How Do You Court WMA, CAA, ICM Agencies?

[Guest Close StoryDude]

I have heard rumors that unless you are rep'd by larger
agencies such as WMA, CAA, ICM, the chances of selling
(not optioning) your script are slim to none. For example, I
read a quote from a creative exec who said if it's not
stamped by WMA, CAA, ICM she won't even read it. With
this in mind, what are the ways to court the big agencies?
Do you really have to sell a script first in order to get considered by these firms?

[Guest Close MrGazzo]

They don't need you. I don't mean you, story dude you, I mean new writers. They court the up and coming new writers, the new writers don't court them. You have to be referenced in or have a REAL GOOD inside connection.

Think of it as a sports draft. If you are a hot first round pick with a lot of talent. The teams will want to bring you in and have you work out for them. But if you are a late round pick. They'll wait for you to catch on somehwere else and see how you develop. Don't get discouraged though....

Kurt Warner was bagging groceries three years ago, now he's a superbowl MVP.

Jeff Garcia couldn't even get a try out in the NFL coming out of San Jose St., now one of the best QB's in the league.

Joe Montana, IMO the best QB to ever play, was a 3rd round draft choice.

Just stay determined.

[Guest Close Steve]

That's not really true. There's a second tier of boutique agencies like BKWU, W&A, Genesis, etc. that sell. Check out the script sales section and you'll see them.

If you want to court the big agencies, get to know the assistants. You said you work for Maverick, right? Network. There's probably someone out there who wants an in at Maverick. Ask your friends, do the bar/party circuit and get to know people. The assistants all want to move up and if they can bring in a new client it's good for them.

[Guest Close warmgoodness]

Myth...

The big agencies (and I will include Endeavor, Gersh, Paradigm among the rest of the usual suspects) tend to be taken a little more seriously when they take a spec out because they generally represent top-tier talent and executives know what to expect of their clients. While I'm not sure that a spec taken out by the Moe Brown Agency in Omaha has a chance in hell, there are plenty of smaller agencies that can and do sell specs -- some even for respectable sums.

[Guest Close TheEndOfEverything]

Re: Myth...

i'll tell you one thing, those a**holes will send your query to storybay without your approval. bastards.

i read somewhere that ICM and Paradigm do that. and from personal experience, so do some ProdCos.

[Guest Close GirlinGray]

creative dancing

A creative exec who only reads scripts from three agencies is going to be dancing hard the next time a script submitted by a boutique signs an A list player and is "this week's hot spec" and that creative exec has to explain upstairs why they never even heard of that script before it was too late to bid on it.

[Guest Close Steve]

Re: creative dancing

...and I was talking to a development exec after reading a terrible spec that came from CAA. His response was "oh yeah, CAA's specs are always lousy." So, they don't automatically jump up and down and pull out their checkbooks just because a spec comes in from a big agency.