No, this is not a treatise on buglary tips. It is about the number one question of all writers: how do I get my material to the decision makers, or, hey, ANYBODY.
Of course glib answer #1 is, get an agent. But that’s about as difficult as getting a meeting with Quentin Tarantino or David E. Kelly and pitching your stuff.
So while knocking on the front door, be mindful of the backdoor. That backdoor isn’t easy either. And by the way, there’s nothing easy about anything. Ask Michael Phelps.
But the backdoor. What the heck is the backdoor anyway? Of course it is the gateway of least resistance to the road leading to where you want to get to. That may be ironically lousy writing, but it’s sort of funny so I’m leaving it the way it is.
Backdoor routes are “entry level jobs”, such as production assistant, writers assistant (you’ve got to learn how to use the computer word processing programs for this!), a page, a receptionist. This literally gets you in A door, where you are apt to meet those moves and shakers you seek.
And meanwhile, of course, you are writing, right? Writing your spec script, honing your skills, keeping your eyes and ears open as you are on the job, reading the scripts of others, and all that... so that when the opportunity arises, i.e., to present your script, you are ready.
There are other backdoors, such as writing for a theatre group – or indeed enrolling in a theatre group, such as The Groundlings – and scanning Dramalogue, Craigs List and other sources of jobs that may provide you with some writing experience, and have your material performed.
And then there’s the Internet. You can certainly network on comedy sites, get a video camera and shoot your own work on video, and get exposure in that fashion. Exposure is the key word here.
And meanwhile, you might just stumble upon an agent, or Quentin at a coffee shop (I don’t exactly recommend it) or some other function, and get your material exposed in that way.
But if the front door is locked, or nobody is answering, look for a back door. Or an open window It’s sort of like buglary.
Of course glib answer #1 is, get an agent. But that’s about as difficult as getting a meeting with Quentin Tarantino or David E. Kelly and pitching your stuff.
So while knocking on the front door, be mindful of the backdoor. That backdoor isn’t easy either. And by the way, there’s nothing easy about anything. Ask Michael Phelps.
But the backdoor. What the heck is the backdoor anyway? Of course it is the gateway of least resistance to the road leading to where you want to get to. That may be ironically lousy writing, but it’s sort of funny so I’m leaving it the way it is.
Backdoor routes are “entry level jobs”, such as production assistant, writers assistant (you’ve got to learn how to use the computer word processing programs for this!), a page, a receptionist. This literally gets you in A door, where you are apt to meet those moves and shakers you seek.
And meanwhile, of course, you are writing, right? Writing your spec script, honing your skills, keeping your eyes and ears open as you are on the job, reading the scripts of others, and all that... so that when the opportunity arises, i.e., to present your script, you are ready.
There are other backdoors, such as writing for a theatre group – or indeed enrolling in a theatre group, such as The Groundlings – and scanning Dramalogue, Craigs List and other sources of jobs that may provide you with some writing experience, and have your material performed.
And then there’s the Internet. You can certainly network on comedy sites, get a video camera and shoot your own work on video, and get exposure in that fashion. Exposure is the key word here.
And meanwhile, you might just stumble upon an agent, or Quentin at a coffee shop (I don’t exactly recommend it) or some other function, and get your material exposed in that way.
But if the front door is locked, or nobody is answering, look for a back door. Or an open window It’s sort of like buglary.
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