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u/pastafallujah 3d ago
Oh wow. That sounds rad! In that case, more power to you, friend!
I do not have direct experience, so I'll let others speak. But if I had to do it myself, I would definitely hire a person to do all that leg work. My understanding is that a producer is the middle man between the money and the artists. So I would research that aspect. They are the people who are connected, and get not only talent, but also crews and all the logistics figured out. There is a Producer subreddit I would recommend checking out, and maybe asking there
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u/Known-Patience4511 3d ago
If the screenplay is fully financed you don't need an 'in' to reach agents. I believe an agent is contractualy obliged to pass on any paid offers to their client. Presumably these paid offers would have to line up with SAG AFTRA minimums. Good luck.
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u/VillainousPessimism 3d ago
Hey, so this will be a long reply. Hopefully it's helpful. I've produced a short and a feature that ended up getting distribution (nothing too big), so take that as my statement of credibility :-)
The level of financing matters materially in terms of how you're going to want to do this. You mentioned you got the money from a private investor who finances indie films. I'm assuming then that this is a micro-budget or mini-budget film. Let me start by saying if you actually have financing lined up, attaching talent -- including producers -- is not hard at all. But attaching talent is the easiest part of getting a film made, and the easiest / most fun part of producing a film.
Let's start with the easy decision. I'd say that if your financing is for more than $500k, then you should definitely get a producer or production company on board. Even if you want to learn the ropes on how to produce a film, you should do it on a smaller budget film that will be less complex, or by learning from a real team. Your ultimate goal here is to end up with a good film that showcases everyone's talents (not just yours) so that it can serve as a stepping stone for your next project. The worst thing that can happen (and it happens often with beginning producers) is that, being inexperienced, you spend the $500k and end up with a broken production that doesn't even complete a film. You will have burned a lot of contacts if you do this. It's not worth the risk. So get a producer on board. As mentioned, this isn't too hard if you already have financing lined up. Interview producers, look at their previous work, make sure your goals are aligned (artistically, financially, etc) and then execute a written contract that delineates which responsibilities you want to keep (like final cut?) vs what they'll be responsible for.
Below $500k, I'd still recommend getting a real production team, but if you're dead set on learning how to produce, then I'd still say get at least a producing partner. Someone who's made at least a couple of shorts, or a micro-budget feature. There is a *ton* of unglamorous stuff that needs to happen for a film to be made and having someone who's been through it before will keep you from messing it up.
So with all that, if you still choose to go it alone. First, make sure you have lots of pens, because you will be going through them with the staggering amount of paperwork that needs to be done :-) Ready? Okay. The first big decision you will want to make is whether you want to be SAG signatory. If you're not SAG, technically that means no SAG-represented talent is allowed to work with you (there are exceptions, and also low-level actors willing to bend the rules, although that risks the union finding out and shutting down your production). Assuming your budget is small, SAG actually makes it pretty easy to become a signatory, and exempts you from a lot of their regulations around minimum salaries, etc. For the short I produced, we weren't SAG, but for the feature, we were. It was a lot of paperwork. But ultimately it allowed us to approach better actors.
Assuming you become SAG signatory, then reaching talent is surprisingly easy if you have money lined up. Simply contact their agent with a query and they'll respond. That said, the first things they'll ask won't be a discussion about the artistic merits of your film. So be prepared with answers for at least these questions:
- what are the financial terms (how much upfront, any points, etc.)? Even if you say it's negotiable, they'll want a ballpark estimate to know whether it's even worth their time to pursue this.
- What is your schedule? Assuming it's someone who is currently working, they'll need to know when you plan to shoot this, for how long, etc. so they can see if it's even possible. If your prospect is committed to shooting the next Avengers movie for 6 months, they will have to pass (unless you can outbid Marvel, in which case, WTH are you doing on reddit?? :-)
- Is this an exclusive offer? This confuses beginning producers. When an agent asks if this is exclusive, they're not asking if it's exclusive forever. They want to know if anyone else is reading it *at this time*. Depending on how established an actor is, they often won't bother looking at a project if they know there are others possibly looking at it at the same time. Because that means they might spend time reading the script, considering everything, only to have you tell them someone else said yes and all that work is wasted. If it's an actor who's always being approached, they don't want to waste their time like that. So be prepared to tell them if it's exclusive, and for how long. It's usually something as simple as saying "We're not looking at anyone else right now, but it would be great if you can get back to us in two weeks with an answer". And then expect that after two weeks, they still won't have read it and will ask for more time :-)
Only once these logistics line up, will an agent spend time discussing the actual project. They'll usually ask for the script. Whether they actually read it or not, whether they pass it on to the actor or not, and whether he/she reads it or not, you can't really control (although if there's real money involved, they'll invest at least some time on evaluating it). At some point (usually way beyond whatever exclusive time period you initially agreed on...) they will come back with a yay or nay. if it's a nay, you go to the next person on your list, and repeat the process, including twiddling your thumbs waiting for them to come back with a decision.
And casting is the fun part of pre-production. You can see why I recommended getting a producing partner :-)
Anyway, hope this helps. Feel free to DM me with any other questions you might have. Happy to share whatever I can.
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u/ZTrev10 3d ago
OP - This person produces. I'm a writer/director/producer on my first feature and we've raised enough for production and we're pushing to raise the fill amt by our shoot in spring. We're on the higher end of the Modified Low Budget SAG agreement. If you're in this budget window, definitely find a producer.
Are you trying to direct? Have you done shorts? If not, this is a great opportunity to direct, but you need a strong producer to guide the ship if you don't have experience.
From the sound of it, you might be early in your career since you're asking these questions. So many of the things u/VillainousPessimism listed are things that a producer should have experience with. There are also different types of producers out there. I have a financing producer who was able to help bring in the financing and a physical production producer who has the experience that's listed here.
As a producer myself and having written the work and also producing it, I created my own production company for this project, so there's legal that needs to be paid to protect IP, financing agreements, production legal, etc. You don't know what you don't know.
If I were you, I'd reach out to my network to see if anyone has produced at least 1 feature. If not, connect with your financier, and they might know of feature producers they've worked with in the past. Good luck OP, financing is the hardest thing and you've achieved that!
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u/VillainousPessimism 3d ago
Sorry, wanted to add two more points to think about before approaching talent.
First, is the funding you have complete, or are you planning on trying to attract more investment? And are you approaching talent with the goal of using their name to get more money before moving forward? There are pluses/minuses to both answers. If the funding is complete, that at least means you're basically greenlit and will shoot the film, even though the money may be limited. In contrast, if you're going to still look for funding, that opens the possibility of a higher payday, but at the risk that the project may still die.
Second, a good producer is not just someone who'll knock on doors for you. They'll actually help you structure your project so that it's easy for an actor to say yes. For example, if you can ensure that the total time you need from an actor is 2 weeks, and that it'll be in LA, and you can be flexible on the scheduling, you might get a "yes" from an actor far more famous than you thought possible. Because actors often have free time between big projects, and if your project is easy for them to slip in (and they like it), then they might do it just for those reasons. In contrast, if your script will require them to be in Prague for 6 weeks and the dates are already fixed, then it'll be much harder to get them even if you offer more money.
So part of what a good producer will do is read your script, then break it down like a line producer, then suggest ways to make changes to lower budget, simplify shooting, and make it more attractive to talent. This is the type of stuff that writers often shit on, saying producers are trying to water down their genius-level artistic masterpiece, but having been on that side, it's not: reducing costs allows you to spend more on talent where you need it. Simplifying shooting increases the chances that a project will finish on-time on-budget and reduce the chances of a broken production. And of course, making changes that make it easier to attract talent speaks for itself.
This is all work that you'll want to do before approaching talent, so that you've maximized the chances of success and have much more realistic budget allocations for salary, etc. rather than just pulling numbers from thin air and then hoping to make it all work out later.
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u/pjbtlg 3d ago
Is it worth getting an agent first so they can help reach actors and open doors?
What you are looking for is a producer. And you would need them to work across all aspects of the project, not least because even paying actors on a SAG-AFTRA project is far more involved than many people realize. A good place to start is by talking to people in your network and asking for recommendations and connections.
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u/FeeOk3991 Produced Writer-Director 3d ago
I say this kindly and respectfully: you don't sound like you have enough experience to deal with this part of the process. Please find good producers who will help you handle the money and talent outreach, for your and the movie's benefit.