Op-Ed: Screenwriting Representation – How To Get A Rep

For the first time in our 14 years as a script services company, Script Pipeline is contacting every entrant of our recent competitions. As Co-Founder of Script Pipeline, I’m personally making those calls so writers can have a conversation about screenwriting and, most importantly, the business of screenwriting. Starting with our Great Idea competition entrants, I’d estimate I’ve made about 500 phone calls thus far, and the most asked question on these calls: “how do I get representation?”

Before I gave them an answer, I asked: 

1) Are you writing genre? If the answer was yes to action, thriller, comedy, horror, or sci-fi (although sci-fi is still a very tough sell), then the follow-up question was—

2) What is the template for your film? Meaning is there a movie in the same genre as your film that has sold in the last couple of years (as an example, I referenced a friend of mine who sold a spec to Paramount. His spec had some similarities in tone to Chronicle. He said his agent told him if they didn’t have Chronicle as a template, his spec wouldn’t have sold). Now, if the answer was also yes, the follow-up question was—

3) Does your genre film with a marketable template have a strong motor? When I say motor, I mean is the plot motor revved up by page ten, and does it keep motoring all the way to the final climax? If the answer again was yes—

4) Is your logline an original, high concept idea? By original, high concept idea, does it have a hook that can grab an audience, and can that hook be easily marketed with very little explanation?

If you have a script that garners a “yes” from all four questions, then you have a script that can realistically sell (provided you’ve executed your big idea flawlessly). And if you have a script that can sell, you should NOT have a problem finding a rep. 

So, how do you find a rep?

1. Enter a major contest. Nothing against small contests, but reps aren’t interested in a prize winner unless it comes from one of the big dogs like Nicholl, Austin, Final Draft’s Big Break, BlueCat, Page, Script Pipeline, Tracking B, and maybe a few others. All the big agencies and management companies pluck writers from these contests.

2. Query a manager. Do not query an agent. Agents rarely read new writers and almost never sign first-timers, unless there’s a deal on the table. How do you query? Look on IMDB Pro for a management company’s email or use other online research tools for listings of managers who will read unsolicited material. Your query letter should be simple and short—it should contain the logline (your high-concept, genre-based idea) and a comparison film that was made in the last few years (i.e. “tonally, it’s in the vein of Chronicle”).

3. Network. Everyone is one or two degrees from a development exec or an assistant. Ask them to read your script. If you present the script as you did your query, with a clear logline and a market template film, any assistant or development exec that ambitious enough to want to make good for the boss will read the script. It may take them a while, but they will read. Remember, everybody is dying to find a great spec script. And nobody is more hungry than the young assistant or development exec.

4. Earn a “Recommend” or referral from an outlet like the Blacklist, or a company like Script Pipeline that develops writers and helps circulate stellar, well-written material and pitches to specific industry outlets best-suited for the project. For us, as with the contest circulation process, this method has worked extremely well in the past, as our writers have sold over $5 million in specs to studios in the last decade.

If you have any questions on how to get a rep, you can contact [email protected]. We can set you up with a brief, complimentary call to discuss your project, or schedule a full consultation on a completed script or pitch.

Good luck, and keep writing!

Dave Kline

Script Pipeline Co-Founder