Just saw they have the Lit Coordinator from Gersh doing a career development program on here (send them your portfolio of loglines, your previous successes, what you hope to achieve, etc - then have a 1 hour zoom).
Curious if anyone's done this with any previous mentors that can shed light on how this works out and what to expect? I'm on the fence on if I should drop the $$$ for it, but want to know what to expect first.
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WARNING: past results do not guarantee future results. TRAVIS: did one two weeks ago with a really well known streaming executive. An absolute waste of time and money. I followed the proscribed steps. Send my logline, etc. Didn't do a Zoom, just phone.
Anyway, he never referenced any loglines or anything else I wrote. All he did was talk about how tough HIS job is during these somewhat lean times. He didn't show any interest or curiosity about MY work or what I was looking to get out of the meeting. I was ready to hang up on him after 30 minutes but I didn't because I didn't want to be accused of being rude. I yielded that ground to him. It's like a dealer at 3-card Monte warns when you step up to his table...you pay your money and you take your chances.
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I guess it really just depends on what your goal is. If you’re trying to get a project sold chances are a coordinator won’t be able to do that for you. Not very many people have buying or green lighting powers.
But maybe that person has good ideas of how to make your script better. If that’s what you want go for it
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Cameron Tendaji My goal is to get a new agent (after recently parting ways with my last one) to get my material out to a wider crowd of decision makers than I can get to on my own. Since he's the lit coordinator for Gersh, my thought is that perhaps if he digs my stuff he can get me a meeting with an agent there to discuss potentially repping me? All the reps I've had to date... well they didn't really do much. All the deals they've negotiated on my behalf are deals I brought to the table myself -- that goes for both options and writing assignments. I have not had a general meeting since pre-covid-times, and I've still never gotten a staffing meeting.
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Hey All, for the Career Development Calls, we make sure to prep the execs by sending a detailed email which takes them through potential talking points, actionable advice etc. I can't speak as much to your particular experience Michael Elliott, but please know that the intention is for the execs who participate in these calls to come primed and front loaded with a roadmap for how to make these calls a positive experience for both the writer and the exec. And the writers can come with some questions in hand as well, of course, for a better back and forth. That's my two cents. My additional two cents would be to not cold call agencies like Gersh. In my years of experience I have yet to hear of that yielding substantive results.
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Nick...I don't doubt Stage 32 does its due diligence. I hold the organization blameless. Just this guy didn't live up to his advanced billing.
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Travis Seppala I’m sure you’re aware of this but agents usually only rep folks that they know they can make money off of and they more than likely won’t take time to read a script from a coordinator (who in most times are promoted assistants) when they have scripts to read and package for their other clients who already make them money.
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Cameron Tendaji I have been previously repped. And I DO make money as a screenwriter. I've sold 2 feature scripts that've been produced and distributed. I've optioned about a dozen more (3 of which are currently optioned and in the casting/crewing/finding$ phase). I've been hired to write a bunch of stuff.
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Travis Seppala that’s excellent. My apologies. I was a little confused, I would imagine you would already have connects at Gersh and wouldn’t need to pay a coordinator for a chat, as I’m sure you’re aware of the unlikelihood of them being able to assist
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Travis Seppala congratulations on having an already successful screenwriting career. I, myself, in addition to being the Managing Director of Stage 32 also have produced a feature film, several shorts, and recently sold two TV shows - one to USA and one to a mini-major studio, where I attached an A-list Apple showrunner & we are now casting. So, I understand the situation you are in on trying to find the next open door. I echo what Nick says - we take our relationships with our executives very seriously and Nick works his ass off instilling expectations on their contributions to our Stage 32 community. Jimmy is awesome. He is extremely well connected, is eager to make connections with our community. And, what many people don't understand is that assistants and coordinators hold a ton of power in todays' climate. Senior level execs are spread thin with a lot of the restructures so when a project gets set up it is usually due to the tireless support of a coordinator or assistant. The TV show I sold to the mini-major was singlehandedly championed by the coordinator and she has been our point person all the way through. Most Senior level execs are dealing with current or projects in production that the development falls to the coordinator/assistant level. And, the Senior level execs we have here at Stage 32 do bring projects in and typically give to the coordinator or assistant to manager. I'd highly encourage doing a career development call with Jimmy. Talk to him about the set up at Gersh, which agents might be a fit for you (especially since you've already sold that is prime for new representation), and, honestly, Jimmy also reps writers so, there's that. He sold out of his career development calls when we announced him earlier this week and we just talked to him about opening up more spots and he did. Feel free to DM me if you have any other questions.
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Cameron Tendaji I have ZERO connections at Gersh. I have very few connections period, to be honest. I also have NO IDEA what talking with the lit coordinator could or could not do for me. Hence, this thread existing - me asking for people's thoughts. ;)
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Dan Guardino I have no idea what a lit coordinator does or doesn't do. All I know is that talking to someone at Gersh about myself, my material, and my needs and having them give advise (fingers crossed it could lead to them passing my stuff to one of the reps there) sounds like a potentially promising venture.
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Amanda Toney Congrats on selling TV shows! That's amazing, and I'm super jealous. I've written about a dozen pilots, but can't seem to get them anywhere as my only personal contacts are indie film producers with zero interest in TV... and the TV producers don't respond to my emails. :( And even when I was repped (I've been repped several times now) I've never had a single staffing meeting and have only gotten 2 generals plus a read at a third that went nowhere.