What Mistake Am I Making?
Friends, producers, agents, and managers, I would really like to ask for your honest opinion: what mistake am I making?
Let me explain my situation.
I understand that I will probably never sell a screenplay on my own. To do that, I need an agent, manager, or producer who likes my work and wants to work with me. So far, I haven't received any such offers, and that makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
I write in different genres. My portfolio currently consists of two feature films, two TV series, and one micro-drama. At the core of all my stories is drama, but I like blending it with other genres such as horror, comedy, and thriller.
Right now, I'm working on a project called "God's Secretary." It's a very ambitious project and, as it turns out, quite a challenging one. I'm currently writing the second draft and trying to make it as strong as possible.
It's a comedy-drama inspired by Bruce Almighty, but it tells a completely different story. I've also put together what I believe is a very strong dream cast: Dwayne Johnson as God, Eddie Murphy as the Devil, Samantha Fox as the female lead, Jason Statham as Archangel Michael, and several other actors.
My question is simple: what does it take for someone in the industry to want to work with me and see potential in my projects?
I know that I probably won't be able to sell my projects by myself, so I would genuinely appreciate your opinions, advice, and suggestions. What should I improve? What should I change? What would make a producer, manager, or agent take a serious interest in a writer like me?
Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Don't sweat it at all. As long as you are fulfilled by the stories you write and create, that’s what matters most. Whether anyone will take an interest in your work is something nobody can predict. Why do you even think you're making a mistake in the first place?
I completely agree with you, and first of all, writing and creating stories should bring satisfaction — and it does bring me satisfaction.
But I still would like my stories, and what I create, to reach a wider audience. I would like to see my stories on screen, since they are written as screenplays.
And this is where I feel I might be making a mistake somewhere, because I simply cannot reach any managers, agents, or producers who would be interested in my work.
I try, I reach out, but I can’t seem to get through to the right people.
I’d like to go a bit deeper, even from a psychological perspective.
Subconsciously, every screenwriter wants recognition — and I suppose I’m no exception. I also want to be recognized for my work. But I won’t go too deep into that part.
What’s more important for me is that I genuinely want to make a living as a screenwriter. First of all, because I truly love it and I will never give it up. And secondly, because due to certain health-related circumstances, I’m not really able to pursue other types of work.
So for me, this is not just a creative choice — it’s also a very practical and necessary path forward.
like in the Music business, are you going to any certain locations, meetings, or is your method all email / websites ?
something, my mother told me, “If you went to work there, go there.”
Reading Your profile, There may not be as many contacts in Ukraine, as there are in US or other places like, Europe.
hmm - I definitely understand your situation, As I am in my early 60s isn’t trying to find my next step and wonder what’s wrong. ;-)
small Two cent advice.
Kerry Kennard
I like that you went psychological with it. We all have blocks were trying to rewire so we can make a living doing something we love and get out of survival mode. Perhaps its just confidence, which we all struggle with. I definitely do. From a material perspective, have you tried paying for coverage to see what professionals think of your work? Do you know how your writing stacks up to the industry standard? The industry is far and wide and there will always be a lane for you. If you can't find managers agents or producers, try finding a lawyer - that's the route I took. You will have to pay for access so make sure you've exhausted all other options first. But keep going, you're sure to get where you want to go.
The problem is that even to understand whether my writing meets industry standards, I need someone who truly understands the business and can tell me what works and what doesn’t. Even if that person charges for their expertise—which, unfortunately, I can’t afford right now—I would still want honest, professional feedback about what needs to be improved and where I should focus my efforts.
To be completely honest, if my scripts were good enough and eventually sold, I would be willing to give up a significant percentage of a future sale. The issue is that at the moment, because of my circumstances, I simply cannot pay upfront.
What frustrates me most is that I can’t even find that one knowledgeable person. I don’t want to pay a random consultant who tells me, “Everything is wrong, rewrite it,” only for another person to say something completely different after I’ve rewritten it. I’m not looking for endless conflicting opinions.
I would like to find someone who genuinely understands how the industry works from the inside and can clearly tell me what needs to be fixed, what is already working, and what specific steps I should take to bring my writing up to the level required by the industry.
And one more thing I'd like to ask you, and please be completely honest with me if you think I'm wrong.
I know of many situations where investors don't even read the screenplay themselves. They trust the producer, agent, or other industry professional who brings the project to them, knowing that person will help develop it and bring it to a near-professional level before moving forward.
At the same time, many script consultants and editors offer screenplay polishing, dialogue polishing, and other services, often for quite a lot of money. I understand that this is important. However, even if I somehow polished my script to a perfect state, investors still might not read it or consider it simply because they don't know who I am.
That's why what I'm really looking for is not just an editor. I want to find someone whose judgment is trusted by investors and industry professionals—someone who can look at my screenplay and tell me specifically what needs to be changed to make it commercially viable and marketable.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I see it.
I believe that for investors, the most important things about a project are the concept and the core idea. Of course, a strong pitch deck also matters—one that outlines potential casting, target audience, market positioning, and possible returns. But from a creative standpoint, I think the theme and the idea are what attract attention first.
All of my projects have both. They are ambitious, original, and built around concepts that I believe are worth exploring and developing.
What I struggle with is the idea of paying large amounts of money to polish a screenplay to perfection before anyone with real industry influence has even looked at it. In my view, the job of a producer, agent, or development executive is to identify what works, point out what doesn't, and help shape the material into something marketable. That's a collaborative development process.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I would rather receive guidance from someone who truly understands the business side of the industry and can tell me what specifically needs to be improved, instead of spending a lot of money refining every page only to be told later that the script needs a major rewrite anyway.
To you, your story is excellent and it deserves to be realized—99% of the people here would agree. But as we all know, reality is a whole different story. Sometimes, a script written just on a whim gets made, while other projects with huge expectations... just stay on the shelf. That’s just my take on it, which is that every creator has an idea that feels entirely unique to them... ,:)
I agree with you. However, I don't consider anything I've written to be unique.
To be honest, I think it's almost impossible to create something completely unique today because, over more than a century of filmmaking, nearly every story, theme, and concept has been explored in one form or another.
As I mentioned in my profile, what interests me is exploring the other side of the coin. I often approach themes and ideas that have already been portrayed on screen, but from a different perspective.
I don't claim that my concepts are unique. What I do believe is that they examine familiar subjects from another angle and reveal aspects that are not usually the main focus. That's what interests me most as a writer.
Even in my latest project, The Secretary of God, I don't consider the theme to be unique. I think most people have seen Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty, so this idea has already been explored on screen.
However, what I'm trying to do is approach it from a different angle. My focus is on the idea that God gives humans free will, but also full responsibility for the choices they make.
What interests me is not the concept itself, but a deeper exploration of it—almost a detailed examination of what it actually means when humans are given both freedom and responsibility at the same time.
That's the direction I want to develop in my writing.
Why wouldn't a project be unique? The fact that it doesn't have funding and no one has stepped up to develop it yet doesn't mean the idea itself lacks uniqueness. I wish you great success with your story, because every single story carries its own message