A Screenwriter’s Survival Guide To Hollywood - Part Six

Photo Credit: Public Domain

If you missed the first 5 parts:

https://steemit.com/writing/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood-part-one
https://steemit.com/writing/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood-part-two
https://steemit.com/screenwriting/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood
https://steemit.com/screenwriting/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood-part-four
https://steemit.com/screenwriting/@thegridzom/a-screenwriter-s-survival-guide-to-hollywood-part-five

Fanbases

In niche films that are not mainstream and have their own built-in audiences, media, etc. “Star power” is a sure way to get your project noticed.

Now, you’re saying “Oh, great. Now, I’m supposed to attach a big Hollywood name to my film? Is she crazy? Yes and no. If you know your film niche area well, you also know who the popular talent is.

What we’re talking’ about is building your career with a solid foundation, not with the expectations of going from first screenplay to overnight stardom.

So, staying within this mindset and within a niche, you can potentially build yourself up to be known in a specific area…develop a following etc. You are essentially building your career from the inside out and not sitting around wasting time waiting for someone to discover you. It doesn’t happen that way very often. The key is to keep working on something and putting product out there. Your first ones may suck. So what? It’s a learning process. Practice on actors who are willing to come play with you and need the experience. Trust me, there are tons of them out there just dying to get on camera and if the material is good, they’ll be thrilled.

In your niche you should totally educate yourself and make a list of who the A,B,C- list actors an actresses are. We’re not talking Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson if you’re doing a vampire movie. They are the A-List in Mainstream movies that just happen to be popular and the theme happens to be vampire. I’m talking about the A-list of the niche. Who are they? Who is an actor or actress, who may not be a household name, but has a fairly large following among the horror community? The B-List would be the up and coming talent who are in a close running to becoming the top talent. The C-List and the rest are anyone who strives to be an actor in this niche. They may not have a following yet, but they have talent and with a little nurturing they could be the King or Queen of their niche and hopefully even break into the mainstream much like I hope to.

If you do your job well as a filmmaker, there is the potential of breaking an actor or actress and moving their career ahead along with your own. I have always made that one of my priorities after all it’s a win/win to do so.
How do you reach these people? The simple answer is that it’s not always as hard as you may think.
I like to work with actors and actresses that are in charge of their own careers and don’t rely on their managers and agents for everything.

A lot of times talent agents and managers can be a roadblock in your way to connecting with the potential stars of your film. Unless you can make direct contact, it’s possible that the script you send to their representation may never reach them. They may never even know that anything was sent for them. I hate to say it, but it all comes down to money. If an agent gets 10% of their clients’ acting income and you’re only paying $100/day for 2 or 3 days, they are already unimpressed by the mere 20 or 30 bucks they’ll be bringing in. And if it’s deferred pay, they get nothing. But for an actor who goes out and finds a lot of their own work, as low budget as it may be, and reads the script themselves, their representation gets that same 10% for doing nothing.

I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of actors and actresses who want to act and also like the material I’ve written. It has only been recently that the challenge of getting in touch with the higher level talent that I’m having to be a little more creative.