This Stage 32 Blog comes from Martin Gooch, a director and screenwriter based in London, England. 

It all feels like some sort of dark art but technically what happens is this: You make a movie. You take it to festivals, it does quite well and you get some laurels. You then send it to Sales Agents (SA) in the hope they will like it. Some Sales Agents might even contact you and ask to see your film.

If they like it they will make an offer and send you a contract. If you sign it then you will send them all the ‘media’ (your film and posters, trailers etc. on a hard drive) they will try to get it distributed in different territories around the world.  That’s the process.

Sales Agents are arguably a necessary evil, as they already have the contacts with the distributors and the delivery pipeline. We sort of need them and they 100% need us.

Here are 32 tips, which I hope might, in some way, make your sales agent experience less painful.