Acting : Contacting Actors' Agents through our 32 STAGE MEDIA by Carlos de La Torre

Hi, Carlos... Is your film being made? Is it funded? What's the budget? Do you have a shooting schedule? A director? A casting director? Is your script registered with the WGA? If you answered "no" to any of these questions, you're not really ready to send the script to agents or managers. Reps will rarely submit a script to their clients without virtually all of these elements in place... and the level of material coming in to agencies on a daily basis precludes agents or managers from reading everything - hence assistants and/or readers who provide coverage. From your post, it seems as though you're just looking to test the waters and see if the actors whose "voice" you were writing in might be into your script... If that's the case, I'd wait. Aside from the fact that a director will (along with a casting director and his or her producers) cast the film, the first question any professional rep will ask is: "What's the offer?" (Ie; how much will my client make) and the second is "how long is the shoot?" Don't have the answers and you may have just blown your best chance at getting an attachment. Hope that helps.

Hi Shaun! You couldn't give me a better answer if you tried! hahaha! And let me just say that I hate to place Agents and Producers in this position where you need to tell us screenwriters (child-dreamers) that "There's no Santa Claus"....hahaha! I really do and I'm sorry! Just yesterday I placed an Agent in a similar position. Yes, I was just curious to "test the waters" as you mentioned but now I've learned thanks to your great advice that I shouldn't even wait for the right time but instead make these matters none of my business...hahaha! Since you spent some valuable time answering my question I will tell you why I was inquiring about this subject. I'm one of those dreamers that can only write high budget scripts no matter how much we attempt not to. I wrote a Trilogy where the first story and the simplest one to produce and make right is way over 25M. Knowing that big producers will have (a nightmare) trying to pitch a high budget script to a big studio coming from an unknown writer with no credits...I was just curious if these Main Two protagonists I had in mind when I wrote the story would be attracted to my screenplay to begin with. And here's why. Why waste the time insisting that this high budget Trilogy will be shot one day when I already know that my first story and lowest budget and with not such famous actors attached to it would be over 25M as it is? You see Shaun, now is just a matter of "cooling off my head" and pray for the best! Thanks again Shaun...No more silly questions from me. hahahaha!

Thanks for your time and your help Alle. I will definetely message you and in the meantime you can look up a synopsis of that same story that I would like to contact the actors for that I posted a few days ago. Good Day!

Alle - While I agree that anything is worth a try, you only get one shot and agents and managers (and talent) generally don't have time to read or comment on material that isn't set up in some form or, at the least, scheduled... and at the same time, depending on a films cost, the reps don't want us producers going out to raise money on the backs of their clients because, if for some reason, we can't raise financing, it reflects poorly on the actor. You mentioned that "Sometimes the budget isn't cash, but TIME." This is why I mentioned schedule. You can certainly get recognizable talent for little or no money (my new film has an Emmy winner, and a number of recognizable talent), but you have to show that you only need them for a limited commitment ("We can pay x amount for 5 days.") If you don't have a schedule, you obviously can't give them an idea of how long their client would be needed. If you don't have a budget, you don't know what you can afford to pay - SAG Schedule F? ULB MFN? As for registration? It costs something like $25 bucks... and any writer sending out material would be making a mistake not to protect themselves in terms of a record of their material being on file somewhere. If, by some miracle, a writers screenplay did make it through the gauntlet of assistants and readers to land on an execs desk, without a WGA registration number, what is to keep them from developing the writers material in-house and moving forward without him or her? It happens to people who DO have WGA Registration and agencies behind them(!) Carlos... being a dreamer is a great thing... and there are no dumb questions, so... by all means, break the rules when you can - and Stage32 is a great place to learn and network. Having said that, this town has gotten tougher and tougher about letting in unsolicited material (while promoting sites like Black List) as a viable route. Try going that direction. If you hit a wall (people don't react favorably to your material), ask yourself "why?" and then re-write. Then re-submit. Eventually, if your material is good, you'll get some traction. Good luck!

Thanks again Shaun!

Allo Carlos! I've posted on your synopsis. I would love to be that Agent and can help you with your screenplay and all that that entails!

Thank you Marci. I'll message you more about these projects of mine...Good Day!

Excellent Carlos! Cannot wait!

Check the WGA (Writers' Guild of America} website for a list of franchised literary agents. Send them letters seeking representation, some of them are usually keeping their eye out for new writers.

Hi Shaun! i'm going to try to break the rules.... I thought about it and.....what do I have to loose? hahaha!!

That's correct Alle and its never been my intention to break these rules you mentioned above even though it may seem that way.... hahaha! I meant bending the rules when accepting this fact that actors agents won't be interested in reading "wannabe's" scripts.