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My POV
Brian A. Wilson
AGENTS AND MANAGERS, Part 2
I spent last week meeting with approximately 30 agents and managers.
In addition to being exhausting, it was fascinating.
Seeing so many reps in such a compact amount of time let me spot trends as well as compare one group to the other and one individual to the next.
Here are my overall observations and answers to, I believe, common questions.
WHICH SHOULD I GET, AN AGENT OR A MANAGER?
You should get whomever will sign you. If that sounds harsh, well, it's a tough business. My advice is, sign on with either an agent or a manager. Start building your team. Get someone out there who is saying your name and touting your work.
If you're a screenwriting rock star and have your choice, I'd say sign both.
Again, heresy, right? Why give away 10% to an agent and another 10% to a manager? Because you'll have a bigger team, more people saying your name and touting your work, and more chances to make the connections that build your career.
DO I NEED REPRESENTATION?
Yes.
If people said it once this week, they said it a hundred times. This is a relationship business. You need relationships with agents and managers, agents and managers need them with studios and producers, we all need them.
You need to find a representative who believes in your work. Get good, then start looking.
Relationships equal success. It's that simple.
There. I've hit on one true statement in all of Hollywood!
WHAT IF I CAN'T GET AN AGENT OR A MANAGER?
Get a lawyer. They work for money. They're hired guns. I can hire one, you can hire one. Hire one to submit your work. Hire one to work up an option agreement on some material you'd like to option. Get in bed with your entertainment attorney. It's access, it's relationships, and (unlike agents and managers) it's a relationship that can be bought. And they can lead to relationships with agents and managers-they're all buddies, after all.
AGENTS AND MANAGERS ARE JUST DYING TO MEET ME, AREN'T THEY?
No.
They're busy. Most have as many clients as they need, or at most need one or two more.
With all the screenwriters Out There, that doesn't make your odds very good. But that's Hollywood, isn't it? Long odds on everything.
It seems to me agents and managers want the same thing: a great script they can sell, fast. Managers seeeeeeem to be more interested in "what have you got after that script" than do agents. Agents seeeeeeem a little more interested in the deal than the person.
But the lines between the two are very much blurred. Agents can only charge 10%, they're state licensed, they can negotiate your deal and they can't be producers on clients' films.
Managers can charge anything they want (typically 15% if they're your sole rep, 10% if you have an agent or lawyer), can't negotiate, can produce and aren't state licensed.
Beyond that, it's up in the air. Managers usually claim smaller client rosters and more career involvement and script advice. But some agents I met offered the same services. Some of the agents were former managers, and several managers were former agents.
I'd say it comes down to 1. Do you think you can work with this person, and 2. will this person sign you?
If the answer to 2 is "yes," find a way to make the answer to 1 a "yes" as well. Get a team, get in the game, then worry about getting "ideal" representation, whatever that is, down the line.
One more column on all this next week. Email if you have specific questions.
Keep writing.
BW
LA
[email protected]
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