How to vet a potential agent or manager

I often get asked for advice about pursuing agents and managers.  A lot of the questions I get revolve around how to get an agent to read your work.  It's not often I get asked questions that deal with the scenario of "I've caught him, now what do I do with him?"

So let's say a potential rep likes your work and calls you in for a meeting.  What now?  The most important thing to remember is that it might not always be best to go with the first agent or manager to show interest.  Not all agents and managers are created equal, and if you're selecting someone with that much power over your career, it's pretty damn important to determine if they're right for you.

The best rep isn't necessarily the guy at the fancy agency with three letters.  There are pros and cons to everyone.  It certainly sends a message about your place in the food chain when your rep is that bigshot WME agent with half of the hottest writers in town on his client list.  On the other hand - with that many whales demanding this guy's attention how much of a priority do you think you'll be?

In that light, the advantage of going with a smaller rep could be that you're more of a focus for them.  Also, they might have a little more hustle and the virtues of that can't be over-estimated.  But then again, smaller reps might not have as many doors open to them.

So how can you break the tie?  After polling a number of professional, working writers I know, I've distilled their advice into several questions you can ask in that initial meeting to figure out if this rep is the right rep for you:

What are your overall plans for me? 

What are your goals for first year? 

What is your strategy for [the spec that got you this meeting]? 

(If dealing with a manager) What agents do you want to pair me with? 

What are your expectations for development of new material? 

(If dealing with a boutique agency or management company,) how involved is the senior or named agent or manager?

How many notes do you give before sending out? 

How important are attachments? 

Do you send out "naked" specs?  (specs that don't have actors, directors, or producers attached.)

How much do you work with other agents/managers at the company? 

It's very important for you to go in there with a strong sense of who you want to be, and to communicate that vision to them at the meeting.  Regarding your next two or three projects, have an idea about what your brand is. This is the time for you sell them on who you are and show that you're doing the things you need to do to get where you want to go.

As an example, if you want to direct, how are you going to make a case for it? What's the next short you're gonna make? If you want to write studio films, what's the spec that's going to get you on that list? Whatever your long-term goals are, bring them up in the meeting.  This should be about getting as much information as possible as well as getting a sense of how this person would be to deal with.

Yes, the agent or manager is there to interview you to see if you mesh with them, but they also have to mesh with you.  Don't go home with the first guy you dance with just because he asks.  A bad rep can be worse than no rep.

Please feel free to leave any other advice in the comments.  I'd like to make this post an easy resource for those seeking representation.

Reader question - Leveraging a manager's interest into a read from an agent

I got an email yesterday from longtime reader Susan and I'm hoping you guys might be able to help her answer a question:

I know I wrote to you a little while ago about how my husband and I were trying to use our audio production company, Pendant Audio, to gain some leverage when talking about our Hollywood aspirations with others.

Interestingly, this strategy has started to pay off in a number of different ways.

For one thing, talking about our company makes us feel a little bit impressive. We've started appearing at comic conventions and fans show up. It's kind of cool, it gives us an air of legitimacy, and it shows that we work hard and all of that good stuff. We project confidence when we talk about ourselves as writers now. It's also useful in networking with comic writers and companies.

Then, about two weeks ago, something interesting happened.

We were contacted by a fan of our company who has Hollywood representation. He actually had representation for a while with a different agency (I can't remember which right now) and he tried to help us get representation a year or so ago, but it didn't work out. Since that time, however, this guy sold a book, which was subsequently optioned. So he offered to send our material along to his new manager... at [REDACTED.]

At that point I just about fainted. If I had to pick the perfect management company for us in my fantasy dream land populated by unicorns who poop rainbows, we'd be managed by them ... and now we've got one of our screenplays over there in the hands of a seriously experienced manager. He's been sick, and he hasn't read it yet, but he confirmed today that our script is in his pile.

My question, now, though, is ... is it OK to leverage this, and contact agencies and say, "Hey, we're being read by [REDACTED]"? I've seen some places say yes this is OK, and some places that say no, that is not OK. And I'm really not sure.

I'm researching agencies to get names of agents and details about the types of materials they represent, and my husband is putting the finishing touches on our very latest screenplay so we're not ready to go out and try to leverage this just yet. I know of course this is a bad thing; this opportunity came up at a weird time for us where we were in the midst of putting together a package of related samples, and we aren't quite done. But if all goes to plan we should be ready by next week, and if we haven't yet heard from the manager, I COULD do this and feel reasonably confident in querying some other companies.

I just want to make sure I'm not committing a grievous faux pas.

First, great strategy in marketing yourselves. One reason I printed the whole letter is that I think a lot of my readers could take a lesson from this: Find a way to build a following or distinguish yourself in some way. In doing so, you might be able to draw people to you who can help build your career.

As for your question, here's my take - You might be jumping the gun. Sending out a query that says "So-and-so agreed to read my script" doesn't really point to anything more impressive than getting past the first gatekeeper.

You know what might be more impressive? "So-and-So is representing me."

My gut is to hold back on the agent queries, both for the sake of seeing how the manager responds and also for the sake of getting your other ducks in a row. If I was in your shoes, that's how I'd play it?

But do the rest of you have an opinion on this?

Reader mail: Agents vs. Managers

Time to dip into the proverbial mailbag and answer a few reader questions, kicking things off with a question from regular reader Peter Dwight:

Agent vs. Manager...? Say some poor schmuck just needs a paying job. There's an impression that Agents get you the work, where Managers get your movie made. Your thoughts?

I know that no matter which answer I give, 50% of the readers will chime in with a contradictory opinion. If you're lucky enough to land an agent, that's probably all you need unless you find that he doesn't seem particularly motivated to help you build a career. Speaking as someone who's still looking for representation, though, I've found more success in getting read by managers than agents. Managers seem more responsive to email queries, whether they are targeted queries, referrals, and making contact via other business connections.

I've got a script I feel pretty good about, and so after I finish my next polish, I'm going to do my next round of calling in business connections, favors and a few specifically targeted queries to very precise people. My list absolutely has more managers than agents, largely because I anticipate a greater success ratio in actually getting those people interested in my work.

The downside is that if you've got an agent and a manager, between the two of them, you're going to lose 20% of your paycheck right off the bat to their commissions.

As far as advice that readers of this blog should probably follow, I see no reason that you shouldn't pursue both. I know a couple of people who only have had managers and it hasn't stopped them from optioning and even selling a few (low-budget) scripts.

Obviously any field is going to have some percentage of members that give the greater group a bad name. If you're a starting writer, having someone in your corner like a strong manager wouldn't be a bad thing, just as it wouldn't be terrible to have an agent who's in a good position to package your script.

When you have no credits to your name, I say take either. After you've worked one-on-one with your agent or manager for a while, you'll get a feel for their personal style, their level of commitment to you and if your work is a good fit with his plans. If the two of you seem to be on completely different pages, it might be time for a change.

As I see it, it's not an either/or, at least not in a "one size fits all" way that could sum up either profession.


Rosie asks a question I don't really have an answer for:

What do you view as the key differences between the British film industry and Hollywood? Do these variations result in vastly different scripts?

On my end of things, I don't really deal with many British scripts or productions. At least on a professional level, I can't really offer an informed answer. I know we've got plenty of readers in the UK - anyone feel qualified to weigh in?

Robert asks:

Hey Bitter, have a question on formatting. When you read a script, what type of continuance do you prefer? "..." or "--". I noticed guys like Tony Gilroy love the "--" but guys like Scott Frank (and I would argue the majority of screenwriters) like to employ the "...". Is this more a question of style, or do readers like yourself role your eyes when you see one type over the other?

Strictly speaking, "--" is used at the end of dialogue when the character is interrupted, either by a character or an action. "..." is supposed to be used when a character trails off. If the writer knows what he's doing, they shouldn't be used interchangeably.