Archive for Agents
Why screenwriting sometimes requires being rude
Posted by: | CommentsRecently Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola, shared some tips for video marketers and it struck me that they are valuable for writers as well. His overall theme was “It’s all about ‘do,’ run a small pilot, get some data, fail multiple times, and get better.”
Singolda mentions “the beauty of failing.” His point is that typically we learn more from failing than from succeeding. This is a view that sounds great, but feels terrible. I think we have to get over the feeling (I’m working on it…) before we can embrace this perspective.
On a practical level, one thing it means is to leave behind the old school idea that we approach one publisher or one producer, or one potential buyer or service provider of any kind at a time. That was the “ladies and gentlemen” school of getting published. It’s over. When your project is ready, get it out there to a batch of potential buyers (or agents). You won’t hear back from most of them. Rude? Yes, by my standards, but standards have changed.
But what if more than one agent wants to represent you? Or what if more than one publisher wants to publish your book or more than one producer wants to buy your screenplay? You should be so lucky. Then you go with the one who offers you the best deal. Will the ‘loser’ be mad at you? Is it rude? Maybe. They’ll get over it.
When you make a screenwriting contact…then what?
Posted by: | Comments
In my recent interview with Jason Brubaker (of www.FilmMakingStuff.com), he asked the best way to take advantage of the situation when you get a chance to talk to somebody in the business and how that led to my first break when I was starting out as a scriptwriter in Hollywood. Here’s what I said:
The key was never to ask the people for direct help. In other words, if you are talking to an agent, I wouldn’t say, “Will you be my agent?`’ The way it actually worked was I was doing an interview for my newsletter with a young director named Charlie Matthau, Walter Matthau’s son. He was just starting out and I had a second-hand introduction to him. At the end of that interview I said, “I assume you work with agents because you look for scripts”, and he said, “Oh yeah.” I said, ”‘Have you encountered any newer agents who might be open to new clients? You know, guys who are just starting out themselves?” And he said, “Yes, there are a couple of them. I’ll give you their names and phone numbers. You can tell them I sent you.” It was very generous of him.
The first one I contacted asked me to send him a sample of my work, but he didn’t care for it. The second one did. He said, “I’ll represent you on this project.” He didn’t want to sign me up right away. But he said, “If we get somewhere I’ll sign you as a full-time client.” And that was eventually what he did. Getting an agent to represent you is one of the big breaks, and it was the thing that got me started.
***These days there are opportunities to connect with people online as well as in person, which is great for people who don’t live in Los Angeles. The principle remains the same, though–try not to ask them for direct favors, but rather indirect ones.
