Being a Native Angelino I must say Santa Barbra is far away! 2 hours no traffic, possible 4 hours with traffic. Would be less time consuming to fly to Las Vegas and back. And with gas prices could end up saving $$...but really though...my opinion,no reason to be in LA unless you got something going on, or a solid plan of action. It's the script that matters. When I had a subscription to the Hollywood Reporter, I remember an advertisement in the back the said, "Make Us Come To You." Thought it was spot on for how Hollywood works. Find a way that they knock on your door, you're not knocking on theirs.

Being in L.A. is not as important as it used to be. I know writers in Aussie land who have sold and regulary fly to L.A. for meetings.
The international market is highly lucrative so agents and studios are much more open to writers from all around the world.

I'm a UK-based writer with an LA-based manager.

The only issue I had with contacting agents and managers was the time difference, especially in the early days of a relationship, but since the advent of Skype, this is no longer a major issue now.

The agents and managers I have spoken to have no issues with foreign-based writers, as long as you have something US-centric or universal that they can sell.

I actually find it helps, because I can speak to my manager in the evenings while he is at work.

So go for it. Like Scott said, the issue of location only becomes an issue when you sell something or get someone interested in your writing. Hopefully that will happen.

I also think it shows commitment to the craft and passion for screenwriting, if you are willing to try from afar

Good luck

There should be mentioned that there is a big difference between an English native speaker foreigner and everybody else. It's obvious easier for someone from UK or Australia to break through.

Anyway, I have two questions:

1)When submitting a query from overseas which is better, email or letter? In fact I think I already know the answer - letter, but the thing is that it's a little bit pricy to send tons of querying letters from overseas. So basically my question is do query emails work?

2)Do you have knowledge of any foreign (not native English speaker) writers established in Hollywood?

Being my first post here I want to congratulate for the blog. It's a great info resource especially for newbies like me.

In '95, I landed an agent from the confines of my little studio apartment in Grafton, Wisconsin. Granted it's not "outside the U.S."... but it SHOULD be! Hardy har.

Regarding that time period in my life, I will say this... don't chase out to El Lay too early like I did. On the strength of ONE script I scored representation, thought I had it made in the shade, chased out west, completely fell apart in under three months, and chased back to Wisconsin with me tail 'twixt me legs.

Get a full portfolio, as Scott always advises. Many projects, completed ones if possible. All anyone wants to talk about when you get out there is "what else you got?"

Thank you for a very encouraging blog entry.

Hi!
My name is Anitha and i´m a screenwriter from Sweden.
Thank´s for all information. Now i´m ready to look after someone who can make my film to the best ever.

@razaha: Best of luck on that!

That was very encouraging. Maybe my european heritage can be helpful too :)