Over the weekend my screenplay partner wanted to know how we can become screenplay agents because he feels this would make this a lot more easy for us as far as getting our scripts seen. I just think it would be way to much work for not enough exposure, but I did tell him I would look into it. So do you folks have any tips on how to become a screenplay agent?
Becoming a scritp agent
- Thread starter TheBuck
- Start date
It's not easy, that's for sure. And it will take decades for
your screenplay partner to become an agent with the
right connections to get a script sold. and like anything
in this business becoming an agent isn't something you
do on a whim with another goal in mind. Becoming an
agent is a very difficult job that takes intense dedication,
80 hour weeks for low pay and a cutthroat attitude.
Is your screenplay partner willing to stop writing screenplay
for 8 to 10 years as he woks his way up the very competitive
ladder? If he is, I'll offer some tips on how to become an agent.
And let him know that once he becomes a licensed screenplay
agent he will not be allowed to shop a script he co-wrote.
your screenplay partner to become an agent with the
right connections to get a script sold. and like anything
in this business becoming an agent isn't something you
do on a whim with another goal in mind. Becoming an
agent is a very difficult job that takes intense dedication,
80 hour weeks for low pay and a cutthroat attitude.
Is your screenplay partner willing to stop writing screenplay
for 8 to 10 years as he woks his way up the very competitive
ladder? If he is, I'll offer some tips on how to become an agent.
And let him know that once he becomes a licensed screenplay
agent he will not be allowed to shop a script he co-wrote.
Most literary agents start as readers, covering scripts
for producers, prodCo's, studios and agents.
Many have the ambition to be an agent (not a writer)
and start in the mail room of a large agency and work
their way up. Mike Ovitz did that.
Many have started as an office assistant in a small agency.
Some agents begin as personal assistants.
Many agents begin as lawyers, going through years of
law school and then using their knowledge and connections
to broker a script deal and then get hired by an agency.
Since there are far fewer agents than screenwriters and it's
business oriented rather than creative and it's very, very
difficult to reach the point where you (as an agent) has
any clout at all, why does your writing partner think many
years of learning business and law and making connections
and 80 hour weeks would make a lot more easy for you as
far as getting your scripts seen?
It seems counter productive to spend the next 8 to 10 years
working hard to become good at being an agent in order to
get your script seen. It seems much easier to write an excellent
low budget script, put together $8,000 to $10,000 and make
a kick ass movie. Then when agents come calling show them
your 5 to 8 excellent scripts. Or option your excellent, low budget
script to a local filmmaker and let them make the kick ass movie.
Or just get your scripts out there to be seen without an agent at all.
for producers, prodCo's, studios and agents.
Many have the ambition to be an agent (not a writer)
and start in the mail room of a large agency and work
their way up. Mike Ovitz did that.
Many have started as an office assistant in a small agency.
Some agents begin as personal assistants.
Many agents begin as lawyers, going through years of
law school and then using their knowledge and connections
to broker a script deal and then get hired by an agency.
Since there are far fewer agents than screenwriters and it's
business oriented rather than creative and it's very, very
difficult to reach the point where you (as an agent) has
any clout at all, why does your writing partner think many
years of learning business and law and making connections
and 80 hour weeks would make a lot more easy for you as
far as getting your scripts seen?
It seems counter productive to spend the next 8 to 10 years
working hard to become good at being an agent in order to
get your script seen. It seems much easier to write an excellent
low budget script, put together $8,000 to $10,000 and make
a kick ass movie. Then when agents come calling show them
your 5 to 8 excellent scripts. Or option your excellent, low budget
script to a local filmmaker and let them make the kick ass movie.
Or just get your scripts out there to be seen without an agent at all.
To be honest I don't know. I told him I would think there are so many more hoops you have to jump thru that I'm not interested in becoming one. He asked me to get some info and I told him I would do that. Once I told him that he couldn't shop scripts he had a hand in he nixed that idea all together.
Thank you for giving me the info. I knew it was not easy but now it sounds like you need to be a bit of a masochist to want to become an agent. More power to those that go thru all that.
Thank you for giving me the info. I knew it was not easy but now it sounds like you need to be a bit of a masochist to want to become an agent. More power to those that go thru all that.