Source:  Magda M Olchawska

Since I hear this question a lot from various writers, I have decided to write this blog post. If you are an indie writer you probably don’t have an agent or anyone representing your interests.

So once again you will have to do a lot of work yourself. Unless your book has been a smashing success but then you probably wouldn’t be reading this post.

Big studios and production companies won’t be interested in your book unless is has been incredibly successful or one of your friends is a CEO (CFO will also do).

If you don’t have either spend five minutes reading my blog post. 

1.  The term ‘indie’ also applies to filmmakers. So you will have to look for indie filmmakers who would become attached to your book. Filmmakers are always on a look out for great stories so don’t be shy to approach either producers or directors.

2.  You can find indie filmmakers online, for example on: bulletfilm.com, Vimeo, Kickstarter, IndieGOGO.

3.  Before you approach certain filmmakers asking if they would like to read your book, make sure you are approaching the right people. Check what the producer or director has made before. I.e., I would never make a horror or vampire movie so if anyone came to me with a vampire or horror novel I would automatically turn it down.

4.  Good way to meet filmmakers is at your local film festivals. There is over 5000 film festivals around the world so look for one next to you.

5.  You probably wonder why you need a filmmaker (director, producer) attached to your book. Well, filmmakers are crazy passionate people who are willing to do anything to get the project of the ground if they love it.

6.  It takes years to make a film so trying to find the right people is extremely vital.

7.  Once you find filmmakers you like to work with, approach them either on networking platform or via email. If they don’t reply in a week, try to call them if you can. If not, email your proposal again. Afterwards in case of no answer, don’t bother again.

8.  If you are not a scriptwriter, you are also asking the filmmaker to write the script or find the script writer to write a script. This is a huge task and you have to remember that the whole book isn’t going to be covered & some plots will probably be dropped.

9.  Prepare yourself before you write a proposal. If you can try to get some visual in front of filmmakers. Get the visual pdf ready. Go to this page to see what I’m talking abouthttp://www.magdaolchawska.com/about/scripts

10. If you feel like, you can approach individual production companies. However, I would at least have a director attached to the project. The director will most definitely bring his own crew (or the part of it) to the project.

11. Yes get a lawyer who is going to negotiate contract for you. However, don’t expect millions from indie filmmakers ‘cos they also don’t really have any money & will most likely have to go through fundraising before your book is turned into a movie.

12. For children writers I would suggest to make a short 1-2 minute animation to send to film festivals to gain exposure for your work. TV station won’t be interested in making one animation, they will be interested in the series.

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• Local filmmaker heading to Big Apple to screen Ottawa-made indie short (metronews.ca)
• Indie film festival opens in Lima (limaohio.com)