female agents in NYC

[J off course]

Just finished after lots of re-writing a thriller based on a true story.
This week I'm having a Harvard educated and published writer friend of mine go over the script for grammatical and spelling errors. Getting feedback from some fellow screenwriter wannabees like myself as well. Within the next month, it should be near ready to send out.

For the first round of querying, for reasons pertaining to the subject matter, would like to target the following only;

FEMALE agents/FEMALE contacts of production companies in New York City. Commercial or indie.

Any suggestions with contact information (particularly email addresses) will be most appreciated so I can start research on
these contacts and fashion my query letter. Thanks.

[JakeSchuster aka Ostroff]

Check your email!

[NikeeGoddess]

just make sure your harvard friend understands that scriptwriting breaks a lot of rules of grammar in both action and dialogue.

[Hamboogul]

just because the guy went to harvard doesn't mean he knows anything about grammar.

harvard is way overrated.

[Unca Leo]

Some of my best friends were not accepted to Columbia.

[sc111]

Jake:

I'd be interested in this contact information as well.

E-z-mail me please?

:)

[JakeSchuster aka Ostroff]

sc111: check your regular email, please.:D

[junkyardawg1]

I would like the info as well...hey I don't care if its a woman agent or what ever. Black, white, pink, male, female, short, tall....hey I just want someone to sell my work!!!

Actually my new novel, which I am trying to get representation, is a good read for woman. Although it isn't a "WOMAN'S" novel it is a novel that women will find interesting. Its about a friendship that last a life-time and the novel takes you on the journey of the two best friends- throughout their lives until they die.

I love the old classic movies that allow you to live the life of the characters (not just a section of their lives). This was my goal with this book and I think I did a pretty nice job of inventing interesting characters.

I've also written a spec based on the novel.

dawgy dawg

[JakeSchuster aka Ostroff]

Sc111: your regular email is down. I've PM'd you the info instead.

Junkyard: this is a producer, not an agent. Sorry. But NY is full of excellent women literary agents. Get hold of Jeff Herman's book: here. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871162105/qid=1093360255/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7169084-8383855?v=glance&s=books)

It's the most accurate guide to agents and editors I've seen.

[junkyardawg1]

Jake, my friend, please don't take this the wrong way (I have read where you struggled for a few years until you were published) but if I hear one more agent, producer, publisher, preacher, waitress or nurse tell me to get Jeff Herman's book I'm going to scream!!!>:

Thanks anyway...I'll just keep trying although I'm about to run out of agents to contact...geeeezzz

I do have a partial at Christopher Little's agency but I have little of NO HOPE of him signing me. But it is nice to get a request from the agent of the most famous author (and probably the richest) in the world.

Now where did I lay Herman's book? hmmmmm

dawgy

[JakeSchuster aka Ostroff]

I won't take it the wrong way. But Herman's book really is amazingly accurate. Even editors I know have wondered where he gets his info. And even my own agent, who handles some million-dollar clients, has contributed a page to it.

On a more practical level, may I suggest you aim for younger agents who've set up shop over the past five years or so. The more established ones handle four or five top sellers and, believe me, they have no time for people just starting out. The big guns are a business all on their own. The younger ones will go to bat for you in a much bigger way.

This is advice shared with me by a friend who works for a conglomerate of several top literary publishers.

There are LOTs of agents you probably haven't contacted in NY, so keep plugging. It's a tough time for writers, but remember that a first book often is more exciting to an agent or editor than a third book coming from an author whose second didn't sell. Fresh faces are always in demand.

Also, if your book has any particular regional appeal (i.e. it's set in the South), there are a few excellent publishers outside NY to contact. Just don't knock at the door of any vanity publishers. You'll be out of pocket, unadvertised and undistributed to bookstores.

And, as always, good luck!:)

[junkyardawg1]

Jake,

Of course my point was I have Jeff Herman's book.

As far as contacting younger agents? Hey, I'm all for it. I've contacted young agents, old agents, agents at top agencies, agents that work in a booth on the side of the road.

I've pretty much contacted every agent on the planet and even a few that aren't on this planet.

I may, at some point, have to live up to the fact that my books suck. (I realize my screenplays are pretty bad but there is a story in them and my hope has always been to write a screenplay to help sell the book.) Maybe I don't have what it takes, maybe my writing just sucks...I don't know. But what are you supposed to do? I mean you have to write. We writers have these stories dancing around in our heads and if we don't put them on paper we usually lose what ever sanity we have left.

dawgy

[JakeSchuster aka Ostroff]

Okay, so here's the scenario (as I see it):

You're getting query letters to agents. No one wants to read the manuscript you're pitching. Which means that

--either your query letter doesn't thrill them;
--your query letter is interesting but poorly-written;
--or they're not taking on new clients at the moment.

My advice is:

--have your letter vetted (I'd be happy to have a look at it) to see if it's at least cogently-written;

--if you write in a genre, make sure that's how your letter begins ("My thriller, The Left-Handed Gun, is a contemporary noir featuring what I hope will become a regular in a series, the amputee-detective Milo Hurricane. Milo's a one-of-a-kind. Working out of his father's tailor-shop in L.A.'s Koreatown, he's a war veteran with a chip on his shoulder. That is, if he had a shoulder", etc.).

--genres always sell; readers tend to be repeat customers. Look at Michael Connolly or James Lee Burke. They have recurring characters. People like that.

--if it's a literary novel (aka "midlist fiction"), find a way to mention right away what makes it different ("My new novel, Four Degrees from Providence, deals with a family with a difference. Mother is addicted to ether; father wears a colostomy bag; and the narrator's sister is a guy named Hank. Did I mention this was a comic novel?" etc. Make 'em laugh, or sit up, or want to read more.

--does your novel connect in any way with events in your own life? ("My new novel, The Corregated Man, comes out of my experience working in a cardboard-box factory during a summer abroad in Taiwan. While there, I was great friends with Woo Luck Fun (in my novel he's known as Joe Cheung), who on the side ran a methamphetamine lab. That is, until he was found wedged into the engine of a 747.")

If it does, say it right away. Agents (and editors) love that kind of thing.

[sc111]

Jake! Thanks muchly. I PM'd you my real email. My hotmail account crashed under the weight of excessive spam.

(note to self: remove from bio)

:)

[Queen Uhuru]

Jake, that was some great advice. Thank you from me, too.

[Ahmed Malik]

Jake can you send me a list as well. My e-mail is ahmedmalik@optonline.net

Thanks!