THREAD - As a literary manager, the question I get asked the most is, unsurprisingly, "How do I get a manager?" And I usually give pretty much the same stock answer: I find writers via agents, producers, my clients, script competitions, @theblcklst website, query letters... 1/

I thought it might be helpful to focus on a few specific stories, rather than the default answers. I'm going to tell how I connected with a few of my clients and tag them in on twitter, so they can answer any follow-up questions or explain their experience, if they'd like. 2/

As any good manager should, I've cleared all this with the clients I'm tagging in, but obviously, please be respectful and kind if you're asking them questions about their experiences. (aka don't use this as a way to ask them to read your script) 3/

First up, is @IanShorr. I met Ian before I was a manager, when I was an independent producer, working with @bobbyhaus. We hit it off pretty immediately and worked together on an original idea that Ian wrote on spec and we produced. Ended up selling a few of these together. 4/

There's a longer conversation to be had about writers working on spec with producers, but that's for another day/thread. What I can say is that it worked out well for @IanShorr and myself! 5/

@IanShorr was the person who pushed me to become a literary manager and I'll forever be grateful for that. So, that's the first client signing -- though Ian sorta signed me up as a manager as much as I signed him as a client 6/

@ChrisThomasDev wrote THE WRETCHED EMILY DERRINGER, which @Jeff_Portnoy and I read as judges for the @austinfilmfest horror screenwriting competition. We both gave it high scores and then were introduced to Chris by the festival 7/

We signed @ChrisThomasDev on that first meeting and within a few months he was also signed with @unitedtalent and THE WRETCHED EMILY DERRINGER was on the annual @theblcklst as one of the top scripts of the year! 8/

Around that same time, @Jeff_Portnoy and I sat down with Star Thrower Entertainment and they slipped us an incredible script called A CROOKED SOMEBODY that they were producing and that @AndrewZilch had written. 9/

Jeff and I read it overnight and loved it. Met with @AndrewZilch and have been working with him ever since! The film was made in the years that followed and it's a fantastic film -- be sure to check it out! 10/

Next client up is @SheridanKevin. Execs, producers, managers, and agents who've signed up for the @theblcklst website get a weekly email of the posted feature scripts and TV pilots that have gotten the highest-scoring reviews that week. 11/

It's an email that I always look forward to. I make it a point to look over all the loglines and read the scripts that sound interesting to me. One of the scripts was a feature thriller called THE WOOD MAN. I read it cover to cover -- it was beautifully written. But... 12/

...there was no contact info on the cover page. No email or phone number. The only way to contact the writer was via the Black List internal messaging system. And if the writer took the script down (which they could at any moment), I would lose my ability to contact them. 13/

So I hurriedly messaged the writer, @SheridanKevin, who was a bit surprised. Kevin can go into more detail here, but I don't think he was aware that execs and reps were able to read posted scripts. So he was a bit suspect about how I'd read it. 14/

We ended up meeting and then, over time, @SheridanKevin came to feel comfortable to sign with me. All those babysteps seem funny in retrospect since Kevin is one of the friendliest, most collaborative writers I know and now a good friend as well as a client! 15/

@Jeff_Portnoy and I came to meet @jeffbetancourt in one of the more traditional ways -- we were introduced by Jeff's agent at @WME, who thought we'd be a good fit. 16/

We loved Jeff's work as a writer and a director and met a few times with him to convince him we were the right managers for him. We started working together soon after that and are fortunate to still be working with him today! 17/

@tadaggerhart was introduced to me by a writer who was already a client, as well as @adaircole , who's not a client but a friend. @tadaggerhart and I got to know each other over the years and I'm very happy to work with him now! 18/

@Peposed wrote me a great query letter laying out his similarities to some of my clients, as well as all the awesome projects he was working on and the super cool work he'd gotten published already! 19/

I responded to the query and @Peposed sent me all his incredible work. I loved it, so we met shortly thereafter and are now busy working together on his next fantastic batch of projects! 20/

Every year, I go to USC First Pitch. A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to sit down with @justinslee who was about to graduate. He pitched me the concept for an incredible sci-fi feature script and I asked him to send it over... 21/

It was a fantastic read but I had some notes and tweaks that I thought might expand the world of it. @justinslee also sat down with a few other managers who wanted to take the current draft out ASAP... 22/

But @justinslee felt similarly that putting some more work into it was worth doing and decided to sign with me to do so. I've always been incredibly impressed by that, as most young writers simply want to take out material as quickly as they can. 23/

@justinslee is dedicated to having everything he writes to be as strong as it possibly can. He's great at giving and taking notes. The success he's had since as an @ImpactImagine fellow and beyond speaks to that. 24/

So that's a pretty broad swath of the different ways that I've been connected with clients. I haven't listed every client, obviously, but have tried to list a story that represents a version of every way I find writers. Hope it's helpful! 25/