I've been reaching out to many management companies in hope of finding a literary manager and have not heard back from any. Are they just not interested? Have I not given it enough time? Is there a way to garner more attention from management companies?
Screenwriting : Finding a Literary Manager by Grace Ripley
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Have you bothered to find out about these companies, what movies they've made, their staff names, their favorite genre? Are your queries pushy, by-the-numbers, or too desperate-sounding? Do you put your loglines on InkTip's frequent newsletters to industry pros? Do you attend film festivals, plays, movie premieres, or other locations where you can meet influential people in a disarming, casual way?
This is a problem I deal with too, but not with just literary managers, but with agents, etc. etc. I would be interested in knowing what others think too.
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Unless you've already made something, won a major contest, have a recommendation or direct contacts, don't expect anything. They will come to you once they see value in you, and not likely before.
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Lets just look at the simple math if an agent throws open his door to all comers. There are about 50,000 (more or less - no one knows for sure) spec "scripts" floating around in the either. There are 5 working days in a week and he works 50 weeks/year.. That's 1,000 "scripts" per week which works out to 200 "scripts" that he must read every day. He gets 1 hour for lunch and 1 hour breaks/potty time - so he actually only reads for 6 hours/day. So he has to read 33.3 "scripts" per hour, which boils down to about 108 seconds per "script". And about 99% of the "scripts" out there are pure garbage. So do you see the reluctance the Agent/Managers have toward opening the floodgates.
Agents & Managers are hungry just like you & me. That means that they are constantly on the prowl for market worthy material. Turn out some Dynomite stuff, attend a few seminars offered by agents at film festivals and PARTICIPATE. Believe me, those Agents/Managers are desperately seeking marketable scripts - they will find you. (This I know.)
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It is difficult to get a literary agent plain and simple.
How are you reaching out and what are you saying? How many finished scripts you got to submit?
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Grace. Agents want to rep screenwriters who can write well-written screenplays on a regular basis. They know screenwriters tend to get better with practice so the more screenplays you have under your belt the better your odds are of finding agents that will respond. Personally I had better luck calling WGA Literary Agencies and see if any of their agents were accepting new clients to get a name and ask them if I could sent them a synopsis or the screenplay. Good luck!
I'm in this boat. I'm writing writing writing, and entering comps. I know my work is good enough, no hopefully I'll score well in comps and the managers can come looking for me.