THE BICYLE GUY

One of the most informative sessions at Screenwriting Expo 5 on selling yourself and your screenplay was William C. Martell’s “Guerrilla Marketing Your Script.” The west coast editor of Scr(i)pt Magazine has written 18 produced films and been called the “Robert Towne of made for cable movies” by the Washington Post. Most notably he wrote Fred Olen Ray’s “Invisible Mom” and has had movies produced by HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and the USA Network starring Gary Busey, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Tia Carrere and C. Thomas Howell. On his website, it says “Martell was born in the same hospital, in the same month, as Tom Hanks. Many believe they were switched at birth, and Bill should be the movie star.” The following are 10 helpful hints I took away from his talk at the Expo, where he discussed why he has become known as “The Bicycle Guy,” how to get name recognition in Hollywood and why he probably pulls out a hammer like Dawn Weiner on “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and smashes every copy he can get his hands on of his first produced film.

WILLIAM C. MARTELL

1.) Write everything down. Set goals and deadlines for yourself. Write out lists of things you want to accomplish. Best-case scenario is what you hope to accomplish. Worst-case scenario is the reality of what will probably happen. Martell also said keep a list of people that you know that could possiblly help you. Stockpile ideas. Write them down so you don’t forget them and have them to go back to later.

2.) Submit query letters. Martell pointed out sending five letters a year to producers is cheaper than buying a Big Mac, so there really isn’t a reason not to. In the letter, explain why you are qualified to write the script. He shared the story of a friend who had military background and repossessed private airplanes for a living. That biographical piece of information would be helpful if his friend was submitting a war, crime or thriller screenplay query, but might not be relevant in the case of a romantic comedy.

3.) Billboard yourself. Martell likened query letters to a billboard for Coca-Cola. “You see a sign that says drink Coca-Cola,” Martell said. “You look at that sign and you do not immediately go and buy a Coca-Cola. But after awhile of seeing that sign over and over and over again, you go, “Hmmm… I’m thirsty. I think I’ll go buy a coke.” The thinking is if you hammer away with query letters, eventually your name will become so familiar to producers that they may give you a shot. “When I first started out,” Martell said. “I wanted to receive 100 rejections, which is a great mind set to have. If you are looking for success, you want a huge volume of failure. A big volume of failure means that you are going to keep hammering away and eventually you will find success. If every time you send out your script, you expect someone is going to buy it, you’re going to get depressed.”

4.) Create new material. Martell tries to write one good page a day. He worked a fulltime job he hated for many years. During that time he wrote one page a day, knowing at the end of each year he would have completed three new screenplays. “I spent whatever time before work writing that one good page,” Martell said. “So in my ten years driving a forklift I wrote 30 new screenplays.” The more material you have, the more serious producers take you as a writer and the more projects you have to discuss when you finally get to talk to one.

5.) Use the phones and cold call producers. “One thing people always ask is what they should do if they can’t get through to somebody important on the phone,” Martell said. “The answer is: The guy that picks up the phone is your best friend.” Martell shared a story of calling a production company to pitch a screenplay he had written and getting a hold of a temp receptionist. Martell pitched it to the temp. “He goes, ‘Wow. I’m looking at the posters on the wall and your script sounds perfect. But I still can’t put you through,’” Martell said. “Would you read the script?” Martell recalls asking him. The temp agreed to, so Martell sent the script in. The temp read it, liked it, mentioned it to the head of development and Martell ended up selling the screenplay. “The person that answers the phone is at the center of the company,” Martell said. “That person can help you.” Martell also said keep note cards by the phone with pitches and biographical information on yourself. That way if someone calls while you are in the middle of something, you can pull out the card and read the information.

6.) Blockbuster research. Martell said an easy way to help figure out who may like your script is to take a look at what they’ve produced. Target producers who make movies like your screenplay by simply walking the isle of a video store and flipping the boxes over to see who produced them. Also, keep up with what is being sold to whom. Find out who is buying what to be smart about where you submit your work. Read trade magazines like Hollywood Reporter and internet sites like Mandy.com and Scriptsales.com. If you find a script similar to one you have written has sold, it doesn’t necessarily mean the death of your work because another studio may want to try and get a rip-off film out before the other studio.

7.) Flash cards. When Martell attends events, film festivals, conventions and such he makes himself flash cards with photos and information on various producers in case he bumps into them. Most people don’t necessarily know what the producers of films look like, but their photos are online and in trade magazines. Martell suggest clipping them out, pasting them to a note card and adding any biographical information you can. That way you would not only recognize them, but could actually strike up a conversation with them. (Of course, you still have to be smart and have some tact. At the Expo two years ago, my brother and I took a leak next to Larry Karaszewski, who is one of the writers of “Ed Wood,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt,” and “Man on the Moon.” Though we both have a great deal of respect for the guy, a urinal stall isn’t quite the best place to approach him and ask for tips on writing a biopic on Anton LaVey or Herschell Gordon Lewis. More recently after a special screening and Q&A session for “Born on the Fourth of July,” my brother had the honor of taking a leak next to Oliver Stone. Again, not a good time. I was waiting outside and saw Stone on his way out of the restroom. Though I wanted to shake his hand and say something, I had no clue if he had washed before making his exit. Not a good time either.)

8.) Fan mail. Martell says to keep a list of all your favorite movies. Find out who wrote them, who did the special effects or the music and the cinematography. Those are the people you send fan mail to. “Everybody sends fan mail to stars,” Martell said. “They get so much that star mail is handled with a bunch of illegals sitting in a room, signing, ‘Love you, Tom Cruise.’ But technical people don’t get that much fan mail.” Martell wrote fan mail to special effects master Albert Witlock, who has worked on more than 100 movies and TV shows from the original “Star Trek” series to John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” Whitlock wrote Martell back, told him nobody had ever sent him fan mail before and invited him down to the Universal Pictures lot. Martell says if you can’t find an address for who you are wanting to write, send it c/o to the studio they’ve worked for. The same can be said for many directors and relatively unknown actors.

9.) Trademark yourself. Martell says any kind of name recognition or association is a good thing. Come up with a logo or an image to use on your envelopes, faxes and letters and figure out some way to make yourself stand out. Tired of being parked a half hour walk away when he would go to studios for meetings, Martell started riding his bicycle. “If you ride your bicycle, you can just go right up to the door of the office,” Martell said. “I ended up being ‘The Bicycle Guy.’ People would go, ‘Oh yeah, hey. It’s the bicycle guy.’ Umm… which I’m not sure is a good thing.” But it got him remembered. Martell also says to send junk mail. Everyone sends Christmas cards, so try to be creative and send producers greeting cards for other times of the year. Martell sends greeting cards out for Groundhog’s Day. Martell also created a spoof of a yellow page ad selling himself as a screenwriter and got postcards printed up. He sent it to every producer’s address he could find. He then started sending the postcards as junk mail to specific producers three times a year. “Finally the producer of ‘Dumb & Dumber’ called me,” Martell said. “He said, ‘I’ll make you a deal. I’ll invite you to the premiere of a movie provided you never send me junk mail again.’” Your junk mail could be anything from a mini poster of your movie with the synopsis on the back, to a brochure listing any film credits or accomplishments you have, to a simple “writer for hire” advertisement.

10.) Befriend the little guys. You never know who will be the next big thing. The actors, directors, writers and editors of public access television and little movies could be the hot filmmakers of tomorrow. Tap into your local film community. Martell says make friends, keep them and make a “first man through” pact. “The first man through, pulls everyone else through,” Martell said. “That’s how it works. This is a business where you don’t want to be backstabbing anyone. You want to be the guy that everyone owes a favor.” Martell’s first produced screenplay was made in his hometown of Concord, California, which is 29 miles east of San Francisco with a population of 120,000. “It was called ‘Ninja Busters’ and every time I see a copy of it on VHS, I buy it and destroy it,” Martell said. “But the thing is, there is somebody, the next Steven Spielberg, living within maybe 50 miles from you. Find that person. Connect with that person.” You start working within your community and there’s no telling where the creative products you complete or the connections you make will take you.

- CCF, November 2006