Oh, and think about where to send —

What do you do once you’ve written your screenplay or teleplay?

A guest post from screenwriter and teacher Tom Benedek (Cocoon).

Somewhere out there, a manager, an agent, a producer, a director you respect or love is going to read what you have written and embrace your vision, your writing ability, get behind your script. Script in hand (or PDF in phone), you walk toward the light. But it flickers away, disappears from sight.

Marketing your script as is part of your job as a writer. I know poets, well regarded, published poets, who make themselves submit a batch of poems to journals every day. Poets are not marketers? Yes, they are. The poets I know who are kicking ass in the literary journals know how to talk about their writing and put some energy into pondering where their work might find a home.

Before there were pens, paper, words, letters, campfires, there were stories. Using the tools of the trade, writers can refine their stories, tell them better perhaps, replicate them, distribute them eternally. But the well told story was first transmitted speaker to listener. So even though most screenwriters would prefer not to, it may be necessary, important, highly worthwhile to transmit the story we are planning to write or have written with our mouths. In Hollywood, they call it PITCHING.

I have pitched successfully and badly many times, been hired numerous times from verbal presentation in studios or productions offices. But I am no master of the pitch. Far from it. I believe that chemistry, and a certain alignment of the right story concept or approach with the right listeners results in my own success in pitching. Whenever I have succeeded in pitching, I know I have done well with what I had. And what I had in terms of story and character was, in my mind, much more important than how I presented it. If I pitched it well, I probably felt good about what I was talking about and felt a good response from my listeners.

Still, there is an art and science to pitching: how to proceed if you are caught in the “elevator” with someone who might want to hear about your project or if you are in a meeting with decision-makers or their representatives.

It helps to have skill sets, guidelines to draw on in these situations. A solid verbal presentation. Network Hollywood — a one- week online class at Screenwritingmasterclass.com — starts Monday, July 10. We have an inspiring selection of video interviews with managers, agents, producers and a set of lectures and discussions about log lines and about how to get your material to these people properly. We will also be featuring an industry guest for our live Q and A — a real live UTA literary agent with whom you’ll try out and receive feedback on your pitch.

It’s a great class. For more information, go here.