Read 'Getting an agent when you have an offer on the table' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“Regarding whether or not to get an agent…If I get a purchase or option offer from a producer isn’t it a good idea to contact a reputable agent – who will jump at the chance to represent me – to negotiate the contract?”

The sad truth is that you’ll still have trouble finding an agent “who will jump at the chance to represent” unless the offer is from a really big well established production company. And even then, it’s not going to be as easy as you might think. My inclination would be to simply hire an established entertainment attorney to handle the contract negotiations. I’m not a big fan of being rushed and if you do get an offer and go out and try and get an agent you’ll be doing so quickly and rushing things. The agent will want you to sign some sort of agreement and that’s not something you’ll want to sign under the pressure of being rushed.

On the other hand if you hire a lawyer and let her take care of the details you won’t have to worry about what sort of “deal” you made with an agent. Once the movie gets rolling you’ll have plenty of time to find a good agent and you won’t be rushed to do so. Just make sure you have several other marketable well written screenplays because agents need new material to send out.

Read 'Submitting your script through an agent or manager' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“I have found through my years of sales that selling over the phone is one of my greatest attributes. I love it. I find myself getting uncontrollably excited over the chase of cold calling production companies! I turn it into a game just to see how many people I can get to go against their own policy of ‘no unsolicited submissions’ by offering a high concept comedy. Which I have completed of course. I have had some success in getting them to allow me to send a query, but my question is this. I keep getting the snub from some decent companies regarding having an agent or a manager even after I can get them to talk to me for a few minutes. One person I called said it was a great idea, but if not from a manager or an agent he can’t take a look at it. Can I just hire my friend to be my manager and work that angle? With that in mind if it helps me get my script read, what are your recommendations?”

You basically “get it.” I’m hesitant to recommend that you use your friend as your “manager” since that’s not the sort of “un-official” advice I usually like to put into writing and send to someone I don’t know. But suffice it to say that’s something I’ve thought of doing myself.

However… you still have a couple of options.

#1 Start out by cold calling agents and managers first and see if you can land one. If your script is good you will. Once you get an agent or manager it doesn’t mean you can then stop cold calling production companies, but at least when you do you can say you have an agent or manager and they can submit on your behalf when you get a request. Check out my post: How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!)

#2 Get a good entertainment attorney. This will cost a few bucks but just do a Google search to find one. Call them, talk to them, ask them how much they would charge to submit a script and if that’s a service they do for other clients. In nearly all cases a production company will accept a submission from a lawyer just as easily as they would an agent or manager. In addition you’ll have someone ready to negotiate on your behalf if you do get some interest in your script.

One thing you’ve already noticed is that in many cases production companies say “no unsolicited material” but will in some cases read your stuff. In my opinion every production company will read material if they think it’s compelling enough so if your pitch peaks their interest they will read it. Maybe they’ll make you sign a release form maybe not. The “no unsolicited material” policy simply exists to try and curb the huge number of unsolicited scripts they get.

With that said, if someone tells you they like your pitch but that you must submit through an agent or manager to me that’s a polite way of telling you they don’t really like your pitch. Certainly if you suggest submitting through an entertainment lawyer at that point and they still say “no” it means that they’re not really that interested in your script.

With your salesmanship and willingness to cold call I firmly believe you will eventually option and sell some scripts if they are well written so make sure that they are.

Read 'Does your agent get a commission when you found the deal?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

A lot of the questions I get from fellow screenwriters are through Twitter.  If you don’t already use Twitter you should seriously think about joining.  It’s free and easy.  It’s a very simple way to network with likeminded people and doesn’t take a lot of time (if you use it correctly).  I typically log in to my account once or twice per day and respond to tweets people have sent me and then I look around for other interesting people to follow and network with.  I usually spend less than 15 minutes per day doing this.  I have Tweetie the Twitter iPhone app so I can check Twitter whenever I have a spare moment so the time I spend on Twitter is often time that would be wasted anyway.

If you are on Twitter you can follow me at http://twitter.com/ashleymeyers

Here’s a question I got via Twitter a couple of days ago:

“If I find a production company willing to option my script and I have an agent, does the agent still take a commission for the find, or subsequent deal?”

As a rule, yes, your agent is going to take his 10% commission on scripts that you sell even if he wasn’t involved in the script submission.

Once you find a producer to option/purchase your script there’s going to be some negotiations and legal wrangling that takes place that you should NOT do EVEN if you’re an entertainment attorney.

This is where your agent should earn her money.  If she’s a good agent she might be able to negotiate a fee that is more than 10% higher than what you would have gotten yourself, so you’re probably not going to lose any money by bringing your agent into the equation.

In addition when the wrangling starts you don’t want to be the “bad” guy – that’s what your agent is for.  Potentially you’re going to have to work with the producer for many months so you want to keep your relationship with the producer on good terms.  Let your agent fight with the producer over contract issues while you concentrate on the creative decisions that need to be made.

There are a lot of complexities to a screenplay option agreement and you should probably not try and work them out yourself.  Your agent should be an expert in this area and there should be a lawyer who works for her firm to look over client’s contracts.  This legal guidance is worth the 10%.  Any real agency or manager is going to absorb these legal costs when negotiating your deal.  If you try and hire a good entertainment attorney she’s going to charge you at least $300 / hour and probably more so you might end up losing more than 10% of your deal in legal fees.

I suppose you could negotiate with your agent when you sign with them that you don’t want to pay them commission on deals you find for yourself.  But if you’re going to do that why have an agent at all?  Many beginning writer’s have a misconception that getting an agent is the end-all be-all and that your agent will be able to find work for you as soon as you sign with them.  That’s not what’s going to happen.  As a beginning writer you’re still going to have to do a lot of the leg work in sending your scripts out until you get established.

If you haven’t already done so you might want to read my post How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!).

Read 'Am I only allowed one agent? Should I get one for both the U.S and Britain (where I’m based)?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I’ve never heard of a screenwriter having two agents – meaning different agents at different agencies.  Typically larger agencies have offices in different cities and countries so if you’re with a big agency you essentially have representation in different countries through their other offices.

If I were you I would try and find a local agent first.  While you don’t necessarily have to meet face to face with your agent it does help to establish a relationship.  Once you have a local agent you can simply ask him/her if they think you should try and find representation in Los Angeles.  I suspect most agents won’t want you do this but you won’t know until you ask them.  And then at that point you can decide what’s best for your career.

Keep in mind when you’re submitting your material to agencies you don’t have to wait to hear “no” before you submit to the next agent on your list.  So submit to as many as you can as quickly as you can and submit to ones in NYC and in LA while also submitting to local agents.  When the dust settles if you’re lucky you’ll have a few choices and can find out at that point by asking the specific agents you’re dealing with if you can sign with more than one at the same time.

Make sure you read my post How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!).

If you’re serious about screenwriting you should also think about moving to Los Angeles.  I explain why in my post Do you have to live in Los Angeles to be a screenwriter?

Read 'Are there any agents out there that will look at a treatment?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

GJ Meyer said:

I’m new to screenplays but I’ve been writing stories in the form of police investigations for 20 years. My audience has been the DA, defense attorneys and jurors. I’ve got a ton to learn about writing for commerce but I love it and I’m like a kid in a candy store right now. I’m a member at screenplay lab and I’ve benefited from the training they’ve put on, including WGA Foundation presentations.

I’ve got a 12 page treatment for a PG Romantic Comedy. It’s done in the beat sheet format by Blake Snyder and it’s registered. The screenplay is 30 pages in and I’m working on it while I still do my day job.
It’s an original story, as in I haven’t taken it from a novel or other project but from what I’ve heard, original stories are hard to sell to suits. They want something based on a previous successful story or about an interesting person’s life in order to take the chance. Even Ben Button was taken from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald with Roth’s twist as you know. The feedback I’ve received from a friend that used to be big in the business (70′s & 80′s) is, “It’s lively, funny and well written.” but who knows, he might have been just being nice.

How in the heck do I get an agent a mere treatment? Or won’t they even talk to me until I have a couple of full screenplays done? I’ve run into situations where accomplished writers will be more than happy to look at my treatment and my screenplay’s progress, but they want $150 to $500 bucks depending upon who it is. I don’t have it, but I want to see if I’m on the right track. Should I try and team with a co-author with experience? and how do I do that without $ up front?

I know I won’t sell crap without an agent.

Any suggestions?

Thanks man,

GJMEYER (no relation to Ron obviously)

Ashley Scott Meyers said:

GJ Meyer;

First off – all the options I’ve had (more than twenty) and the three scripts I’ve sold have all been without an agent so don’t think you have to have an agent to sell a script. A good agent certainly helps, but isn’t a guarantee of selling something and when you’re starting out you’re honestly better off trying to get your stuff out there yourself because the agents who will take on a new writer are usually no where near as motivated to make a sale as you are.

I would say don’t rush things. Keep working on your script and don’t try and send the treatment out. Wait until the script is done and re-written and polished and then start sending it out.

I’ve never found that having an original idea is a real hindrance. Sure, if you have the rights to a best selling book that will give you a leg up because it’s a proven commodity but if you have a great story concept and a well executed script that will get you in the door too.

Specifically two of my posts I think will help you a lot:

How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell)

How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!)

Ashley

(Note: Please keep in mind that this is an informal email exchange so please pardon spelling and grammar mistakes)

Read 'Do I need an entertainment attorney to represent my screenplay?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

Getting an entertainment lawyer isn’t hard to do – just do a Google search for “entertainment lawyer” and look for a few in Beverly Hills and you’ll probably find a few good ones.  You’ll want to ask them if they have experience with screenwriting option/purchase agreements.  Assuming the option/purchase agreement is pretty standard it will probably take them 4 hours to look over – more time for more complicated agreements.  Any decent entertainment attorney is going to charge you $250 – $500 per hour so you’re looking at spending probably $1,000 to $2,000 for them to look over and advise you on a basic screenplay option/purchase agreement.  If there is a lot of back and forth with the producer it can get quite expensive.

So you don’t need an entertainment attorney unless a producer wants to option or purchase your script.  An entertainment attorney isn’t going to act as an agent and send your material out and try and find you work.  They’re simply going to handle your legal issues and charge you on a per hour basis.

If you have an agent or manager they probably have a lawyer on retainer who handles legal issues on contracts that you’ll be signing.  So if you have an agent or manger you probably won’t need an entertainment attorney, at least not one to handle your option / purchase agreements.

For advice on finding an agent check out my post How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!).

Read 'How To Submit Your Screenplay Query Letter To Agents' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I’ve started to receive a good number of emails from new writers with questions.  I’ll be posting the email exchanges as I think other aspiring writer’s can benefit from them.  If you have a question please let me know: info@sellingyourscreenplay.com

(Note: Please keep in mind that this is an informal email exchange so please pardon spelling and grammar mistakes).

Branden wrote:

My name is Branden and I have finished a screenplay that I spent a year and a half working on. I’m still not sure if agents or studio executives can believe that it will be a plausible story to be made but I’m going to ask you what you think and if you think there’s a way I can make it sound more interesting. It’s about a man named Mr. Lee Burrows, who is a middle school ancient history teacher obsessed with the Roman Empire. While being a teacher, he is also the leader and founder of an underground dog fighting ring that he slowly turns into his own version of the Roman Coliseum. Midway through the story, he gets a new next door neighbor who is the founder and leader of an extremist animal rights movement based on Keith Mann’s animal rights movement in England. We soon find out that this man is also a closeted child molester and begins to prey on the children of the town including one of Lee Burrow’s students. The story is a drama comedy and is hopefully breaking new ground in terms of its topics.

Ashley Scott Meyers responded:

Well… I think it actually sounds pretty compelling.  You certainly have a lot going on in your story.  You should write up a query letter and a 1 page synopsis and start doing a test to see if you can find any interest.  Did you read my post about writing query letters?  That’s a good place to start.

Branden wrote:

Thank you for responding to my e-mail and the positive response to the story. I have been reading most of your posts on your site and I think it’s the best advice I’ve read from anyone’s website. I have friends who write and I will refer them to your website too. I have been reading the query letter section and how to get your screenplay to production companies and this is all helping. I have written five drafts of my query letter so far and I sent out 15 so far to agents from the WGA website. I have gotten no responses yet. I see you say to send out 100′s and I will have to do that then. I will also have to re-write my query letters because my loglines are like a synopsis because it’s two paragraphs I take to tell them the story. I read on another website you need one paragraph and I couldn’t get my story to just one. This could be why I’m not getting responses or maybe it’s because I have been writing to agencies that don’t work with unpublished writers. They used to have the agencies on the WGA website that tell you if they work with unpublished writers or not, but they changed it so now you don’t know who you can or can’t write to. Anyway, thank you so much for responding to my e-mail. I may try to write to production companies too. One question I have is, how important is it having the names of the agents in the letter? Some of the agencies I have found don’t have agent’s names.  Does it make a big difference?

Ashley Scott Meyers wrote:

It sounds like you’re doing many of the right things.

Before you spend a lot of time submitting to agents read my post “How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!)“.

15 letters isn’t enough to really get an idea if you’re on the right track or not.  However my first impression is that you’re probably not so take some time and go back to really hone your query letter, log line and synopsis.  Check out these posts:

You do need to pair your logline down to a sentence or two – less than a full paragraph.  And it should really be something that quickly piques the interest of the reader so that they want to read the full (1 page or less) synopsis. You’re not trying to tell your entire story in a couple of sentences all you’re trying to do is get people interested enough in your basic idea as to get them to read your short synopsis.

In my experience submitting to agents is far less fruitful than submitting directly to producers and production companies.  So the percentages I quote in my submitting your screenplay post might be a bit lower if you’re submitting to agents.

I wouldn’t worry too much about trying to find agencies that supposedly will accept unsolicited material.  In my experience if you find that information it’s often inaccurate and a lot of the companies who say they won’t, will and a lot of the companies who say they will, won’t.  So just pick some and submit.

If you can get a specific name to include on your query letter that should help tremendously.  I recommend calling the agency and talking to whomever answers the phone.  Ask them if there are any junior agents who are accepting new clients.  They’ll probably say “no” but maybe not.  If they give you a name write it down and address your query to them or better yet try and pitch your idea right over the phone (telemarketing skills required!).  If you buy the HCD’s Hollywood Representation Directory it will list actual names of people who work at the agencies and sometimes list their job title, too.  This can be a bit dicey, however, as it won’t always be clear exactly who are the junior literary agents but it might give you a bit of a clue.  I think even if you address it to the wrong person that’s probably better than addressing it to no one.  In fact I think that could be why out of the 15 letters you sent you haven’t gotten anything back from any of them.  A letter addressed to no one probably was received by a receptionist and tossed away without even being considered.

Ashley

Read 'How do you get an agent for your screenplay? (And why you don’t need one!)' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I get asked this question quite a bit and I see it asked on screenwriting forums often.  The short answer is this: In my experience if you don’t know how to get an agent you probably aren’t ready for one.

Getting an agent isn’t the be-all-end-all in screenwriting.  I’ve optioned dozens of scripts and sold a few and I’ve done so without the benefit of an agent on every single sale and option I’ve ever made.  I have had a few agents over the years but they did a lot less for me than I was doing for myself so we usually parted company after a few months.

The idea that all you need to do is get your script to a good agent and he’ll turn all your screenwriting dreams into a reality is a myth.  A lot of writers (and actors too) think that if they have an agent all they’re going to need to do is write and that their agent will find them writing gigs and sell their scripts.  While this may be true if you make it to the very top of the screenwriting eco-system, it’s not true if you’re just starting out or even if you’ve sold a few scripts.  Besides, it’s a horrible way to live your life even if it were true.  Do you really want to be 100% dependent on someone else for the future of your career?  I know I don’t.

I know a fairly well established television writer who got an agent early in her career and never had to spend any of her time selling her scripts.  She wrote a great spec television script, got it to the right agent, and was hired to write for a major television show.  Now 10 years later her career is slowing down and she has absolutely no idea how to sell a script.  All she can do is write spec scripts and send them to her agent and then wait for her agent to call her.  Her agent is calling less and less.  This example is close to best case scenario, too.

The reality is that most agents who are powerful enough to get your material produced don’t have time to look at material from new writers, and if they do it’s only because someone they knew well has recommended it to them.

If you follow the steps I’m about to outline below about how to get an agent, what will most likely happen, if your writing sample is very strong, is that the only agents who will be willing to sign you as a client will have as little chance (or even less chance) of selling your script as you do yourself.  They’ll either be young agents new to the industry or an established talent agent that runs a ‘literary’ branch on the side.

Keep in mind signing with either of these types of agents is not without value.  But if you do sign with them don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re on easy street and don’t have to keep pushing your scripts yourself.  Having any sort of an agent, even one with no real credits or clout in the industry does give you some additional credentials.  Most “screenwriters” don’t even have a bad agent so you’ll look more professional than many people when you make submissions by mentioning this in your query letter.  For instance, many production companies will not accept submissions from writers directly, so you can have your agent submit it for you or simply submit it on behalf of your agent.  But in either case it’s you out beating the bush for sales.

One last point I’d like to make about trying to find an agent.  Try and put yourself in the position of that “good” agent who has lots of contacts and can get a script made or get a writer hired onto a television show.  How would you try and find up-and-coming talent if you were that agent?  Reading blind submissions is just too time consuming and costly.  The chance of finding one great script in a pile of thousands doesn’t justify the rewards.  Their time is too precious.  However, if an up-and-coming actor tells the “good” agent about a recent short film he did that won a writing award at a film festival and that actor gives a copy of the short film to the agent along with that writer’s newest feature film script, the agent will probably consider the submission.  The “good” agent will probably look at the short film and if he likes it he might take a look at the feature script.  This is how connections are made.  This is how you get a good agent.  You build your writing resume one project at a time and eventually things will start to open up for you.

With that said, there are a few ways that you can try and get an agent.  Just to reiterate, even if you get an agent it doesn’t mean you will be able to sit back and just write.  You’re still going to have to spend a lot of your time trying to get your stuff produced because most likely your agent won’t.

Keep in mind too, I highly encourage you to do exactly what I’m going to spell out below even though I doubt it will result in you getting a “good” agent.  Any agent is better than no agent (usually) and it’s just one more angle that you should be pursing to get your scripts made.  Who knows, they might just sell one of your scripts for you and at the very least they might give your own submissions a little more juice.

The Writer’s Guild of America has a list of signatory agents which can be found here:

http://www.wga.org/agency/agencylist.asp

As a rule all the agents on this list are reputable.  They must agree to adhere to the WGA rules to be a signatory agency.  Most of the agencies you’ve heard of (CAA, William Morris, etc.) simply won’t accept unsolicited submissions and will probably send your query letter back un-read.  Don’t worry too much about this.  Just send your query letter to every single agency on the list and see if anything sticks.  It probably won’t but you never know.

In addition, The Hollywood Creative Directory (HCD) has an agents/managers edition.  There’s an online edition here: http://shop.hcdonline.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=hcd&Product_Code=ADBK0&Category_Code=Books

Or you can buy it from Amazon by clicking here. Make sure you get the “Representation” edition.

The HCD is a great resource because it lists managers as well as agents and you might have a little more luck finding a manager.  The exact difference between an agent and a manager will be covered in a future post, but suffice it to say that an agent is more geared towards selling your script and getting you work as a writer while a manager is more geared towards career development and might be able to act as a script consultant and help you develop your work.  This is the path I’ve chosen; I currently have a manager but not an agent.

To submit you’ll want to write a professional query letter.  My query letter is usually around ½ to ¾ of a page long where I introduce myself and two scripts with log lines.  I also include a 1 page synopsis for each script that I pitched in the query letter.  NEVER send a complete script unless they’ve requested you to do so.  Years ago it was considered polite to include a self-addressed stamped post card so they could easily reply to you, but I’ve found most of the time they’ll just pick up the phone or drop you an email so make sure you include a phone number and an email address in your query letter. Read my full post on how to write a professional query letter by clicking here.

Be careful.  There are a lot of so-called “agents” and “managers” out there who will want to charge you something to help you “develop” your screenplay.  An agent or manager may be willing to take you on as a client “if” you use the script development services that they recommend.  DO NOT DO THIS.  Any reputable agent or manager does NOT charge you anything upfront for their services.  They only get paid when you get paid.  Typically agents get 10% and managers take 15% – and only when you’ve earned money as a screenwriter.  If they want up-front fees for anything or try and sell you something their business is selling aspiring screenwriters services NOT selling screenplays to producers so don’t bother with them.