Selling Your Screenplays & Producing Your Plays Without Management
Join professional screenwriter and playwright, Lynn Grant Beck, as she shares “the tricks of the trade” for breaking into Hollywood without an agent or manager and producing your plays.
It’s often said that the toughest part of being a screenwriter is breaking in. That’s because there are thousands of screenwriters attempting to sell their scripts. Most new screenwriters believe that they need an agent or manager to break in. But the truth is that representatives make their money from working writers, and they want you to launch your own career before they represent you. The good news is that there are more resources than ever for aspiring screenwriters to sell their scripts and “break in” on their own. There are also available avenues for playwrights to have their plays optioned or even produce their own play.
Join professional screenwriter and playwright, Lynn Grant Beck, as she shares “the tricks of the trade” for breaking into Hollywood without an agent or manager and producing your plays.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
- How to write scripts that sell
- How to target the right producer for your project
- How to capitalize on contests
- How to apply to writing fellowships
- How to effectively network
- How to find an agent, manager, or lawyer
- How to pitch your play to theaters
- How to produce your play through venues like the Fringe Festival
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
- Novice screenwriters seeking screenwriting basics to write a marketable script
- Accomplished screenwriters seeking tips to market and sell their scripts
- Playwrights seeking advice on marketing their plays
- Playwrights seeking advice on producing their own play
- Anyone looking to learn effective networking skills
Learn from an expert instructor!
Why do I write? Because I’m obliged to observe human behavior and bear witness to our tumultuous times. I tap into the zeitgeist, not only to illuminate what is here, but also to discover what is percolating and emerging. If I do my job correctly, I make people uncomfortable with the truth of the things. I shake them up, get them to see the world from a new perspective. Heaven and hell are right here on earth with real villains and true superheroes. Stories are imperative to make sense of our lives, to agitate, communicate, inspire and entertain. Screenwriters remind audiences that we are all in this great ship of humanity together, and that if we row in sync, perhaps we just might steer this ship in a new direction. Now for the actual writing.
My new play, All American, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in spring of 2022, where it was nominated for Best Drama and won the Hollywood Producers Encore Award. My latest dramatic series, The House that Jackie Built, is currently being pitched to streaming networks. I’ve also written an action/disaster feature, BlackOut, as well as two animated family features, Sandra Claus and The Treasured Cat. I was hired to write a TV pilot, Hashers, by Google VP, Jim Kolotouros. My TV movie thriller, My Mom is a Bank Robber, aired on Lifetime in 2016 and my TV movie rom-com, 12 Gifts of Christmas, aired on the Hallmark Channel in 2015. My other MOW scripts include Spring Break Nightmare, Quiet Night, Trapped and Cult of Lies.
My feature screenplay, Dead Wrong, won an award in the WIF/MORE Screenplay contest and was optioned by the director, John Rhode. My half hour pilot, Life in 2D, won a fellowship at the Writers Boot Camp and I was hired to co-write a sci-fi web series, The Annex, by director Hank Isaac. I was also hired to write the feature comedy, Hollywood Hit, for Miracle Mile Ent.
My other feature scripts include two comedies, James Borkowsky 000 and Trophy Husband, two romantic comedies, The Death of Art and Trouble, and a sci-fi adventure story, Jonny Was. I’ve also written a sci-fi series, Fuzion, a spec TV script of Mad Men, and another half hour original pilot, Twindroids.
I currently teach screenwriting at Script University, and have taught at Pepperdine University, Spalding University, the University of Auckland, and SMC. I received my MFA in Screenwriting at UC Riverside in 2021. I have significant industry experience as VP of Production at Kopelson Entertainment, as well as a CE at Interscope Communications. During my tenure at Interscope I traveled to Australia where I was an assistant producer on Pitch Black with Vin Diesel.
Originally from NJ, I arrived in Los Angeles from New York where I was a playwright. I founded the independent theater company, The Chelsea Players, and wrote and produced numerous successful Off-off Broadway plays. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Russian Studies, I traveled to Russia where I worked as an assistant director at the Nikitsky Vorot Theater. I wrote about the experience in a memoir titled Adventure in the Soviet Union. I’ve also written numerous manuscripts for children’s books. My love of writing and the arts in general was first fostered during high school at Choate Rosemary Hall. I currently live in Ashton, Idaho with my husband, and have two children attending college.
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