How To Get A-List Acting Talent To Star In A Movie by Gary W. Goldstein 

This is pretty spot on advice. To add to it slightly (TLDR? oh well your loss!) : You may think you don't know the right people to get that first foot in the door but its comparatively easy if you don't give up. Go be an unpaid intern, apprentice, runner, extra, anything you can do to get a small connection to someone on their staff. It helps in the small talk. Even just a RT on twitter from one of the assistants in a connection to allow you a slightly more personal response when you initially approach, but the more little links you can get the better. I know plenty o people who've been an extra or a runner on a film with a major star, and breifly talked to them. Do NOT pitch your film to them or offer them a part, but you could mention that you are also a director or writer and you are appearing in the film as a networking thing or a favour to someone on the crew. I'll say it again - NEVER try and persuade them to be in your film there and then - but if you can approach their agent with "I was talking to your client on the set of X and I was highly impressed with their professionalism. I mentioned this to my colleague who is producing a film and he'd love to consider your client for the part..." etc. Get the name of the star's agent from Imdbpro, it cost about £15 for as many as you can grab in a month - easy. When you phone the number you will get through to the assistant of the agent. Always say that you are "representing" the director or producer, never say that you personally are the writer, director or producer. Never just inquire about the actor for the part, always inquire about their availability on a specific date at least three months in the future. They will ask if the film is already funded in full, say "yes". (If you don't have at least enough money to pay the actor in full upfront, don't bother them. Even if the rest of the film is shot for free by pulling in favours, you need the full amount for the named actor upfront.) Chances are it'll be a "pay or play" contract. Know roughly how much they usually charge per day, and if they work on independent films (IE ones not initially funded by a major studio). If you don't have enough ingenuity to work these facts out by yourself using the internet, you honestly don't have the skills to make it in the industry. Here's a clue: less important people involved in a film production are more keen to "show off" about being in the industry and will let certain things slip (for example unheard of actors who've played alongside big name actors in indie films, or anyone labelled as an "Associate Producer" will usually be very happy to complain about how much a certain person is being paid...) - you can also often find a fee that the actor charges for speaking at corporate events - half that & you've got a good idea of their day rate, if they like your script. Only if the actor is available and they take you seriously and believe that you can afford to pay them, will you finally be asked to send a script. I can't reiterate enough - ALWAYS have a shooting schedule in mind and go to them with a date. If they aren't available, pretend like it is going to be a big deal to rearrange everybody else, but tell them that it may just be possible - do they happen to be available the next month? etc). They will without fail ask for you to email the script. If they aren't sure, they'll ask for a treatment first, so they can see the basic genre and guess at the budget, but always have a finished script you are 100% confident in before phoning just incase. Don't expect to hire them on an improvised/freeform film - not gonna happen unless you are a proven talent. You will want the script proof read (NO spelling or grammatical errors) and formatted exactly how they would expect - do it in Final Draft and save as a PDF. There used to be the advice to print scripts and post them to random agents - don't do this. Nowadays all unsolicited material is destroyed. If they've already requested to see your script, they want it quickly, and they don't want it taking up space on their desk. They might want to flick through it on their phone or ipad whilst on a train, or read it in bed at night - these people work LONG hours and you're lucky if they'll fit in 10 minutes for you. If you don't grab their attention in the first 10 pages, preferably by halfway down the FIRST page, they probably won't bother with the rest of the script, so make it good. I know many people who've -rewritten an action scene just to drop in at the beginning of the script to grab the attention of agents and actors - you don't have to include this scene first in the final edit, so do a little time skipping! Oh, and for the guy below asking about copyright, if you can prove you wrote it first, you'll always win in a court of law. Computers date stamp stuff so you can prove when the file was first made. To be even safer, mail yourself a copy and don't open it, there is a postage date stamp. To be even safer, register with the writers Guild of America and US copyright office. To do both will cost you around $60, and if you can't afford that, you certainly can't hire an A-list actor.

Great information thank you

Such a great question and answer! Never thought about that! I love this man!

I wondered why he would be sending his script to A-list Actors instead of his agent or the producer doing the contacting. Then I looked him up. He hasn't worked with any A-listers. Now it makes sense. The term A-list gets thrown around a lot to describe just any star.

Great insight.

Great advise

Great advice but I disagree with "very little gets stolen" too much gets stolen. "Stranger than fiction" is stolen. "Shaka Zulu" is stolen and so many others...

Isn’t this what all producers do?

what is a handler??

So you don't get a copyright on your screenplay before sending it out?

Why does the interviewer not wear a lavalier microphone?

*spoiler alert* Pay Them.