It's always a pleasure to bring you a post from my mentor, a multi-produced screenwriter, and fabulous teacher/writer. And yes, he has a book out about screenwriting that Hollywood is taking notice of--see below.
The Ten-Percenters
Hollywood agent: "Hello," he lied.
As the above joke illustrates, agents are often the subject of ridicule and scorn in Hollywood. Producers and studios see agents as bloodsuckers, who try to drain every penny and perk they can from them. Writers use them as excuses for why they aren't getting work.
The reality is that you are in charge of your career. An agent will work for you only if they see you working for yourself. They get ten percent of your script fee because they only do ten percent of the work. If you want them to do a good sales job, you must give them a good product.
Acquiring an agent without living and working in Hollywood is an uphill climb. They want to be able to shop you for assignments and rewrite opportunities and set up "get to know you" meetings. None of that can happen when you're a thousand miles away.
It is possible to change their minds, though, and, you already know how, don't you? Yep. The right script. Bowl them over with the material, and all things are possible.
Agents can be invaluable to you, if for no other reason than to release you from the burden of business requirements that you can't, and shouldn't have to deal with. It may be a profession that is looked down upon, but it's a profession screenwriters rely on. They get bad-mouthed because part of their job is to be the bad guys when they negotiate on your behalf.
I once had a producer I was working with say to me, "Man, your agent is tough." He was right. My agent could be tough. Better him than me.
The truth is, you want a bad guy in the room, hammering out your deal, and you want him to be good.
~Robert
Amazon digital and paperback
BIO:
A professional screenwriter for more than thirty years, Robert Gosnell has produced credits in feature films, network television, syndicated television, basic cable and pay cable, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of Canada.
Robert began his career writing situation comedy as a staff writer for the ABC series Baby Makes Five. As a freelance writer, he wrote episodes for Too Close for Comfort and the TBS comedies Safe at Home andRocky Road. In cable, he has scripted numerous projects for the Disney Channel, including Just Perfect, a Disney Channel movie featuring Jennie Garth. In 1998, he wrote the Showtime original movie, Escape from Wildcat Canyon, which starred Dennis Weaver and won the national "Parents Choice Award." Robert's feature credits include the Chuck Norris/Louis Gosset Jr. film Firewalker, an uncredited rewrite on the motion picture Number One With A Bullet starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, and the sale of his original screenplay Kick And Kick Back to Cannon Films. Robert was also selected as a judge for the 1990 Cable Ace Awards, in the Comedy Special category.
In 1990, Robert left Hollywood for Denver, where he became active in the local independent film community. His screenplay Tiger Street was produced by the Pagoda Group of Denver and premiered on Showtime Extreme in August of 2003. In 1999, Denver’s Inferno Films produced the action film Dragon and the Hawk from his script. In 2001, Robert co-wrote the screenplay for the independent feature Siren for Las Vegas company Stage Left Productions. His feature script Juncture was produced by Front Range Films in March of 2006.
Robert is a principal member of the Denver production company "Conspiracy Films." He is frequently an invited speaker for local writers organizations, served on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2002, and in 2007 was chosen to participate as a panelist for the Aspen Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest. Robert regularly presents his screenwriting class "The Elements of Screenplay," along with advanced classes and workshops, in the Denver area.
Additionally, he is a frequent contributor to this blog.
I always enjoy Robert's posts. He has an insider view he's willing to share. And his book is filled with more info gained from learning in the trenches of Hollywood. Never hurts to learn from a produced screenwriter.
ReplyDelete~L.A.