Yolanda Lorato

This unique company - an agency combined with management of screenwriters - scarcely announced the opening of their doors on the 1st of February when the flood of requests for screenplays poured in. "We thought we'd be inundated with scripts but surprise, surprise. It was requests for stories," Yolanda says.

Upon-A-Quest Screenwriters’ Agency and Management was founded in February 2017 by two full-time freelance screenwriters, Yolanda Lindeque-Strauss and Lorato Phefo. “Although there are other agents in South Africa, this agency is different in the sense that we do not require thousands of rands from the writers to be their agents,” Yolanda adds.

Yolanda explains: "The name ‘Upon A Quest’ was inspired by a game called Dungeons and Dragons. In the game you are given a mission and along the way you get tasks, you fight battles and you find fellow questers. You never know how or where the road on the quest will take you but whatever happens, you will continue until you succeed. Just like with writing.”

Lorato says she hooked up with Yolanda to create this company because “I realized how many talented writers are there who have to end up choosing a different career to make money because there is just no opportunity. I realised that an agency is a good platform for those writers who wouldn’t have otherwise had their talent realised because of lack of connections... I am a strong believer of independence in every level of life and absolutely hate being an employee. My other biggest dream other than the agency is to develop the TV and film industry in North West province. It's about developing people, help them reach their potential. Allow their creativity to flourish. Give back to the community that gave birth to me.”

And this is an ideal that Yolanda shares with Lorato. “Which is why we love working together as a team,” Yolanda added. Yolanda was also motivated because “I couldn’t find proper contracts anywhere. Everything was half done or from abroad. There was also very little one could do about the rates you asked. I craved legal representation. And feedback on my work so that I could hone my writing skills but where do you find people who are willing and able to do that without breaking the bank?” After she invented her own systems and picked up mentors, she was able to hone said skills but her heart, just like Lorato’s, wanted to be part of a better industry. And they saw a way for them to create that.

And thus the birth of the Upon-A-Quest Screenwriters Agency And Management Company.

Their system of operation is based on trust, trustworthiness and transparency. Copyrights of the writers are fiercely protected. At the same time the product that they package for the producer is of the highest quality so that producers don’t need to deal with the writers more than they absolutely have to. In fact, they are peacemakers in an industry where creatives and money makers don’t always see eye-to-eye.

Producers, directors, production companies, broadcasters and distribution companies can contact them for scripts with their criteria and the agency then searches their clients’ work and database to find the closest match to those criteria. The agency then sends proposed synopses and treatments that in line with the criteria (after the company has signed a basic Non-Disclosure Agreement) and if the company sees something they like, Upon-A-Quest enters into negotiations between them and the writer for the purchase of the work or employment of the writer.

For writers the agency reads their submitted scripts, evaluates the saleability of it and if they sign a writer on as a client, they manage and assist with the editing, polishing and packaging of the script(s).

Once the packaged script is ready the agency sends out query letters, compares it to calls for stories from broadcasters, enters it into competitions where applicable, matches it with incoming briefs and pitch it at television and film markets to find the best price for the script; local and abroad.

If they don’t sign a writer up for representation they still store the logline of the script in their database and if at some point there is a call for a story that matches it, they will then sign the writer on.

All contracts are done by their lawyers and their books are kept by an independent accountant.

To find out more about submission guidelines, how to request scripts for production, or what their commissions are, send them an email to uponaquest@ or visit their Facebook page: