BPS 103: How to Approach a Lit Manager in Hollywood with John Zaozirny

Today on the show we have literary manager and producer John Zaozirny. He oversees the feature film production slate for Bellevue and the Literary Management Team.

John and I discuss the raw truth of the film business, what he is looking for in a client, how screenwriters should approach a manager and he does some Hollywood myth-busting as well. If you are looking for representation in the film industry this is a must listen to episode.

His clients’ writing and directing credits include INFINITE, PARALLEL, ELI, BAD MATCH, BETTER WATCH OUT, HEAVY TRIP, OFFICE UPRISING, SPLINTER, A CROOKED SOMEBODY, amongst others. His clients have written feature scripts that are set up at Warner Bros, Paramount, Netflix, Fox, Lionsgate, New Line, Focus Features, Fox 2000, Sony, Universal, amongst others. As well, his clients have had 20 scripts on the last 6 Black Lists, the annual list of the best-unproduced feature scripts. His client Elyse Hollander wrote BLONDE AMBITION, the number one script on the 2016 Black List, and his client Sophie Dawson wrote HEADHUNTER, the number one script on the 2020 Black List.

His clients have also written on TV shows such as MR ROBOT, CLOAK AND DAGGER, TRAINING DAY, TINY PRETTY THINGS, LIGHT AS FEATHER, HAWAII FIVE-O, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, and HAND OF GOD, amongst others. He also reps the writer of the Eisner nominated comic book LITTLE BIRD.

As a producer, John’s feature film projects include CRISTO (set up at Warner Bros, Black List 2010), WARDEN (set up at New Line) CAPSULE (set up at Fox, Black List 2013), BLONDE AMBITION (set up at Universal, Black List 2016), and LION HUNTERS (set up at Warner Bros, Black List 2017.) He was an executive producer on the feature films ALWAYS WATCHING, PARALLEL and produced ELI, which was recently released by Netflix. He is producing INFINITE, which has Antoine Fuqua directing, Mark Wahlberg starring and is set to be released by Paramount on May 28, 2021.

Enjoy my conversation with John Zaozirny.

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