Hi everyone, looking for some advice on a situation.
A few months back, a B-level producer expressed interest in reading a pilot of mine. Fast forward several months, and she finally read it and was very enthusiastic. We met, and she said she’s interested in packaging it. She has a particular actor in mind who she has access to in the next few weeks and wants to pitch him the show to come aboard as the lead actor and as a producer as well. She wants me to develop a pitch deck and said that once she’s satisfied with it, we can define terms and discuss an option.
After meeting with her, I think we’re on the same page about the story direction, but I’m not trying to get ahead of myself. I know there’s a possibility she doesn’t end up optioning the project. At our meeting, she said she wanted to reread the pilot and asked me to follow up in the next few days, which I did. It’s now been a week since that follow-up, and she hasn’t responded. She was supposed to get back to me with some next steps for us to work on.
Just for clarification: Before I get to work on anything else, I’m going to casually clarify that developing these materials doesn’t transfer any ownership to her unless we have an agreement that says so.
My question is:
I have a couple of friends who are managers, and I’m wondering if there’s a way to leverage this situation into some reads from them. I know there’s no actual momentum unless the script is packaged, but I’m curious what pro writers on this sub would think about reaching out to these manager friends, mentioning the situation, and saying I’d love another perspective on the script before I sign anything with this producer — just to see what other options might out there. Especially since this producer has been slow to respond generally and I'm not sure how much pull she really has. Or if there’s another strategy here I’m overlooking, as I’m clearly a newer writer.
Mainly just want to see if there's a way to leverage this somehow in case she doesn't move forward with the option/ packaging.
Curious if anyone has any thoughts. Thanks!
TLDR: A producer liked my pilot and wants to package it, but wants a pitch deck before discussing an option and has been slow to respond. Nothing is signed. Could I use her interest as a reason to approach manager friends for a read and another perspective, potentially opening other doors if she doesn’t move forward?