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Let’s start the holiday season with another Success Story! Today, we’re chatting with Tim Day, who signed with Lit Entertainment.
This interview was submitted on 11/27/2024
Firstly, tell us about yourself! Who are you as a writer & who did you end up signing with?
My north star as a writer is thrillers, and then I branch out from there; action thriller, psychological thrillers, crime thrillers. I signed with Adam Kolbrenner and Shelby Eggers at Lit Entertainment.
How did you meet your now rep? What was that first interaction like and how did it lead to your professional relationship now?
I submitted my script "Prey For The Night" to Roadmap's Over 45 Initiative. Joey queried a few reps on my behalf and Lit requested. They read Prey and then Joey sent them a second script of mine "Safe" and they loved both of them and set up a meeting.
From the moment you started training and/or working with Roadmap Writers, how long has it been before you secured your current representation?
Once Joey read my script it moved quickly.
How did (if at all) Roadmap Writers assist in getting you to this point? Do you think you could've made this step in your screenwriting career without Roadmap?
I've had some success as a produced writer, but I had taken some time off and really was reintroducing myself and I was querying, looking for new reps. I was having trouble getting read by the managers I was looking to get ready by, Lit Entertainment being one, but once Roadmap and Joey got involved the response was quick. I wouldn't be working with Lit Entertainment without Joey making that introduction.
What types of stories do you write? What's your "writer brand" and how do you think that helped you attract a good match for representation?
I'm a genre writer. I like stories that have a lot of twists with a dark edge to them. Grounded high concept, imperfect, flawed heroes.
Has your mindset about what you're writing changed now that you've added representation to your team? What's the biggest lesson you've learned or had to adapt to since you've been working with your rep?
I was stuck in the mindset that I could only writer horror, since that's what I was known for and was paid to write in the past, it was my "brand", but I wanted to pivot a little with "Prey for the night", a psychological thriller with horror elements and "Safe" is a straight up contained action thriller. Adam and Shelby embraced that and more importantly they see me as a writer and not a spec.
What do you hope your next steps are? What are your immediate goals now that you've landed representation?
The immediate goal is to develop "Safe" and I'm diving into the revisions based on Adam and Shelby's notes which are already adding depth and a stronger emotional impact to the script. We're also bouncing some ideas around for the next one, and the one after that.
In 10 years, what do you want your screenwriting career to look like?
I've wanted to make movies since I was 10 years old. The goal is always the same, to make movies that people will enjoy over and over.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Tim - good luck!
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