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S-E-X Tips for Screenwriters – How To Get In Bed With An Agent

Featured Articles, S-e-x Tips for Screenwriters

Dearest Dr. Turner,

One thing that will make my life complete.

There is only one thing in the world that I want, need, dream of night and day.

One thing that will make me a success.

An agent.

Please tell me how I can get an agent of my very own.

Help me Paige!

Despairingly,

Ari Longing

Dearest A.L.,

You are not alone.

Countless writers believe that landing an agent is the Holy Grail of the screenwriting business.

“Oh, if I only had an agent, life would be perfect.”

Here’s the short answer, although I’m not certain it will leave you satisfied.

HOW TO GET AN AGENT?

The best way to get an agent is for someone inside the business to recommend you to an agent.

A vicious conundrum, yes?

But not an impossible quest.

Here’s how:

1) Do your homework.

If this is your chosen business, educate yourself on the players.

The Internet offers countless ways to learn about who is working in the industry, their studio deals, their projects, and their staff, plus all the contact info you could want provided you’re willing to pay a few bucks.

Bone up on who’s doing what. Read Variety, The Hollywood Reporter or Deadline Hollywood for information on new deals, new projects, executives with new jobs and newly promoted agents and execs. Check out what new companies are looking for and what buyer or buyers they have relationships with. These articles are a wealth of information. And information is the currency that agents deal in. Information is powerful because it leads to sales.

2) Invest in your career.

Pony up some cash to get up to date, specific contact information such as with IMDbPro.

They offer a free 30-day trial and then the option of monthly or annual plans. It is a veritable gold mine of information on individuals, companies, projects past and in pre-production, plus trade articles that have even more scoop. There is in-depth contact information. There are even blogs on how to make the most of the information, such as How to find entertainment industry professionals I want to work with?

3) Aim low.

Hunt for people who are hungry. They need you! They’re looking for you. They’re starving for that great idea or talented new writer. Be the needle in the haystack, Grasshopper.

You have the best shot with newly minted development execs and assistants eager to become dev execs, as well as agency assistants hoping to become agents. They have the most to gain from “discovering” you or your project.

Don’t make the mistake of only going for the Big Fish. He’s not hungry. Know what their boss likes – whether it’s from reading about their projects/sales or interviews with them, and pitch that to them.

4) Aim carefully.

Target your query letters specifically to them. Know what their boss/company needs – whether from reading about their projects, sales, online interviews or job announcements – and pitch that to them. Do your homework!

If you find the hungry exec at a production company where the company principal, aka 3000 lb. Gorilla, might be interested in your project, they are THE perfect person to get you an agent. Asking the right person to read your script can lead to asking them – or them offering – to get you an agent.

5) Heading for happily ever after.

Young Exec gets points for finding a potential project and a promising writer. Since she has been busily building relationships with new agents who are moving up the ranks side-by-side with her, she knows Eager Agent who needs clients. Young Exec offers him a known quantity, not a script that was just “thrown over the transom.” She’s pitching the agent a writer she thinks is talented, possibly with a project that’s already getting some traction.

It’s the film industry version of matchmaking.

If Eager Agent and Aspiring Writer “hook up,” Young Exec is everyone’s darling. She will likely get a little special consideration: an early look at Aspiring Writer’s next project, and will be “on the list” when Eager Agent goes out with Aspiring Writer’s next spec. It’s a Win-Win-Win.

This is how career-long industry relationships are cemented.

The Win-Win-Win is the Number One Secret to breaking into the industry.

There are lots of steps that go into making The Win-Win-Win happen, and the time to start is yesterday! Do not wait until you’ve completed a script to start building relationships. Find all the scoop on how and why to network to pave the way for your own Win-Win-Win in my article, The # 1 Secret to Getting Read & Getting Ahead.

It’s essential to be in the know about the specific politics and etiquette of the industry as you build relationships to avoid any mistake or blunders. Read up on the inside jargon and pointers in my article, Inside Screenwriting Industry Politics to master the strict yet unspoken rules you must navigate to survive and thrive.

Without meaning to shatter your dream entirely, I must add one more thing.

A.L. are you sure you need an agent?

Maybe you need an entirely new perspective. First, check out this video “Be Your Own Agent:”

How and why you should hire yourself to be your own agent.

Trust me, A.L., it’s empowering.

Second big thought: Perhaps you should focus on getting a manager first.

Many writers find this to be an easier, more accessible path. A good manager will guide your career, read your work and give feedback, offer invaluable advice on what to write next, and yes – they will recommend you to an agent when the time is right!

Not to blow your mind with this suggestion. All of these practical pointers apply to meeting your Dream Manager. Until then, find out how you can make the all important decision, “What to Write Next” here.

Ooh, it’s getting late Mr. Longing, I’m heading to bed.

Wishing you sweet dreams!

Spec Scripts – Persistence Pays Off!

Guest Blog

My friend, the talented screenwriter and director Glenn Gers, whose work includes Fracture and Mad Money has my all time favorite “Little Engine That Could” story. Glenn wrote his first spec script in 1984. First scripts never go anywhere, right? Glenn’s got him an agent right off the bat. “People liked it. No one would make it, but they liked it,” says Glenn. “They offered me jobs writing other scripts.” Five years later, it was optioned by a major producer. Five years after that, it was optioned by a studio for A-list stars. Glenn was promptly fired off his own project. Three years later, he got the rights back. “More stars and directors have wanted to do it since; one got a company to finance it but then the company went out of business.” Last year, a producer and director were working to put it together as an indie production. And, as of today, a producer has just reached out to Glenn in hopes of making the project happen with a major star…

Thirty years and still going. Here’s Glenn’s story of the Energizer Bunny of Spec Scripts:

In “the business,” getting a script made into a movie is the holy grail, the big brass ring, the kingdom of heaven. But the truth is, most scripts don’t get made. Most don’t even get sold. How, then, do we estimate the worth of a script?

I personally vote for reader response. Not in a professional sense, from paid estimators of the current enthusiasms of corporate entities and marketing departments, measurers of adjustment to formula. I mean the response of a human being, whatever their job description, to the story and the way it is told. It’s often hard to sort through the morass of professional opinionizing, but after a while you can tell if a script works by — simply — whether people “get it”.

If you wanted them to laugh or cry or get angry — and they do, then you win.

If a script “works,” it doesn’t always have to sell to be successful. I wrote my first feature screenplay on impulse. I was not aware of any “rules,” I just tried to make stuff happen like it did in movies I liked. Alas, many of those movies were made in the 1970s, so I get a lot of, “But you can’t do that.”

But I did it, and it kind of worked. It was a mix of comedy and thriller and romance. People liked it. No one would make it, but they liked it. They offered me jobs writing other scripts.

They also offered me advice on what didn’t work in my script, and sometimes that would show me something I could fix. So I’d rewrite it. It got better. I liked it more. So did other people. It was optioned. It came out of option. More people liked it. They mentioned things they didn’t “get” – and sometimes I rewrote it to fix those things.

This script has been around for almost 30 years now. It is vastly different than when I first wrote it. Characters use cell phones, for example. It’s also a lot better. (Rewrite something for 25 years…it’s pretty solid.) People still try to get it made. People still hire me to write other scripts, because they read it.

It is, according to the standard estimate…kind of a failure. I still haven’t sold that spec script.

But it sure does keep selling me.

Glenn Gers