“Unlocking the Secret: How I Secured 10 Feature Script Deals in Just Four Years—No Agent Needed!”
Two weeks later, I was a Sony Security Guard. Two weeks after that, I was working the North Thalberg VIP gate, meeting the likes of Stan Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger (pre-Governator), and nearly every A-lister you could imagine. I spoke with the studio head at the time, Amy Pascal, every day as she drove through the VIP gate and waved hello.
Let’s fast-forward this origin story a bit. Here are the highlights:
- I worked my way up into an office position as a studio liaison working with incoming productions and incoming Sony employees, executives, and term deals.
- I was writing scripts throughout this whole time, mind you, learning my craft.
- I talked my way into a development job as a script reader and story analyst, which offered me my best education in screenwriting.
- Once we had our first child in 2005, I started to focus more on my own screenwriting, eventually landing representation from a referral I garnered after querying a group of Wisconsin-rooted industry insiders (Hollywood Badgers).
- With my first notable spec script, I was thrilled to get general meetings with Disney, Universal, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, and Sony.
- Nothing came of those meetings. Such is Hollywood.
- My wife and I decided to move back to Wisconsin to raise our son (now sons) close to family.
- I cried like a baby when I drove out of the Sony VIP Gate (I had a great parking space) late at night for the last time (years later I would return to that very gate as a guest).
Sony Pictures Studios Motor Gate
My Early Pro Screenwriting Deals
Here I was, back in Wisconsin—2,000 miles away from the dream I had pursued. I was still working with my manager and was thrilled to learn that Lionsgate wanted to sign me to a development deal for an action spec script.
