Managers and Development

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  • #76
    Re: Managers and Development

    It really sounds like a lot of this companies want to control writers like puppets as opposed to conscious beings with their own tastes and beliefs. Is it so hard to get into a situation where you can live and die by your own sword? It jsut sounds like such an unhealthy situation for a creative to be in. I can't imagine a novelist has to work like this.
    It's the eye of the Tiger, it's the thrill of the fight

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    • #77
      Re: Managers and Development

      Originally posted by nojustice View Post
      I don't think this should be turned into a hate campaign.

      It's hearsay.

      .
      well, its always going to be heresay until people make share stories, make connections, until some authoritive source - news, law, whatever, brings it to light. an issue of exploiting writers is tough as so many writers work in isolation. this is a good use of a forum of writers, it seems to me.

      if it is heresay, it will fade away. i doubt it will stop aspiring screenwriters from signing with an a list management co.

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      • #78
        Re: Managers and Development

        Originally posted by jtwg50 View Post
        It's looking and sounding more like ZG! Any takers on that bet? And from what I heard (after having good dealings with Eric W. before the Holders came in), everything changed -- for the worse -- after the merger. Can we get a confirmation here from an actual ZG client???
        I'm repped by ZG and I can tell you that my manager has personally worked his ass off for me. In the last 6 months alone he's optioned one of my scripts and gotten me a rewrite assignment on a film that should shoot later this year.

        He's gotten me meetings with both major tv studios and independent producers. He's gotten me read at every major agency and studio in town and he's used his own financing background to support my desire to direct by bringing in people to fund a short film I've conceived.

        Does he read some of my stuff and say, "It's not good enough to take out like this." Absolutely, but that's his job. Have the "Powers that be" at ZG shot down some of my ideas? Yes. Has he told me to write it anyway and taken those same scripts out himself? Yes.

        Does he make me write treatments and pitches ad nauseum before they say "Go write that one." Yes. But that's because left to my own devices I'll write a script with nothing other than the kernel of an idea that ultimately wanders in the second act and runs out of steam thus wasting my and everyone else's time.

        They want to make money plain and simple. The way they do that is by putting my work in the best position to make money by being as critical as the marketplace will be about my work.

        Does it frustrate me that they piss on my ideas sometimes? Sure it does. But at the same time I'm always told if I really feel strongly about something to write it anyway and if it's good it will be obvious to everyone.

        I can't speak for every manager at ZG but mine works extremely hard for me and is in constant contact via e-mail daily and phone at least weekly.

        Personally, I think a manager who just fires out whatever you put on paper is negligent. If you want someone who doesn't have an opinion or gives feedback on your work then why don't you post your shyt on inktip for God's sake?

        If there's no value added why bother to pay them 10%?

        Like I say, I don't know what other managers do but it seems to me this is the manager's job - to say no, to say you can do better - and then to bust their ass when it's ready to go out.

        So far that has been my experience with ZG.

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        • #79
          Re: Managers and Development

          Originally posted by dirtbottle View Post
          Does he make me write treatments and pitches ad nauseum before they say "Go write that one." Yes. But that's because left to my own devices I'll write a script with nothing other than the kernel of an idea that ultimately wanders in the second act and runs out of steam thus wasting my and everyone else's time.
          Hi dirtbottle, that's very interesting! Can you post a little more about that process?

          What exactly is more important when your manager is making you repeatedly write treatments and pitches?

          For example, does he ask you to change your idea so that it's more appealing to certain sections of the public, or more appealing to a movie studio he's targetting (budget, quadrant wise)?

          Or is it just about making the idea the best it can be?

          Any one more than the other?

          Thanks!

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          • #80
            Re: Managers and Development

            Originally posted by Anagram View Post
            Hi dirtbottle, that's very interesting! Can you post a little more about that process?

            What exactly is more important when your manager is making you repeatedly write treatments and pitches?

            For example, does he ask you to change your idea so that it's more appealing to certain sections of the public, or more appealing to a movie studio he's targetting (budget, quadrant wise)?

            Or is it just about making the idea the best it can be?

            Any one more than the other?

            Thanks!
            No they've never asked me to change an idea based on bullshyt like "whats the quadrant" or "Contained thrillers are hot right now"

            Mostly the reason they want treatments is because they want to know the turns in the script. They want me to really sit down and figure out if this thing has enough steam to sustain a full 100 pages.

            Lots of ideas sound great but then when you flesh them out they just fall apart. That's mostly what the process is for.

            Now, have I come up with ideas that they just went "Eh, that just isn't exciting to us." But that's about fit. I mean they don't want me to write indie art house crap to be honest. That's ok with me because I like writing action and thrillers and so on but, if I had something I was extremely passionate about that they didn't like they wouldn't say don't write it. They would say it better be amazingly good.

            In fact, I wrote a script that they didn't want me to write. And you know what? When it was done I looked at it and went... "Yeah, it doesn't work. They said it wouldn't and they were right."

            To his credit however, my manager still gave me notes on how to make it better though if I really wanted to pursue it.

            Look, I was in a meeting there recently and they made this comment which I think sums up why they do what they do, "We want the script to be so good that if the marketplace doesn't buy it we'll make it ourselves."

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            • #81
              Re: Managers and Development

              Originally posted by holly View Post
              well, its always going to be heresay until people make share stories, make connections, until some authoritive source - news, law, whatever, brings it to light. an issue of exploiting writers is tough as so many writers work in isolation. this is a good use of a forum of writers, it seems to me.

              if it is heresay, it will fade away. i doubt it will stop aspiring screenwriters from signing with an a list management co.
              Do writers really have the ability to suffer in silence? I don't think so. No one is shy about telling their tales around here.

              If there is a manager out there signing writers and then not taking out their work, the lynching mob can be saddled up by noon.

              But we would need to hear first hand accounts.

              The only account of that nature was from Farnsworth. His manager wasn't taking his work out, only getting him to spec. And not even his own ideas. So if it's Farnsworth's manager, there is testimony in the archives here.

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              • #82
                Re: Managers and Development

                Originally posted by dirtbottle View Post
                In the last 6 months alone he's optioned one of my scripts and gotten me a rewrite assignment on a film that should shoot later this year.
                I don't mean to be rude, but do you mind me asking how much you've been paid?

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                • #83
                  Re: Managers and Development

                  Originally posted by nojustice View Post
                  I don't mean to be rude, but
                  too late!

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                  • #84
                    Re: Managers and Development

                    sorry, i couldn't resist.

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                    • #85
                      Re: Managers and Development

                      Originally posted by nojustice View Post
                      I don't mean to be rude, but do you mind me asking how much you've been paid?
                      Actually yeah, I do for obvious reasons.

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                      • #86
                        Re: Managers and Development

                        I've been through this now in the last six months from two separate management companies. What is being said here is absolutely true.

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                        • #87
                          Re: Managers and Development

                          Been through what, vladdrak, you will need to elaborate.

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                          • #88
                            Re: Managers and Development

                            I see. A man of few words.

                            Maybe they do suffer in silence.

                            As far as managers taking on writers but not wanting to show anyone their work, I think it's weird. What are they living on? Are they junior managers who they want to train by letting them wrestle with new writers?

                            I don't understand it.

                            It's really the unpaid assignments that I think are toxic. It doesn't break them in, it just breaks them. I've heard there are managers who are involved with those.

                            They're not doing a very good job of managing things if their writers are working for free.

                            It's irresponsible. If a producer can't pay to have a script written then they should just take an option on a spec.

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                            • #89
                              Re: Managers and Development

                              NoJustice: It's not just wanna-be's and beginners that are doing free work. Even some well established pros are being forced to jump through more hoops and do a lot more work on pitches and "free" rewrites characterized as "producer's passes" to get around the normal step structure and WGA rules. It's all just a testament to how incredibly difficult it is now for all concerned since the business (and discretionary money and development funding) is shrinking rather than growing.

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                              • #90
                                Re: Managers and Development

                                i've had reps not want to take my work out, if that's what this discussion is.

                                it happens.

                                that's why they like to know what you're gonna write before you write it.

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