1,200 Contacts

We told you last week about the Chicago Film Commission junketing striking writers to the Windy City, hoping they’d use it in their scripts. Now the Philadelphia Film Office informs us that it has placed its first project through a newsletter it sends to 1,200 industryites, touting storylines set in the City of Brotherly Love.

Some 80 story editors and execs responded to the last mailing, according to Janet Herrington, film office director. Marquis Pictures of L.A. acquired rights to Mike Mallow’s novel “The Meat Man” (Morrow, 1988), which was described thus: “Philly homicide detective explores the gritty underside of the City as he hunts a pathological hired gun who has killed the local Don.”

A producer with Marquis recognized Mallow’s name--he’s an investigative reporter with Philadelphia Magazine--took a look and cut a deal.

Herrington has since opened up the newsletter to other writers--local or otherwise--who want to advertise completed screenplays or books: “All of this may sound like small potatoes to people in L.A., but it’s a much needed outlet for screenwriters who don’t live next to an agent or meet producers at the local sushi bar.”