[QUOTE="Film-Guy"][QUOTE="Sajedene"] Well to register your work with the WGA is relatively cheap. Do that and get your stuff copyrighted as well. Saves you any legal drama for later. Being a WGA member though is quite expensive. References are pretty much just big name people saying "You need to see this guy/read this." It stops us from tossing you in the trash right away (sad but true). In regards to the big agencies... there are the big 5 (CAA, WMA, UTA, ICM, Endeavor)-- they handle packaging and that is way you will notice the same people in the industry work together all the time. But there are at least 15 big agencies overall -- including the big 5. They are the ones that are at least bi-coastal (LA, NY, and maybe CHI) and will have the important departments (Film/TV, Lit, Commercials, Alternative Programming, etc) These top agencies are harder to get into and usually grab their pool of talent from the smaller agencies -- offering them bigger, better things (yes, we are wolves like that). It is VERY VERY rare (and usually only happens in commercial/hosting departments) that we take a look at someone with no experience. It is usually only because they were given a chance by someone else (IE: Freida Pinto)Sajedene
I see, well that lowers my chances quite a bit. I'm glad I know this before assuming that my work will even get glanced at. The agencies I was thinking of are the Endeavor agency, and the Gary Goddard agency. I don't know how big they are, but either was it doesnt look like my chances are good. Are there ways to get work looked at or an agency more interested in a script? If possible should I look at their past projects to get an idea of what they seem to be interested in looking at or does it not really matter? Here's my tip... skip the agencies and shop your script (after it has been registered and copyrighted) to production companies. When a production company buys the rights or options your script -- the agents will come to you (we are head hunters after all). Look at the style of your script and then look at different production companies and see what type of movies they produce then send a copy of your script there.
And your recommendations are good. Bigger names are always better but named recommendations are better than no recommendation. We literally get hundreds of submissions everyday and anything to get you to stand out is good. Since you are doing a script, a good cover letter is a must. If you can't be witty or funny -- skip it (we'll just laugh and keep it in our funny files -- yes we do have that). Make it one page (its a cover letter after all) and just do a quick intro and sum up the story.
Best of luck!
ETA: most actors who work for little to no pay do it for a project they feel truly passionate about or for their friends who are involved in a project. There is no way of knowing who will do it. Heck, at work, we have clients who suddenly say "hey I wont be available for this because I want to work for so and so's project" which in turn has us scrambling to get contracts and deals in place.
A bit off topic sorry, but what exactly do you work as? You know a lot about this certain topic, which i am also interested in.
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