Anything Goes : Seeking Actors to Attach to my Script by Anna Maria Elisa Manalo

Thank you, Trevor! :)

Leon - I am told it can lead to having a script produced if you are fortunate enough to know a prominent actor or actress. If they find your main characters interesting and want to star as one of them, they'll recommend it to a producer... unless they're a producer as well (eg. Redford, DeNiro, or Travolta.)

He he he.... :)

Love you bunches, Joey!! Trying to find peeps who might know Sean Bean, Jake Gylenhaal, Clive Owen or Ewan McGregor for my science fiction thriller, "High Strangeness" set in the UK and in the New Mexican desert, yo!

Hey Anna. The easiest way is to post the project in our FIND WORK section. This is where the community goes to look for gigs. Good luck!

Thanks bunches, Richard. :)

Age old question it seems. Around 200 years ago (give or take) I could get funding in order to get the A list talent. Now, I need the A list talent to get the funding, but the A list talent won't sign without the money! Catch 22 much? I'm fairly new here, but I will try the FIND WORK section and see how that flies! Good luck and Blessings to all!

I've discovered that if you have talent following you on Twitter, you can discuss the topic via direct messages. The problem is often getting the funding together before they will agree to sign on to the project. And, of course, you generally can't get the money together without the talent signing on first. Or winning the lottery. In my case, I have a lot of finished screenplays. One of them is in limbo while I attempt to secure the film rights to the entire series of books the finished screenplay and it's sequels are based on. I've had to suspend work on the second of the series because of it. This can also be considered a serious lesson to writers. Don't write the script until the film rights are FULLY secured. Otherwise, your hard work will end up in limbo.

I'm lucky that most of my scripts, with the exception of one, is an original. The one based on a nonfiction book is actually the one that helped me find an agent. The agent is now the person looking to attach talent. (Directors, editors, actors, etc.) I made it a point to get exclusive rights to adapt the book to a fiction screenplay after the first 15 pages of the script was done and the author liked it. I've been very fortunate to meet a very kind author and a wonderful entertainment attorney.

How much did it cost you to gain the rights for that book? As my previous comment shows, the rights were not FULLY secured when I wrote my screenplay. Only partly secured. Knowing what it will cost to fully secure them will get this project out of limbo finally. Meanwhile, I keep writing more movie screenplays and TV series ideas. Also, is your agent interested in taking on another client? my current agent is practically useless since he's done nothing to promote my work to anyone at all.

Thank you, Leon for the compliment! I learned that from my mentors, Joey Tuccio, Ashley Scott Myers, and my attorney, Sam Curphey. Claire, when the author saw my treatment and liked my writing, I sent him the first 15 pages. When it was clear he wanted to pursue the screenplay further, I contacted Sam and I went into a collaborative agreement which specified exclusive rights to adapt the book and a period of 5 years in which to sell the script TOGETHER as a result of it. We share the costs or coverage, contest entries, the marketing, etc. Since the author lives in the UK and I live in the U.S., we had two countries as a platform. The contract explicitly states what our expectations are of each other, including how we communicate and approve every phase of the script development, from treatment to final draft, to marketing. We are now copyrighting it as an extra measure. The agreement was about $600 thereabouts. For what we chose to do, understand that you split the profits 50/50, including 10% to the author's publisher and 10% to my agent, which he helped procure for me. As they say, if you want to fly a jet, you must have a co-pilot and a navigator. A flight plan must be in place before you take off. The destination may reap smaller rewards, but you do get there faster. I hope this helps.