Getting reconnected

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  • Getting reconnected

    I have some past successes (optioning graphic novels I wrote to two studios). And some screenplays that were near misses. One with Bruce Davey attached (Icon) and one with Pierce/Williams attached. Both fell through.

    Several years have gone by. I no longer have ICM representing me. (my agent was let go, and his replacement was just watching my contract expire).

    So now, I'm back with a new screenplay. I have a partner attached with this one and he has an agent, albeit a small one. But she does get things done. (meetings with producers, etc. big and small).

    I can use his agent to rep me on this script. But I'm thinking about getting repped by a bigger agency.

    How difficult is it for me to pound the pavement and try to get the attention of a bigger agent (ICM, CAA, UTA)? My ICM agent actually found me, so I have no experience to go on here. I have two producers already interested in showing it (one younger, and hungry with a few well placed connections and one veteran with deep roots and a few impressive connections), and with my partner's agent with her ability to get it to higher profile producers, is it necessary for me to start an agent search? Or does it look like I'm in good hands as I am?

  • #2
    Re: Getting reconnected

    Let your partner's agent get the script out there, and if it sells/options, then pound the pavement with that news. Until then, you're gonna have a tough time getting an agency interested in you when your new script is written with a partner whom they can't represent. For all they know, your partner wrote all the elements they liked. Right now your brand feels muddled. Are you a partnership? A solo act? That's a big fat reason to say no right there. If you're a solo act, better have a new piece of your own material ready to go before you reach out to agencies.
    https://twitter.com/DavidCoggeshall
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    • #3
      Re: Getting reconnected

      Originally posted by ProfessorChomp View Post
      Let your partner's agent get the script out there, and if it sells/options, then pound the pavement with that news. Until then, you're gonna have a tough time getting an agency interested in you when your new script is written with a partner whom they can't represent. For all they know, your partner wrote all the elements they liked. Right now your brand feels muddled. Are you a partnership? A solo act? That's a big fat reason to say no right there. If you're a solo act, better have a new piece of your own material ready to go before you reach out to agencies.
      This. You need to figure out if you are part of a writing team or not. Most of the time writing partnerships have the same reps - it just makes everything less complicated. Agents at the majors are only interested when there is a piece of material they can sell. Coming at them with a complicated situation is only going to muddy the waters. I'd say take a swing with your partner's rep. Let her put the script out there and see what happens. If it gets you any heat, you can always jump to a major down the road.
      Write, rite, wright... until you get it RIGHT.

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      • #4
        Re: Getting reconnected

        Originally posted by asteven50 View Post
        Most of the time writing partnerships have the same reps - it just makes everything less complicated.
        Totally. Heard this story from a colleague:

        Her friend, a working TV writer, had an idea for a pilot. He was at CAA. He reached out to a friend of his who was also a working writer and asked if she wanted to collaborate. She was at WME.

        He got a panicked call from his agent letting him know that his friend "didn't have a ton of momentum going for her and a partnership would be a waste of time!". Around the same time the other writer got a call from her agent at WME letting her know that "the guy she was thinking of partnering with didn't have a lot of momentum going for him and partnering would be a waste of her time!".

        Granted this is TV and a ton of this also has to do with mess that is "packaging". But it's a good example of how agencies don't like to cross their streams unless they absolutely have to.

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        • #5
          Re: Getting reconnected

          A "bigger agent" is probably worse for you, to be honest.

          True story: friend of mine was at a small agency. His agent moved to a big one. She was enthusiastic about taking him along. Only she gets there ... and now she can't get him into staffing meetings, which she had been able to do before.

          Internal competition was probably the culprit: the big agency would only send so many people on a given job, and he was too far down the ladder.

          There are other reasons, too.

          If you have someone who is busting her ass to get material around town, you would be foolish to pass on that to find someone "bigger."

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          • #6
            Re: Getting reconnected

            Thanks for the detailed responses. Makes sense.

            I'll ride or die with what I have. My partner's agent repped me on a couple solo scripts post-ICM and did pretty good getting the scripts into major players' hands and setting up lots of follow up meetings for me. So I'll stand pat.

            As for what I want to be seen as, I have written solo mostly, and three scripts with the same partner. My comic book properties (4) are solo.

            I know if I want solo assignments I'll need a fresh solo script.

            Thanks again.

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