Lesson 4 – Relationships Are the Real Currency of the Film Business
One of the biggest myths about the film industry is that success comes from sending your screenplay to the right person and hoping they discover you.
I wish it worked that way. It doesn’t.
Over the past 25 years, I’ve worked as a film commissioner, producer, writer, director, festival founder, and film executive. I’ve seen thousands of projects come across my desk. I’ve attended countless film festivals and markets around the world, and one thing has become crystal clear to me.
This is a relationship business.
People don’t generally work with strangers. They work with people they know, people they trust, and people they’ve had good experiences with. That’s true whether you’re talking about investors, producers, actors, sales agents, distributors, or crew members.
One of the questions I get all the time is, “How do I submit my screenplay?” My response is usually another question.
Who are you submitting it to?
Why are you sending it to them?
Why would they read it?
If you don’t have good answers to those questions, then you’re probably asking the wrong question in the first place.
I see aspiring filmmakers spend hours researching production companies and managers, only to cold email them with a screenplay attachment and a short message asking them to read it. In theory, that sounds logical. In reality, it’s one of the least effective things you can do.
Think about it from the other person’s perspective. Imagine someone you’ve never met walks into your office and says, “I have a screenplay. I’d like you to spend the next two years of your life helping me raise millions of dollars, put together a cast, hire a crew, solve every problem that comes up, and help me make my dream come true.”
That’s essentially what a cold submission is. It’s not just ineffective. It’s asking an enormous favor from someone who has absolutely no reason to say yes.
In fact, I’d go one step further. I think it’s a little rude.
People sometimes assume that’s just how Hollywood works. It isn’t. You wouldn’t walk up to a complete stranger and ask them to loan you a million dollars. Yet filmmakers do the equivalent every day by sending unsolicited scripts and asking strangers to invest years of their lives into a project.
Relationships don’t work that way. The better approach is to build the relationship first.
Attend film festivals. Volunteer. Go to workshops. Join filmmaking organizations. Work on other people’s productions. Meet people without expecting anything from them. Get to know them as people instead of immediately trying to sell them something.
One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to stop asking yourself, “Who can help me?” and start asking, “How can I help someone else?”
Can you volunteer on a set?
Can you introduce two people who should know each other?
Can you help another filmmaker finish their project?
Can you use your skills to make someone else’s film better?
Those things matter.
People remember who showed up. They remember who worked hard. They remember who made their lives easier. Years later, when you’re putting together your own project, those same people are much more likely to answer your phone call because you’ve already built trust.
Some of the most valuable opportunities in my career didn’t come because I had the best screenplay in the room. They came because I had spent years building genuine relationships with people. We had worked together before. We respected one another. We knew what it was like to solve problems together.
Trust is earned long before someone wires money into your production account.
I also think filmmakers underestimate just how much business gets done outside the formal pitch meeting. Some of the best conversations I’ve ever had happened over coffee, during a festival reception, walking between screenings, or sitting in a hotel lobby at Cannes. Those conversations weren’t about asking someone to finance my next movie. They were about getting to know each other.
The business comes later.
When I go to film festivals or markets, I’m rarely thinking, “Who can I pitch today?” I’m thinking, “Who can I meet? What can I learn? How can I reconnect with people I’ve worked with before?” Those relationships have opened far more doors than any cold email ever has. Here’s the irony.
When you stop chasing relationships because you want something and start building relationships because you genuinely enjoy helping other filmmakers and being part of the community, opportunities tend to show up naturally.
People begin introducing you to others. Your reputation grows. Someone remembers you when a project comes along. An investor asks who they should talk to. A producer recommends your name. That’s how this industry really works.
So if you’re looking for one thing to focus on over the next year, don’t make it sending another hundred cold emails. Focus on meeting a hundred new people. Help them. Work with them. Learn from them. Because the strongest asset you’ll ever build isn’t your screenplay. It’s your reputation. And reputations are built one relationship at a time.