Lying, cheating and stealing - Writers Forum

Space Monkey · 11-21-2005, 07:16 AM

I'm curious to know if anyone has tried unorthodox methods of getting ahead, rather than waiting in line for the usual 'submission, wait forever, unread rejection' cycle?

Like, a friend spent a year courting the receptionist at Paramount, which eventually led to a meeting and a movie option. I got on the phone to a London film company, and they're now waiting on my novel manuscript.

Just wondered if there are any genius guerilla stories out there about how someone jumped the queue with any amount of success?

mammamaia · 11-21-2005, 08:54 AM

there are always exceptions to any rule... and there are stories of first-time novelists and screenwriters 'making it' via 'unorthodox' means... such as james redfield self-publishing his grade school quality first book and renting a store in a mall to sell it, resulting in attracting oprah's attention... the rest being history...

the film world has its own anomalies... but, it's still the old plodding approach that gets most writers' work published and produced... so, if you're thinking of doing only the 'not done,' my best advice would be to tread the traditional path at the same time, just in case the fancy footwork doesn't get you to the dotted line...

oh, and i strongly advise against sinking to 'lying, cheating, and stealing'... that might get you noticed, but will inevitably come back to bite you on the a$$, in the long run... agents/editors/producers have longer memories than elephants!...

usernamelessness · 11-21-2005, 09:17 AM

Well, there is always the famous Stan Lee story...

Turns out, when Stan submitted his Spiderman idea...the manager[or whatever] thought it would be a total flop due to arachnophobia and etc. So, Stan Lee accepted it but stuck the Spiderman comic in the middle of the readied copy before photocopying. When results came back about how great Spiderman was...the manager was too happy to get mad at Stan, I guess.

It went on...something like that.