Detailed Proper Protocol
(Necessary reading for first time attendees and
those who want to succeed in film)

Unless you pay for a pitching session, then you are only allowed a 1 minute to a maximum of 2 minutes for your log-line of your best script at any discussion whether it is a roundtable or brief one-on-one discussion with a speaker. Instead we strongly recommend that you connect with the speaker on a human interest level rather than pushing your material. Roundtable discussions are designed for everyone to listen and learn and network rather than one person who dominates the conversation.

Material submitted and developing strong relationships the Sherwood Oaks way - There is often an opportunity to give a one-sheet synopsis for every writer in the class so there is no reason to push your material or log-line. All these one-sheets synopsis are collected in an envelope and given to a speaker at the end of a session. Many students, more than 25% of them have gotten call backs and writing assignments from these envelopes. These envelopes are given to the speaker at the end of the session. No student is to discuss the envelope with the speaker instead a moderator or the Sherwood Oaks director will give it to the speaker.

No dominating a conversation -- Those who dominate a breakout session takes the chance of annoying the speaker meaning that speaker will be less likely to read their material. As a result, the speaker may be reluctant to return to Sherwood Oaks. The worse case scenario is Sherwood Oaks reserves the right to have this person leave the class immediately without refund. In addition, Sherwood Oaks cannot police every table so if you feel that a student is dominating a discussion or annoying a speaker, please inform the director or Sherwood Oaks staff member. We, at Sherwood Oaks, work hard to make sure that every student gets an opportunity to network and learn.

No hounding or bothering of speakers for personal information, Sherwood Oaks maintains that if a speaker voluntarily provides his or her email address to a student that a future relationship can flourish outside of the classroom. Please never ask for a speaker's email address because often times they are overwhelmed with email and cannot keep up. Plus, almost all speaker information is available through the Hollywood Creative Directory. Please do not follow a speaker out the door unless you feel that you have a personal, human connection or a specific, unique genre. For example, if you speak French and the speaker speaks French than this is a strong personal connection. Another example is if the speaker says that they are looking for Vietnam War material and you wrote a screenplay about this then you can hand your contact information to him or her. Please limit conversations to less than two minutes. Please remember your time is valuable and so each speaker, so please value their time.
Never push your material unto a speaker.

For those with no agent or representation, please never bring this up to a producer. It is wise to have your material copyrighted in Washington DC before submitting to a producer and have an entertainment lawyer send it. However, you can send material to a producer without representation but you must do it with permission such as a Sherwood Oaks event. All producers are taught to say "no" and state that we accept no unsolicited material. You can discuss this with the Sherwood Oaks director or co-director to gain more insight on submitting material without representation.

Log-Line

A one to two sentence description of your script that is compelling.
A Person ... Does Something .... It Works Out
For example, a man tries to climb the highest mountain in the world and he does; his obstacles include freezing cold, snow, and [PAUSE], the fact that he is blind.

The Sherwood Oaks commitment -- Sherwood Oaks is only here for one thing to make sure that you succeed in the Hollywood film and TV business. We will do what we can to help you at an event but we do our best to ensure that every student gets a fair chance. If you are upset with a student who is dominating a conversation or unhappy with a speaker, please inform the director or co-director or Sherwood Oaks volunteer. Also, if you want to gain more insight into the film business and want individual coaching from the director who has over 30 years experience, please email the director at sherwoodoak@aol.com to set up a consultation.

Contact information