[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: If a new screenwriter can’t get an agent, how would they expect to get their screenplays read and out there?
Sammy Horowitz, Action-Actor, Stuntman, Playwright, and Screenwriter: It’s tough because a lot of these screenplay competitions, I’m not like a huge fan of, I’m just not. Certain competitions can get you noticed, certain competitions.
If you’re asking me what I would do, I’m just sending my stuff to agents, I’m sending my stuff to managers. This is what I used to do. I mean this is certainly not like a popular thing to do, I probably get a little frowned upon.
My motto in my brain is like A Closed Mouth Doesn’t Get Fed, so if I don’t know anybody…there was a long time I didn’t know anybody. I’m sending my stuff out to people. I got my first manager by, I couldn’t get repped by anybody, my first manager I was stunt doubling a guest star on a TV show and we became friends, we became buddies over the course of the show.
It’s totally frowned upon to try to hustle an agent or a manager, especially if you’re a stunt person but I did. I said Can I meet your manager? and the guy asked me Do you have an acting reel? And I did. I had done a bunch of acting by that time. I gave it to him and he said Oh, yeah he’s pretty good, I’ll introduce you and I got repped.
I mean so everybody’s not working on doing stunts or in a position to do that but I’m just saying that was an unorthodox way that I got repped because I couldn’t from emailing people, it wasn’t working.
The only advice that I could give is to try to meet people that could potentially take interest in it, to enter competitions that are legitimate competitions. If the right people see it you’re going to get noticed.
I thought getting a SAG [Screen Actors Guild] card was hard. Writing is a lot…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Sammy Horowitz is an award winning action-actor, stuntman, playwright, and screenwriter from Chicago. Before moving to Hollywood, Sammy was a member of a predominantly Latino street gang and spent almost a decade in prison. He then went on to be a bouncer and doorman at nightclubs, a stick up man, a drug addict, an M.M.A. fighter, and eventually a full-time professional boxer who fought all over the country. Sammy is one of the only known stuntmen who has went on to write on television. His play, Musket and the Rat premiered in January 2020. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actor Sari Sanchez.
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