WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM AN AGENT & WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO GET?

New writers and often experienced writers, have an unrealistic view of what their agent should be for them, and what they can and will do for them. In the movie, Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise was always there for the Cuba Gooding, Jr. character. Cruise had dinner with Gooding's family, he want to his games, he was constantly on the phone with him and he carried his bag. NOT!!

Your agent is not going to be your best friend. He (or she) is not going to hold your hand, listen to your personal problems, take all of your calls, meet you for coffee every morning or really care if your dog dies. They don't have time. It's not their job, and......if they did all of these things for all of their clients, they would be lousy agents!

You really don't need those hand holding jobs to be filled by an agent. Get a friend or spouse to fulfill those needs. Show business is business and you must treat it as such. Having a friendly relationship with your agent is fine. You don't want to try to order them around or be belligerent with them and you don't want them to be rude to you. What you do want, and have a right to expect is a mutually nice and respectful quid pro quo.

Make a note that agents have a very limited amount of time in their daily lives. They work a million hours per day, 20 days a week. When your agent is on the phone with you or emailing you, then they are not on the phone or emailing buyers for you!

(1) What you should expect from your agent is a reasonable amount of communication. This means a response to your email if you ask a real and specific question on an occasional basis. If you have questions everyday, save them up and send a list once a week. If possible, send them to the assistant. Don't be a nag or a pest to your agent.

(2) You are entitled to know where your material has been sent and what, if any, response there was to your work. Often you can get this information from the assistant.

(3) Your responsibility is to continually bring new ideas, treatments & original screenplays to your agent. Do not blind side them with a new script that you have not discussed with them. Let them know, in advance, what your subject matter is and the genre of your new ideas. Get their input prior to writing the screenplay.

(4) Don't expect to get writing assignments if you are not the hottest writer in town. That's the way things work.

(5) If you've been getting writing assignments and they stop coming, don't blame your agent. Look to yourself. You may have been "cooling off" around town. You may not have been listening to the notes you've been given. You may be too demanding or to slow with the work. Watch that attitude.

(6) You must trust your agent when it comes to negotiating for you. Negotiations are very complicated and many elements come into play that you may know nothing about. Perhaps the buyers are also interested in another project similar to yours and are using that as a tactic to keep the price low, or they are close to the end of their fiscal year. Your agent may know that this is the only game in town for your script. Let your agent do their job.....and you do yours.

(7) Don't expect your agent to continue sending out your old scripts forever. Once they've been out to the town, they get cold. They may continue to be used as writing samples for particular projects, but not as saleable scripts. Hollywood is a small town and everyone knows about every script.

(8) Remember that there is no one more on your side than your agent when it comes to your making a success of your career. If you make money, so do they. They have spent their time and money on you without any guarantees. They are the ones who make the first investment.

(9) You should expect your agent to read you work, take some of your calls, get your work out to mainstream production companies, share information with you, be actively and creatively involved in your writing career and to help you to be a better client.

(10) You need to spend your time being supportive of your agent, and doing your share of the work making yourself a successful writer. Constantly work on coming up with new ideas, new screenplays, new contacts. Hone your craft. Be willing to improve your work and be patient.

Michele Wallerstein is a Screenplay, Novel and Writers Career Consultant. Michele spent over 20 years as a Hollywood Literary Agent.
Web site: www.novelconsultant.com
Email: novelconsult@sbcglobal.net
Phone: 818. 501.2837