When the Agent likes your script

[TinaRM]

Hi all!

Ok - so what should I expect next? I received an e-mail from an agent (who I've been corresponding with for over a month now) - says he likes the script (now that I have rewritten the beginning to speed it up) and will call me and we'll talk about it.

Should I be ready with questions for him? What is he going to do at this point? Is this the point where he finds a producer? If he does, will I need to head out to LA and pitch it?

Thanks!

Tina

[ddean]

Expect nothing. Don't get your hopes up. For some reason agents like to tease and string you along. They want to touch base with a lot of writers but they're perfectly comfortable with leaving you to slowly freeze on the back burner.

You don't pitch completed screenplays but it's possible to go have meetings with people who've read your script and liked it.

Keep your day job. Your script probably won't sell. If anything does happen, it will be a long process that will drag your heart out for repeated letdowns.

[DWB1125]

ddean,

Did you get up on the cranky side of the bed this morning?

Cynicism is one thing, pessimism is another. People pitch completed scripts all the time. Every time I talk about my most recent script, I'm pitching it - even if the listener is just my girlfriend.

I know a lot of agents, and most of them are looking for the next script that they can "love" so they can sell it and make money. If they've found something they are interested in, then expect responses, expect questions, expect contact. It may not be daily contact, but interest is exactly that.

On the other hand, Tina, you should not build anything around this agent's interest other than that they are interested. Relax, take a breath or two, and find out who this person is. Do you like them, do you trust them, to they respect you and your work? Those are typically my questions towards agents.

Hope for the best, expect nothing, and prepare to move on to the next script which will be even better.

Dave

[Steve]

I think Ddean was answering the question about needing to go to LA to pitch the script. An agent will not set up pitch meetings for a completed script. They'll send it out (if they like it) and then the writer may get meetings at which she should be pitching her next script. And at the risk of heaping on the pessimism, I'd have to say you should ber prepared for nothing to happen, or for things to stretch on for months. Sure, the agent could take you on, send out the script and sell it immediately but more likely it will be the beginning of a slow process. Ask the agent lots of questions. How many clients he has, what they do, what he's sold, how he would market your script, how he would build your career, etc. And be prepared to answer some questions yourself about where you see yourself going as a writer, what kinds of things you want to write, what your strengths and weaknesses are, etc.

You can also post a query under "Agents" to see if anyone knows about this person.

[TinaRM]

I've decided that there are many levels to "Cloud Nine" and if you aren't careful you'll go up too high and get your little heart broken. Thank you guys for not letting that happen to me by giving me some forwarning.

I've approached "Cloud Nine" with caution and allowed myself a certain level of excitement in knowing that at least a couple of agents out there like my script. That's something to be proud of, right? Not boastful, just mildly proud of oneself.

I received a call from the agent today (can't call him "my" agent, I guess) and he said almost the same exact thing you guys did. It's a big waiting game and just because he likes it doesn't mean a whole lot. IF (being the key word here) it is bought, it could just as easily end up shelved - which is depressing for the writer who wants more than anything to see the life version of his/her writing on the screen. The money, well, that's all fine and good - but at some point you want to see someone saying the very words that you put together on paper.

Thats ok! I remain optomistic! I like it and that counts for something, right? I mean, it's a real accomplishment to have completed a project and no matter what, can stand proud of it.

So, off I go to finish up some other scripts and get those out there too.

You guys keep your heads up and lets all pull for each other (the cheerleader in me creeps out from time to time).

The agent said something about shopping it around. I guess that's what happens next. Whatever happens, this guy is super nice and it has been a learning experience just dealing with him up to this point.

Tina

[lilybet]

Yeah, completing a script and liking it is worth being proud of. I lot of people just talk about writing a script and fool themselves into thinking they've got the next big hit in their pocket.

Yeah, having an agent like your script is worth being proud of.

Sounds like you're keeping your feet on the ground. Keep us up with the saga, it's interesting and instructional.

Good luck,

lilybet

[RatWriter]

This is the part I don't get.
Here are some common statements...

1) Don't expect your good spec. to get produced.
200,000 written, 2,000 purchased, 200 produced (75% of the 200 are writing assignments)
2) Your spec. represents your talent for future writing assignments.

Now...

An agent reads your spec. and likes it. This means you have writing talent. Why does he not represent the writer and get writing assignments?
or
Does a new writer have to sell a spec. to get writin assignments?

[hang em high]

I've been wondering about this, why are aritsts/writers so concious of the phrase, it's NOT THE MONEY?

Is it really not the money? I relate that saying to, "I'm gonna be honest with ya." I hope the hell so.

Is this the only story within you? I mean come on, 100 pages of life. I have more than a hundred pages in the time it takes me to open my eyes and walk to the bathroom.

Tell me then, why is the first thing ALWAYS your baby? If the money gives you the free time to actually create, your version of 'the' story could transform into something entirely different, seen in a different POV.

The money is the rainbow, let yourself beleive that.

If you sell a script, and it never gets made, you have created the filter to which your ideas can flow through.

Writers problems: no talent, no ideas, you're doomed, but if you have both, then what's next. . . time, too many other things cluttering your day. You sell a script, they give you MONEY, that's when you DON'T care about the money.

hang em'

[lilybet]

Hang, (said in my most sappy, sympathetic voice)

Frequently when reading your posts, I hit sentences that I simply can't make any sense of. Ex. - "If you sell a script, and it never gets made, you have created the filter to which your ideas can flow through." Huh?

[steeves]

but i gotta agree somewhat with the hangman.

there. i said it. and my nose is NOT bleeding. cool. :)

lil - i don't quite catch the analogy either, but what the man is saying that getting paid for what you've done allows you the luxury of doing it again (produced or not) AND eating. if ya get paid enough you can maybe quit the day job... not to mention some external validation which is also be a good thing

i do consider myself an artist. but not all artists have to starve. i write with the big sale in the back of my mind to justify all the blood sweat and tears that are poured into my keyboard (so far all that fluid hasn't shorted it out but the day may come)

many posts here and other places talk about the money not being important, that they would write even if they knew that they had no chance to sell it. all the power to them, tho' i'm not certain i believe it... but without the potential pot of gold and the end of the script-bow i don't think i'd be doing it.

as oscar would be nice too, just so i could thank mom! :)

[Steve]

You're off to a good start. Just take a long range view. Finishing the script is a step, Getting an agent is another. The next step might be a sale or it might be a meeting with someone who might be interested in your next script. The important thing is to keep writing and keep enjoying it.

Rat asked: "An agent reads your spec. and likes it. This means you have writing talent. Why does he not represent the writer and get writing assignments? or Does a new writer have to sell a spec. to get writin assignments?"

The answer according to my agent is yes, you do need a track record of sales to get a writing assignment. It's very competitive. You do hear about exceptions. The writer of "What Lies Beneath" was hired to write that off a spec and I don't think he'd sold anything though I believe he had experience in other areas of the industry. And all the reviews have said the script is terrible so maybe there's something to be said for things happening when you're really ready.

[TinaRM]

Oh, I wasn't saying the money wasn't important. It most definitely is - but only in the sense of offering that freedom (well and eating and stuff, too, but that goes without saying). I think tho, that beyond the money, the greatest reward would be to sit in a theater and watch your screenplay unfold into a movie and hear the reaction of the viewers. Or to sit in your livingroom and look up at your entertainment center and see the DVD/VHS of your screenplay sitting there. Pop that baby in and sit and watch it with your family. That, to me is the ultimate reward.

With the freedom that money offers, you are then able to get up everyday and do what it is that you like to do...which is write. Right now, I get up everyday and head to my den, where I sit at my desk all day training people and editing medical journals (how boring) for SGML (internet coding). That isn't what I want to do with my life! It's a great "job" but it isn't fulfilling. It simply offers a paycheck. So, the money is very important if I want to get up everyday and head to my desk and write - just write all day - or go meet people in the writing industry.

Tina

[hang em high]

Lily, selling the script and it getting made are two seperate animals. Sell it and the realization of money is spent on tangible things, but that doesn't mean it's gonna be made.

But, you will have contacts, connections, people who will read other scripts that you have to offer, other visions, ideas, the stuff you create, ahhhh - that was the funnel analogy.

Is that less cryptic for ya.

hang em

[Tony R]

...or maybe not THE best case scenario, but A best case scenario anyay...just some inspiration to counter the nay-sayers...though, we all gotta realize that this is RARE to, say the least...

(names and details have been omitted to protect the "innocent")

A screenwriting friend of mine was working as a reader for a sub-agent at a big agency a few years ago. By this time he'd had like four scripts under his belt and was sweating over the re-writes for his fifth(?). This guy, let me tell you, is one HELL of a screenwriter...well, to make a long story short, the sub-agent showed his script (after about two gazillion rewrites) to an agent who was/is pretty high on the food chain(not only at this agency, but in general) who deals with scripts of this genre...the agent loved (I repeat LOVED, not liked, not thought it had potential, but loved) the script and signed on as my friend's agent...my buddy then signed with a manager...and within a short time they'd gotten a producer (again WAY up in the food chain) interested and the producer got a major studio interested and they bought the script for a deal that every newbie (my friend obviously included) has a particular kind of "unmentionable in polite company" dream about. (side note to Bill Martell: I guess this answers my WGA non-member selling to a signatory question...I swear, sometimes I feel like an Ostrich, only my head's not buried in the ground)...Again, to make what could be a long story short (in the interest of anonymity), the script went into pre-prod, had a planned release date that has already passed, and is now back in development, stuck there from all acounts...

However, my pal did get writing assignments from this sale, and has been attatched to one project as the sole writer...the projects, of course, are still in development (last I checked)...

Some things my friend had/has in his favor:

1. He lived in LA (now he lives elsewhere)...I know...I hate to say it because I don't live there anymore, but I think this was extremely beneficial for him, primarily because it allowed him to...

2. Work as a reader for a smaller agent at a big agency who had big agent contacts.

3. He is, like I said before, one HELL of a writer...he's got a writing work ethic that is absolutely necessary to get anywhere in this business...he rewrites the daylights out of his stuff until it's the best it can possibly be (and the first draft copy I have of the script he sold was exceptionally good...but one of the latter rewrites is as good as any produced script, from the same genre at least, at Drew's Script-O-Rama)

This is just to give you an idea of what it takes to "make it" in our chosen life's passion...and his stuff is still stuck in development hell...

BTW, gotta agree with Hang here...having the free time to write FULL TIME, to completely explore the art of writing, is one of the many benefits of selling a script for a decent amount of cash...and thus such a sale should not be "poo-poo'd" as one of a writer's goals. Just my $.02 on that one. Though I'd still write even if I never made one of those two cents back...


The moral here, if there is one...make sure your scripts are in great shape, brilliant shape before you send 'em out. They've got to be able to cause a producer to dance around his office, jubilantly, on a non-chemically induced "high", off of one read...

Get connected...show your scripts to your connections, get feedback in order to accomplish the aforementioned goal...then have your connections set you up.

This is ONE avenue...but a good one...

[Tony R]

Here are some mistakes that I've made...

1. I sent a half-polished second draft of a script in the wrong genre to an agent/contact who works(ed?) at a prestigious mid-sized agency with the idea that, since the script "had potential", maybe this person would of course have nothing better to do with her time than help me get the script in shape and work her tail off to get a naive newbie read. I had NO clue. Needless to say, I lost this contact via a "hard pass" (thanks for the read, but...)

2. I sent a polished third draft of the first screenplay I ever wrote to a former professor of mine who happened to be an agent, who had worked on the absolutely, morbidly, terrible first draft with me (that he originally thought had "a lot of potential, but also had "a long way to go"), instead of sending another script of mine that absolutely eclipsed that one in every respect because I thought that since he was familiar with that one that I would take it off the shelf, blow the dust off, polish it up and get it out to him as quickly as I could after calling him for the first time in four years...another lost contact.

3. I never took advantage of the numerous postings on our bulletin board at film school by agencies and prodco's looking specifically for screenwriting students to work as reader interns. When I wasn't writing, going to class, or "finding myself", I was playing pool and chasing girls. This was a symptom of my inherent lazyness as the last two activities were much easier to indulge in than actually thinking about my future and trying to forge a career or something like that.

4. I lost touch with my screenplay selling friend. I have recently acquired his phone # though and intend to rectify that situation as quickly as I can...trying to find a tactful angle of approach...not sure what the statute of limitations is on "I'll hook you up. I'll hook all of my friends up if I sell something, or get in the biz some way"...I used to hang around with this guy EVERY DAY.

5. I moved out of LA as soon as I was done with school with great haste (I lived there for five years...anybody who's ever lived there, or does live there knows what I mean, unless of course you like LA...) and have only been back once in the last 3 1/2 years to attend a friend's wedding.

On the plus side, my scriptwriting is actually starting to become decent as I've spent the last 3 1/2 years "honing my craft" based on the solid foundation I got at school. And I have cultivated other contacts and potential contacts since...

A moral here...take advantage of contacts and get your scripts (again, a theme here) in the best shape they can possibly be in before showing them to someone who could literally hold your career in his/her hands.


I hope at least something in my two posts here is useful to somebody...for those of you just starting out, perhaps with one or two first draft scripts under your belt, with dreams of your name on the silver screen, etc...pay CLOSE attention to my first two mistakes. (and btw the people I sent these two scripts to KNEW that I had some degree of talent...the second one worked with me twice a week, an hour a pop, mano a mano, for four months on the first draft of the script I sent to him...he really liked the first draft...but as a first draft of a first screenplay ever written...not as something I should send a slightly rewritten version of to him four years later)

Till later,

[TinaRM]

Is it still possible to become a reader? I'd like to do that. How can I find out about it.

Tina

[Writers Blockhead]

Around last February or so, an agent read my script and called me sounding very excited. He said it was "terrific" and even went so far as to come up with some casting ideas. He said he did have a few notes that we'd discuss later. I haven't heard from him since. I've called a couple times and left messages but he hasn't called me back. I understand that agents are busy and can't get back to every inquiry. But you'd think he would at least have the decency to get back to me after pumping me up toward "Cloud Nine" like he did.

As for becoming a reader, I know that the major studios only hire readers in the union. But you could contact smaller companies and/or agencies. Without any experience, you'd probably have to work as un unpaid intern for a while. But that can still be a good experience and you'll have coverage samples.