Speaker 1: We often hear it's impossible to get a screenplay read and especially now so many new writers want to get into Netflix, want to get a meeting with someone. Is it impossible?

Speaker 2: No, it's not impossible but I think you have to calibrate, you have to be realistic. I mean people talk about Netflix a lot certainly, it's the big lion in the jungle and we see a lot of good projects being produced or acquired so that's great. Netflix is actually one of the companies being as big as they are it's understandable. They're a company who basically advertises they have a policy that if we don't have an existing relationship with you don't knock on our door. So it would seem logical that people would have this feeling like oh, I can't get read. But it's really not what it seems. What they're really saying is invest a little time, make yourself known to us. How do you do that? First of all there's a couple of dozen very vibrant streamers, not just Netflix, they're not the world of streaming, they're one of the biggest of them. And there's a lot of places that you can go who don't have the policy of we don't accept unsolicited material or you can't come pitch us, whatever it might be. But if you really want to get in the door, it reminds me of back in the day when Carlos Santana wanted to play at Fillmore West up in San Francisco and Bill Graham the empresario was like I don't know who this kid is. And people you knock and you knock and you knock. It's like Jeffrey Kastner always used to say if you can't get in the front door go through the back door. If you get in the back door climb through a window. If you can't go in through the basement there's a way in and that's true. Well Carlos Santana climbed up a drain pipe on the exterior of the building to the third floor and fell through the window into Bill Graham's office. That's how they met. Well I don't recommend that necessarily but it worked. It started his career. By the same token if you want to get into Netflix how hard is it to research who are all the people who have either produced for them an original or had a film acquired by them and cozy up to them? This is team sport. It takes a village to get any project made, series, feature, limited series, docu-series, whatever. So you're going to want to be knowing these people regardless. Well why don't you just find the ones who are doing the kinds of projects, genre, budget that are similar to yours who happen to have that relationship and go that route. There's a lot of ways in. And the other way is there are a lot of people who work at Netflix. Befriend them. This is not like a pass fail report card or menu of options. It's a human reality. And if you really are determined to get into Netflix there are people at all levels from assistant all the way up where you can identify them and you can find them on LinkedIn. They're named and you can reach out to them and you can do what we were just talking about a moment ago which is introduce yourself but not to say I want a pitch meeting or I want you to read my script. I just want to get to know you. Because what happens is if you actually invest a couple of short calls doing that over a period of weeks that prohibition against we don't deal with strangers or we don't read unsolicited material vanishes and evaporates because now you're not unknown. That's a human metric and you can overcome that. I'll share a quick story about many, many years ago. When I have a project I always put together what I call a top 100 list. Who are the people that ideally in every category that I would want to approach to talk about this project from editors and writers and cinematographers and casting directors to producers to buyers, studios, streamers, you name it. And I will just go through that list and prioritize them and I'll reach out to them. And usually again it may not be the name on the door or maybe it is. But the story that I want to share is that years ago I made a list and it wasn't arrogance. It was a dream. So I added a name to my list that was the most preeminent name in Hollywood at the time and probably still is, Steven Spielberg. So here I am a little guppy and I put the name of Steven Spielberg on my list. And normally you would think sober up child, it's not going to happen. But as it turns out I had gotten to know this wonderful guy, a young guy named Mitch who was an entry level guy. I met him when he was an assistant. He got promoted to creative executive and he was now a creative executive at Amblin. His ultimate boss was Steven. So I spent some months just nurturing that relationship. And one day someone sent me a script and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was beautifully crafted story, young characters, kind of a very special care, very emotional, young leads. But it was just tremendously well done. So I called up this fellow whose name was Mitch and I said Mitch, I read this script. We'd been co-conspirators. We were both starting out in the business. We were friends now, new friendship and we were excited. So he read it and he called me back. He read it on the weekend, the usual Monday morning call back and he called me back and he praised it. He said this is absolutely gorgeous. It was very emotional. It took me back to when I was that age. I had a not dissimilar experience. Fabulous. Thank you. It was really, really interesting. It's going to be a pass. And I said okay Mitch. One favor. Why? Why is this a pass? You were just singing its praises and it's because it's too small for Steven. I said okay, that's fair. I understand that. But let me ask you a question. If you put this script in Steven's briefcase for his weekend read and he were to come back Monday and say to you this is a pass, would you have any…and specifically whether it's because it's too small or otherwise, would you have any cause for embarrassment? Would it in any way jeopardize your standing in the company? He said no. It's a brilliant script. I said great. Then I am on…we're on a phone. You can't see me but I'm on one knee and I am begging you put it in Steven's briefcase. And he did. Steven read it and he wanted to buy it. Now no one was more stunned than I was. But I think this is a business that turns on belief. It's a business that turns on passion. It's a business that you've just got to go with your instincts and get your head out of the game sometimes because this is the fear factor, right? This is the don't take risk factor. Speak the truth and make friends with people. If I can get Steven Spielberg to want to buy a script, I mean he didn't…Gary Goldstein is the name. I might as well have been the clerk at the local convenience store, right? If an agent by the way had sent that very same script on my behalf it would have been absolutely a pass. It would never have gotten to Steven because it wasn't about report, it wasn't about an exploration. It was like okay, it's a pass, I get it. Magic happens when you make yourself available, when you make yourself known, when you care enough to ask the right questions, speak your truth. The fact that I as a young guppy in the business could get the attention of Steven Spielberg and maybe actually have a project together was unthinkable. People would have said you're nuts. So do I think that it's hard to get your script read? I think it's hard to get your script read when you don't take risk. If you're relying on the wrong mindset, the wrong strategy, a blind query letter or relying on some third party, we all of us need, we deserve to get in the game. We deserve to have relationships, to have cohorts and collaborators and champions and fans and allies and help one another mutually.

Speaker 1: Film Courage What point is too much though? I think many people in the entertainment industry, they're long on enthusiasm but sometimes certain times it can be too much. Maybe they've got to sort of reel it back in because you don't want to hurt your reputation where oh, it's that person again.

Speaker 2: Steven Spielberg That happens often and it may be a very well-intended enthusiasm but the enthusiasm I think you're referring to is a very self-facing enthusiasm. So it's maybe not intended to be overly grand or braggadocio or any of that but it may come across that way or just too self-focused, period. So what I would share with people is that idea that vulnerability and honesty and truth is not a push energy. It's a pull energy. It's a very attractive energy. But don't spend the whole time talking about yourself. In fact, one of the great life lessons in not just Hollywood but in life is fewer words listen more. The less you say, the fewer words you use to communicate, the more the other person remembers. If you talk too much, it just becomes a blur. But be other focused. Care about the other person. Be curious. I think that curiosity and gratitude, they're bywords today but they're real. Those are real energies. And if I approach you and I'm grateful, thank you so much for taking this call, not being overly solicitous but just honest and asking about how long have you been there and how did you get that job? It's awesome. And where do you aspire to go? I would probably be the only person not only that day but that week, month and possibly longer who's actually shown a genuine curiosity or interest in you. Because everyone else is in a rush to get past you to the boss. It's easy to make friends in this business actually. But you're right, you can't assault people with enthusiasm and expect it to be an effective strategy. It has to be very moderated. Less is more, quiet is better than loud, truth is better than grandiosity. So it's just being measured because it's hard. The G-force of people's enthusiasm can be unwelcome.

Speaker 1: If you were starting from zero today, how long do you think it would take you to get into a place like Netflix to pitch ideas?

Speaker 2: It's a great question. I think it's going to take a while regardless. You have to be committed and you have to be willing to invest some time. In the olden days we networked in a different way. We showed up in person for coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner, office meetings, nonstop. The downside to that was it was extraordinarily time consuming. The upside of that was it was very personal. The advantage of today is we can reach anyone we want. I can Google anybody, find out how to get in touch with them, where they are, where they work. If I don't know someone at that agency or that streamer I can find out who works there. I can reach out to them very quickly digitally. I can speak to them on a phone. I can get them on a Zoom. I can do whatever. Those options are very available to us. So we can truncate the time but we need more frequency of interaction because of the lack of personal connection. If we're not sitting across the lunch table from them it's different. But again I really think it's incumbent on us to be so conscious and present and aware of what our mission is and how we want to get there. I think the problem today is we are separated by technology. We're connected by technology but we're not physically in the room with them more often than not. People always say do I need to be in L.A.? No you don't need to be in L.A. If you were in L.A. you'd be having the same number of meetings that you're having right now initially for the foreseeable. So technology is our friend but it's not as personal. The hardest part back then was finding someone and getting together physically with them so you could have a relationship with them. Today you can identify someone quickly in an instant online and you can reach out to them instantly by email, by phone, what have you. But you have to invest in that and make it personal. You have to come across in a different way. If the intention is I just want a pitch meeting that's going to be hard especially at a place like Netflix. Will you build those bridges, those rapport-based bridges that let you walk into that opportunity? So I think it's really less about how is it the same or how is it different than are we ready, willing and able to invest ourselves in bridge building, human bridge building or are we just looking for someone to set us up for a meeting? One is realistic, one is not.