Once your film or screenplay is finished, it's time to do research. Scour the Hollywood Creative Directory and the industry trade papers like Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter. This will give you leads as to who might be in the market for your film, or at the very least, the genre of your film. Once you've chosen your target producer, run a Web search on her, finding all the information you can about her past films and any current projects she has in the pipeline.

Once you've familiarized yourself with a producer's work, give her office a call. Begin by simply giving your name, and why you're calling. “This is Alan Smithee, and I read in this morning's Hollywood Reporter that you're looking for a comedy featuring a serial killer.”

By introducing yourself in this manner, you've already established yourself as having done your homework. When the producer confirms that she is indeed looking for that type of feature film, in this case a comedy serial-killer script, give her a very short description of the film you directed. If you're lucky, the producer will be intrigued and can't help but ask you to send it right away. Well, that's what you hope will happen. The important thing to remember in this example is that you can make a direct call without an agent or manager of any kind. All it takes is some preparation, research, and confidence.