Is the slush pile dead? Legal concerns see studios balk at unsolicited material (WSJ, THRE)

By Nancy Tartaglione

The Hollywood Reporter Esquire blog points to a story that ran last Friday in the Wall Street Journal announcing "the death of the slush pile" - wherein lie stacks of unsolicited manuscripts and screenplays sent to publishers, studios and the like. Getting plucked from the slush pile was always a long shot, but it worked for some and thus the slush pile represented The Dream. Now, slush is dead, or at least bordering on extinction.

Over the past year, THRE says, it's become apparent that economic conditions, industry consolidation and legal concerns have caused talent representatives to be a lot less aggressive when it comes to searching for new voices. The Journal reports that studios, worried about being sued for stealing ideas and content, have decided they can no longer afford to even look at a script submission unless it comes from an agent or lawyer first.

That's a far cry from a few years ago when folks were scouring Web sites to find the next great story. Famously, Oscar-winner Diablo Cody, a stripper-turned-blogger-turned-screenwriter, was discovered by her manager while searching online (for porn, apparently...). Even further back, the WSJ notes, the unsolicited manuscript for "Ordinary People" was not well-received by those providing coverage. It became a best seller and an Oscar-winning movie.

Today, meanwhile, you can't even send an e-mail to a studio. When visitors to the Universal Pictures Web site select the "contact us" option, they must agree to a waiver that frees Universal and its affiliates from liability related to accusations of plagiarism, the WSJ notes.

"It does create an incredibly difficult Catch-22 on both sides, particularly for new writers wanting to get their work seen," Hannah Minghella, president of production for Sony Pictures Animation, told the paper.

As writers try to find an agent, the slush pile has been transferred from the floor of the editor's office to the attache cases of representatives who can broker introductions to publishing, TV and film executives.

Still, discoveries do happen at agencies, including Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga. Meyer sent a letter to the Writers House agency asking if someone might be interested in reading a 130,000-word manuscript about teenage vampires. The letter should have been thrown out, but one assistant didn't realize that agents mostly expected young adult fiction to weigh in at 40,000 to 60,000 words. She contacted Meyer and the manuscript was passed on to an agent, Jodi Reamer, who signed Meyer, and sold the book to Little, Brown.

But relationships still trump everything, says the WSJ, pointing to the path of "Sons of Tucson," set to debut on Fox in March. Tommy Dewey and Greg Bratman worked hard to get their big break, but because Dewey had done some acting, he was able to sign with a manager. The manager introduced them to a producer, Harvey Myman, who helped them develop a pilot script and got them a meeting with Fox, which ordered a pilot, then the series.

Despite the refrain that most everything sent to the slush pile is garbage, publishing executives do confess to a nagging insecurity of missing something big. "Harry Potter" was submitted to 12 publishers (by an agent), all of whom rejected it...

The Journal does provide some Dos and Don'ts, however: Do find an agent who's hungry - and "monetize," says Ryan Saul, literary agent, APA, and screenwriting instructor; Don't be a barista waiting for someone to stumble upon your genius, according to Random House's Carol Schneider and Do enter contests that get industry attention, says Minghella.

Separately, indie producer Ted Hope offers his take on the Ten Things To Do Before You Submit A Script at his Truly Free Film blog.