| Follow-up: Keeping Your Project Top-of-Mind |
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| Marguerite Pigott | |
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"Hi. I just wanted to see how you're doing, and to see if you've read my project yet." Sigh. This is how most follow-up phone calls begin, and it's not ideal. Buyers know that you know that if they had read your project, they would have called you already. So if your phone call starts this way, the buyer knows what you’re really saying is, “Hi. I’m trying to be nice even though I’m frustrated. I know this is futile, but would you please read my script.” Or something very much like that. It’s completely fair for producers to get frustrated at how long it takes for companies to review their projects, and to give them an answer. But here’s the thing. The people who work at these companies have to organize their workload in order of importance to their employer. So while they may genuinely want to read your script, if it’s in their employer’s interests for them to do 50 other things first, that’s what they must do. Create some momentumTip:
At the follow-up stage, there’s an effective way to do this: have news about your project that the buyer would want to know. Got new financing? Director’s last film just sold to a U.S. distributor? Pick up the phone and call your potential buyers to let them know. The news shows them that the project has momentum, and that you’re a dynamic producer – you’re not just sitting around waiting for their answer. Momentum is crucial. It’s hard to create, but if buyers feel your project has it, they may be concerned that if they don’t make an offer someone else will and they will miss an opportunity. For a buyer, this is a very bad thing. Put differently, flattery may work for a few people, but paranoia works for everyone. That said, never lie. Never overstate in order to create a sense of momentum. People find out. And once you’ve lied, and they’ve found out, that event colours your relationship to that person for the rest of your career. You may not always have tremendous news about your project, and there will certainly be times when it’s hard to avoid the rhetorical question, “Have you read my script yet?” But calling with news is ideal. |
