ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

8 years, 11 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Agents want an easy life, so want their clients to be an easy sell, which means a track record, which means you've actually sold scripts which have been produced and made money for someone. It's very rare to find an agent who'll represent someone without existing successes.

8 years, 11 months ago - Richard Anthony Dunford

Like Paddy says you’ll need a track record.

It’s a chicken-and-the-egg scenario as to get an agent you’ll need work that’s been produced and was successful but then the decent production companies won’t read anything not submitted via an agent.

I guess all you can really do is try and find opportunities and make a name for yourself off your own back and then search for an agent.

8 years, 11 months ago - David Hughes

What do you need an agent for? Submit your scripts to competitions, network, make contacts, go to the London Screenwriters Festival, post your pitches on InkTip, get some traction on your own – and when you're offered a deal, take the deal to an agent and ask for their help with the contract. All agents have ever done for me is wasted my time – every single job I've had worth having has been from representing myself. And bear in mind I've been repped by William Morris in the UK, WME in the US, and Curtis Brown in the UK – and to a man, they were way more trouble than their 12.5% of self-generated work was worth. The best advice I ever received as a screenwriter was "you don't need an agent until an agent needs you".

8 years, 11 months ago - Nat Nollid

Many thanks guys- useful info to bear in mind- just been to the LSF 16- met a lady who has an gent but seems to be doing most of the donkey work still anyway.

8 years, 11 months ago - Robin Schmidt

Hey Nat, as these gentlemen rightly point out. Chicken plus egg. HOWEVER -- there are always exceptions. So, don't be disheartened by that. There seem to be two parts to this: be GOOD and be VISIBLE. If you can accomplish both of those then, given the current climate and the hunger for new material in the TV space then you've got a shot and could at least start a conversation.

We're currently documenting our journey down exactly this path. I've been a director for 15 years working up through music videos and commercials, directed my first feature a few years back but realised that writing my own material was the best way to get hired on projects I actually wanted to direct. So have stepped back, put a lot of hard yards in and am now going out to the market. If you're interested we do a podcast where we get all this stuff out in the open as we're doing, sharing our success and failure along the way. Might be helpful

Robin

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-break-in/id1132135691?mt=2

8 years, 11 months ago - Alice Charles

I've been a journalist for 20-plus years, worked at nearly all the national newspapers, written literally millions of words, been a finalist in a number of contests - and it took me 10 years to get an agent. You're better off using the services of an entertainment lawyer if you want to submit projects to production companies. But DO NOT send stuff out before it's ready - you'll be wasting your money otherwise. UK agents are not at all proactive and I've met a number of big names writers who have sacked their agents. It seems par for the course. Getting noticed through contests is a good way to raise your profile - as is making projects for the web.

8 years, 11 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Agents aren't magic. They are simply a key to the gatekeepers. They get you around the "no unsolicited manuscripts" rule. Until you get into the huge agencies that package projects, don't expect more out of an agent than the ability to submit your work to production companies. Most think that once they have an agent, they can sit back and relax. Nope. You'll still have to do all of the leg work. So why bother at this point? I've gotten 2 options way back when option money was real, and did so without an agent. I knew people. Or knew people that knew people. Start with that.

If you're really determined to get an agent, go to the agent's assistant, not the agent. Find out who they are, and submit a cover letter and script to them directly. Assistants want to become agents, and are always on the look-out for that golden script that will get them up the ladder.

8 years, 11 months ago - Nat Nollid

Thanks for all that guys - Dan wonder if you could elaborate on 'the huge agencies that package projects'?

8 years, 11 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

The current fashion is for agents who have a script one of their A-listers likes to flesh out the other roles with other names (A, B, C-list) on their own roster, then take the whole lot to a studio as a package. Ifg the studio wants to make the A-lister film project, they have to take all the other cast too. The agency is basically using its muscle A-lister to get them commissions on all the B, C list cast.

8 years, 11 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

And not to forget, if you're just wanting to bypass the 'no unsolicited material' issue, then an entertainment lawyer can also submit on your behalf.

8 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

What Paddy and Wozy said. And not only features, but TV pilots.

A big agency that develops projects with their own writers, directors, and actors, would be something like CAA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Artists_Agency

8 years, 10 months ago - Paul Campion

There was a post on this recently on Scriptshadow.net:

http://scriptshadow.net/screenwriting-article-the-8-most-overrated-aspects-of-the-screenwriting-industry/

3) Getting an agent – An agent cannot do ANYTHING for you if you’re not ready. In fact, an agent will even have trouble helping you if the last project you sold was a year ago. The only time an agent is good for you is when you’re desired by production companies that are coming to them with offers for your services. Once you are making an agent money, they will help you find the best project, send your scripts out with confidence, even get you onto projects you weren’t initially considered for. But let me stress that you first must MAKE THEM MONEY on a consistent basis for this to happen. If I had a dime for every time I heard a repped writer tell me their agent won’t return their calls, I could buy my own agency. Always be your own content generator and marketer first. When the buzz on your writing gets big enough, the agent will find you.

8 years, 10 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

IF your writing is average or even good, then an agent won't be able to make that writing any better. They're in the business of selling the best product that they can to the highest bidder. If your writing isn't in the top 5% (or dare I say 1%) of writers in the market place then you need to find a way to elevate your work to get it into that small group of writers. That means more training, more writing, more mentoring, more study, more writing, more training... and still more writing. Until you seriously elevate what's on the page. I know I repeated myself somewhat there, but that was for a reason... :)

Being a top writer is also so much more than being able to write well. It's as much about being relevant to the market as it is about being great. It's also about being a great networker. A great communicator. Having a great attitude. Being able to take notes. Being able to turn notes around. Fast. Faster in fact.

I would honestly say that if you're not being pursued by producers or production companies or even an agent or manager.... then you're not ready!

An agent is nothing more than a facilitator - a negotiator. Your work needs to speak for itself before an agent can do anything for you.

Good luck.

Wozy

8 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Wow, 2 great posts by Wozy and Paul.

Some years ago, the WGA did a survey of its writers. The average number of scripts written before a writer sold one, was 9. So, how many scripts have you written, Nat? Re-writes don't count. If you've only written 2, I'd just keep writing and not worry about an agent.

8 years, 10 months ago - Stuart Wright

Here's an agent explaining the rules of the game from his point of view to John August and Craig Mazin on the Scriptnotes podcast... It's not heartening or encouraging if you're not getting much heat right now but it's at least acknowledging the cream should rise to their attention http://johnaugust.com/2016/the-one-with-the-agent

8 years, 10 months ago - Alice Charles

Lots of good advice here: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/the-real-secret-to-getting-an-agent

8 years, 10 months ago - Allan (Mac) McKenna

So Paddy - agents generally won't touch anyone who hasn't got an existing track record? I believe you. Just another example of the Catch 22 nature of the profession. Oh and by the way what happened to the brave new world of about ten - or was it more? - years ago when the digital revolution meant we could give Hollywood the mid-digit? It didn't happen. Or if it did I missed it.

8 years, 10 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

Personally I don't think that there is a catch 22 - only if you believe there is one!

Creating a track record isn't impossible by a long shot. Write well. Develop. Write more. Elevate the quality. Get your work out into the world to competitions and to production companies and to producers etc. Make your own mark. Get great and then the agents come to you.

You certainly don't need an agent to be a professional writer. I know of a lot of writers who make a good living from writing and some don't have agents. There's this myth that says you can't be professional without an agent. Bullshit is what I say! One of the many excuses that failed writers use to justify giving up.

The bottom line - an agent is just one of the many strings to a professional writers bow that he utilises in his 'business'. It's not the only one as many believe. You need a much wider strategy to survive.

8 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

I have to agree, Wozy. Living in Los Angeles, all I have to do is throw a stick and I'll hit ten "writers" with only one script that they think will lead them to the promised land; if only they had an agent. And let's say you get that agent. Unless you can pump out quality product fairly quickly, you won't have that agent for very long. I wouldn't even think about an agent until I had 5 solid scripts on the shelf. 10 would be even better.

In the end, the best way to get an agent is to have a script produced. That's much easier than getting an agent, especially now in the age of cheap digital filmmaking. Finding a producer for your work is much easier.

8 years, 10 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

I wrote a script with one of the writers of a recent mid level feature about a year ago and he gave some amazing advice. "You're only as good as what you've got written right now." Meaning, once you get a foot in the door, you're going to be asked "so, what else you got?" You need a number of projects in hand to talk about and pitch. Not one, maybe not even two - but a number of scripts. And they all need to be shit hot. Play the long game. That's one of the keys.

8 years, 10 months ago - Allan (Mac) McKenna

Apologies to all of you who sound so positive/industrious/determined/optimistic, it rings more like some sort of manic obsession. But then I haven't got your 'drive' (whatever). The reality - I'm guessing - is that becoming a successful screenwriter is about as likely - regardless of 'talent' - as winning the lottery. Odds for that have been well publicised. I'm guessing there are odds for screenwriting too. Anyone know them? I'm betting if they were published it would be a nervous read. Maybe slightly better than the lottery? But not much I'm guessing.

8 years, 10 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren

I think Yoda put it most succinctly - "That is why you fail!"

8 years, 10 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Well, Allan, while it's true that I'm not as driven as I was in my 20s and 30s, I did have a couple of scripts optioned back then. And in those days, you could actually live on the option money. Perhaps self delusion is the key to success in Hollywood. Without some optimistic delusion, you have no chance at all at winning the lottery. If your script is the ticket, seems the more tickets you have, the more chances of winning. In the end, I write because I enjoy it--a masochistic enjoyment, maybe--but enjoyment all the same.

8 years, 10 months ago - Allan (Mac) McKenna

Fair point Dan (do you ever make any other? Bit annoying really). The cliche is 'ya gotta be innit to winnit' which is self-evidently true. But the odds - like the lottery it seems - are dispiritingly long. And as a recent convert to short story writing (in a creative writing group) it can be conpulsively addictive.

8 years, 10 months ago - Alan Fleet

Today just gets better. Even a quote from Yoda. At the beginning of the week, after Ben Blaine's shite on short films, I was wondering why I had renewed my membership. But now I feel good about it.

8 years, 10 months ago - Nick Brown

1. Make the scripts as brilliant as possible - get people who know vaguely what they're talking about to read them and draft at least ten times. 2. Approach any and every agent who might consider you. The odds are not great but you might get lucky. The harder you work the luckier you get!

8 years, 10 months ago - Nat Nollid

Thanks for all the feedback and advice guys and girls.Sod Yoda- he hasnt written any scripts (!) and even George Lucas's script for Star Wars was laughed at by Harrison Ford and Alec Guinness-now a billion sheep worship every line of the film- Conclusion/Bottom line is 'If at first you dont succeed, try try and try again'- and keep writing and improving.BTW I have 4/5 scripts. Agents can be a hindrance as well as a help.Make traction for yourself and do something DIFFERENT!

8 years, 10 months ago - Stuart Wright

Alan Fleet... What was the shite about short films?