For the last 50 years, you had to live in L.A. if you were selling a screenplay and building a screenwriting career.   It is just the way things were…

…but there is change in the air.

We recently did a ScreenwritingU event where I interviewed 16 producers and 2 agents in Los Angeles for a group of our writers.  One of the questions that came up over and over was…

“Is selling a screenplay possible from outside L.A.?”

In the audience, we had writers from all over the world.   Only a few lived around L.A., so this one question was pretty important to the group.

WHAT WAS THE SCORE?

I’ve done interviews with producers for twelve years.   Up until recently, the typical answer to the “selling a screenplay from outside L.A.” question was “The odds are against you.”  But this year, there was a change.

QUESTION:  Is it possible to sell scripts from outside L.A.?

15 producers said YES.

1 producer and both agents said NO.

QUESTION:  Have you optioned or bought a script from outside L.A.?

8 producers said YES.

3 producers had already made movies with writers from outside the U.S.

It’s not a perfect score, but it means that it is possible for a writer to succeed from anywhere in the World.

FIRST, THE BAD NEWS…

…which isn’t really bad.   Let’s get the “no’s” out of the way.

The producer who said no was from a big production company on the lot of Universal.  He likes to see writers face-to-face.  He does a lot of meetings.  For his way of doing business, you would have to live in town.

For the two agents, their whole success depends upon you being active in the Hollywood community.  They want you meeting producers, going in for assignment jobs, and generally, making money – for you and the agent.   That doesn’t mean you can’t get an agent or manager from outside of town;  you can.  Just don’t go for the big agencies.

Those three represented the “standard Hollywood model” of working with writers.  It is how things have traditionally been done and it will continue to be the standard for a while to come, but…

NOW, THE GOOD NEWS

Fifteen producers said YES.  Half of them have optioned scripts from writers out of town.  They have found that working with writers can be done on the phone or on the Net.   In fact, some of them have become quite proficient at it.

When I asked what had attracted them to work with a writer on the Net, they gave answers that remain a constant in this industry.

• Intriguing concept.
• Great characters.
• Quality of writing.
• Interesting voice.

They are looking for writers who bring in professional quality scripts.   And that makes sense because the producer is looking to make great movies.

WHAT’S YOUR PART IN THIS?

You need to do everything you can to make it easy for producers to work with you.  If your producer is new to the Net, walk him through the process and MAKE SURE IT WORKS.   He will always remember you for liberating him from the old model.

WHERE CAN YOU FIND PRODUCERS?

In the last few years, many of the mid-level producers in Los Angeles have joined Social Networks.  They’re on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.   Some are actively looking for scripts.  Some are just exploring the territory.

But if you strike up a relationship, you never know what might happen.   The odds of selling a screenplay are more and more in your favor every day.

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SPECIAL NOTE:  I’ve made it one of my missions to help writers break in from outside Los Angeles.  If you look at our Screenwriters To Watch page where we list over 100 screenwriting deals our group has made, you’ll see that many of them are from outside California and about half are from outside the U.S..  Our professional screenwriting program has a whole module devoted to ways writers can market themselves from anywhere in the world.