EntertainmentIndustry.name
- Mike Medavoy’s Phoenix Pictures
- Peter Guber’s Mandalay Entertainment
- Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marhsall of the
Kennedy/Marshall Company
- Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen of The Jinks/Cohen
Company
- Jerry Bruckheimer’s Jerry Bruckheimer Films
- Michael Bay’s Bay Films
- Scott Rudin’s Scott Rudin Productions
- Richard Zanuck’s The Zanuck Company
Just ask the Ghostbusters: never underestimate the power of the Gatekeeper. Today’s Assistant is tomorrow’s studio executive. Nobody stays in any job in Hollywood very long. Remember that. Be nice and polite and courteous and professional to all you encounter. An assistant can lose your messages or take the initiative to read your script themselves and recommend that their boss read it, or put on the top of their boss’s stack to take home. Assistants are your friends. They are the Key Masters to the Universe.
There are a great many resources for tracking down contact information. The most common and reliable are:
The Hollywood Creative Directory - www.hcdonline.com
The Internet Movie Database - www.imdbpro.com
Studio System - www.studiosystem.com
Entertainment Power - www.entertainmentpower.com
Contact low-level assistants at production companies (ideally with studio deals) and pitch your script to them. They are looking for projects to launch their own careers up the corporate ladder.
Try to get up and coming video and commercial directors to attach to your project and pitch it for you to production companies or studios they have pre-existing deals with. They work fast and cheap, so studios love them.
Make a list of commercials or videos you like and get the name of the ad agency or production company (the library has research books listing ad agencies and their clients or check the fine print of advertisements in music and video magazines. Or even call the company who makes the product directly and get the name of their agency — and track the director down.
You can do the same thing with straight-to-video (or DVD) or low-budget feature directors. Contact the DGA. You can purchase a Directory of Members for about thirty dollars — you don’t have to be a member — call DGA at 310-289-2000or send a letter care of the DGA — and they’ll forward to the director on your behalf.
You can send your script to actors care of SAG — they will forward for you as well. Try WhoRepresents.com to track down representatives — though going through and actor’s agent or manager without a cash deal on the table can be next to impossible. Far better to try the route of their publicity person or even personal assistant. Better yet, watch the trades for the charities and non-profits and causes they’re involved in and try to meet them at those events — or volunteer to sit on those boards.
|
