Andrew was educated at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and the University of California at Santa Cruz.  He has authored The Cigar Connoisseur along with numerous magazine articles on cigars, food & wine and travel.  Aside from these areas of interest, Andrew has written for both film and television having sold an original screenplay as well as a two-hour A&E Biography.   

After you’ve put the finishing touches and polished your spec screenplay--all 120 pages of it, having read through it a couple dozen times, you're finally confident that you've eliminated the last typos and loose ends.  You've run off a dozen copies complete with card-weight cover stock and brass brads which sit neatly on your desk.  What’s next?  How do you sell or even attempt to market your script? 

Knowing your market is the first step.  Knowing where to submit your screenplay is crucial.  Rather than submitting to a large studio like Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, or 20th Century Fox where your script has a high percentage of getting lost, consider targeting the independent producer also known as a production company. 

A producer is a businessperson who finds and develops scripts, packages them together with actors and other creative people, and sells the resulting "package" to a studio.  There are literally thousands of full-and part-time producers in Hollywood, ranging from small-time hustlers and dabblers to major production companies that may have a dozen or more film and TV projects in the works at any given moment along with a multi-picture studio deal.  Established production companies will usually have a director of development and/or a story editor who reads scripts.  In some cases, these people will read submissions from unknown, un-agented writers.  More often, they refuse to read unsolicited submissions much like the major studios because they already have more scripts than they can possibly read and because they're afraid of being sued by a new writer who accuses them of stealing either completely or fractionally, their idea. 

The question becomes, “how do I reach these producers and their staffs?”  Often, you'll need to approach them through an agent, though some producers will read your script if you sign a release to protect them from plagiarism suits, but it's still better to have an agent, if only because an agent knows who's a legitimate producer and who has never made a film. 

In trying to pursue representation from an agent, the first step is compiling a current list of agents.  As common sense would dictate, the more agents you pursue, the greater the percentage of eventually finding one or cultivating a relationship with one who will end up signing and eventually representing you. 

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGA) offers an inexpensive list of agencies that represent screenwriters.  Unfortunately, the list is next to useless because more often than not, it's out of date and it lists only the agencies and not the individual agents who work for them. 

A better source of agents' names, addresses, and phone numbers is the Hollywood Agents and Managers Directory, which is published bi-annually.  The directory costs around $50 per issue plus shipping and handling.  It's definitely worth every penny if you're serious and motivated about a screenwriting career. 

The Hollywood Agents and Managers directory contains detailed listings for every literary and talent agency that does business in Hollywood.  Look up CAA the Creative Artists Agency and you'll find two columns of agents' names and specialties.  This means that, instead of writing a "Dear Sir or Madam" letter, you can write a personal query to an agent who specializes in "motion picture/literary" (film/screenplays) or "television/literary" (TV writers).  

The publishers of Hollywood Agents and Managers Directory also produce the Hollywood Creative Directory, which lists producers and studio personnel.  But initially, you'll be searching for an agent, so the Hollywood Creative Directory is better served for future times. 

Mega-agencies like CAA, ICM and William Morris tend to be less than friendly to new writers, although it's possible that an ambitious new mailroom employee could discover your query.  Finding success with the smaller to medium-sized agencies is a more sensible path since they sometimes can’t afford to employ a full-time secretary who does nothing but send out rejection letters all day long. 

Once you've compiled a list of agencies that handle screenplays, you need to write a compelling query letter that will catch an agent's attention and show that you're a talent with ideas and skills to burn. 

As a general rule, query letters should be no more than a page.  A query letter should capture a reader’s attention with a succinct, businesslike, but lively presentation of a compelling premise. 

When you've written and edited your query letter, send it off along with a self-addressed stamped envelope to as many agents that you are interested in representing you.  Each letter should be personalized and should read like a letter to an individual, not a form letter.

Selling your screenplay requires the kind of natural-born salesperson personality who enjoys cold calls the way other people enjoy cold cuts.  If this is you then by all means use the telephone to contact your agent candidates.  You may not get past the receptionist, but don't let that stop you.  The receptionist may be able to tell you which agent is most likely to be open to a mail query and in the smaller agencies, the receptionist may turn out to be a junior agent or even one of the agency principals. 

Selling a screenplay is a challenge, especially if you live a thousand miles from Hollywood.  New writers do get lucky now and then and every successful screenwriter was a beginner at some point in his or her career.  Don't let the odds stop you; after all, you didn't let those odds keep you from writing that 120-page script!