The trickiest advice to give up and coming writers is how to land reps. On one hand it’s simple: a special writing sample + the right person reading it. But who knows if/when a sample is actually “special” and how do you cultivate relationships to get it to “the right person”? 1/

It’s special because you have a trusted reader(s) who is candid enough to tell you when a script sucks. Because they’ll also be candid enough to tell you it’s incredible. Over time you develop confidence in your own sense of story and you’ll just know when it’s clicking. 2/

Many (most?) writers have a script that is good and don’t understand why it’s not getting them traction. The script has to be better than anything else you’re seeing on screen. It’s a script people will read, then email to a friend with the subject “you should read this shit!” 3/

I’m sure that sounds like bullshit, but nearly every screenwriter I know has a similar story where one individual spec script changed the course of their career path. It might take you 2 or 3 or 10 scripts to find that one. And then what? 4/

Cultivating relationships is maybe even the bigger challenge. It’s why so many people advise young writers to move to LA and get asst jobs. You’ll organically interface with other assts and have lots of options to send scripts to for feedback and beyond. It’s great advice. 5/

But there are so many non-traditional ways to jump the line. People get signed off TikTok. People get read from upper levels they befriend on Twitter or IG. I think these types of gateways have moved into a portion of the space also occupied by query letters. 6/

And of course you should be applying to ALL writing fellowships and to any meaningful contests that have a track record of making intros for writers. No stone unturned. 7/

But on some level it will require luck. There are hundreds of managers out there ready to sign a new voice. What if only 5 of them will ever see how special your script is? But of the hundreds, you need your script to make it to one of those 5. It requires luck or fate. 8/

And that’s where persistence comes in. Nobody will ever hustle for your career harder than you. So you write until you find that special script and then you work every channel you’ve got to get reads. 9/

Last thing. Follow writers who are in the process of breaking in right now. I got my first agent 15+ years ago. My advice is prob old af. People like @ScriptsByJames and @Balance510 and lots of others are doing this rn. Most writers want to help writers. That’s all I got!