My Agent Took My Spec Out...And That's The Last I Heard
Q: Am I expecting too much of my agent? If a spec is submitted, and nobody buys it, but it gathers compliments, is it wrong to expect him to update me on what exactly happened? I only know that reaction was somewhat positive from his assistant, even though nobody bought it.
As I might like to pitch to the ‘liked the writing but didn’t buy it’ types, am I being hopelessly needy to expect at least some update from my agent? I have heard nothing from him at all since the spec went out, months ago.
A: I’ll keep saying the following until I run short of breath (or get run out of town).
Agents are our employees.
That doesn’t mean we can’t work with them in partnership. I certainly do so with my current agents. Nonetheless, we employ agents to service our careers.
Returning calls is important. I generally allow that my representatives have 24 hours to get back to me. Taking longer than one business day means I’m simply not important enough to them. If I’m not important enough to them, they do not deserve to be my employees.
And I have fired agents before.
It’s common for some agents to avoid calling their clients with bad news. If this is the case with you, I suggest calling your reps and letting them know that you want to hear all news when it occurs. Assure them that, unlike some of their more troublesome clients, you are mature enough to have a discussion about your career without becoming emotional or engaging in recriminations.
Best course of action: call your agent and tell them exactly how you feel. Be dispassionate but firm. It’s in their interest to make you think their feelings are more important than yours.
Not true. You’re the boss. Manage your employees well, and they will serve you better.
Good answer - but what if you are not a big and successful writer (such as yourself, Craig) whom agents fear? what if you have concerns about getting fired by your agent - and if you think that your agent would be an excellent agent, if you in fact sent her something she could sell?
In the real world the smaller writers, without huge success, who are represented, somewhat report to their agents instead of the other way around. Or is this hopelessly defeatist?
I’ve always said that the only thing worse than having no agent is having a bad agent.
Power and prestige’s got nuthin’ to do with it.
If you’re reporting to your agent, you’re in a bad situation. Case in point: a friend of mine got a big agent at CAA. Unfortunately, this agent was too big for my friend. My buddy spent years struggling to get his own agent interested in advancing his year, but never left because of the very fears you postulate.
Finally, he and the agency came to a mutual agreement that he should leave.
Shortly afterwards, he found a small manager who really loved his work. That manager really worked hard to sell him to agents.
He’s with new agents now (at a different big agency), and after years of unemployment, is now working on an assignment for Warner Brothers.
The moral of the story? If your writing is worth representation, find a representative who will do their job.
There is no rationalization for lazy agents.
You can carve that on my tombstone. :)
Agreed. My second agent was at CAA - I talked to him exactly twice. The day he signed me (hip pocketed me, actually) and the day I called to tell him I was leaving. In between, I talked to his assistant. During my tenure there, I hustled to get the script read without any help, and my agent’s assistant would send out my script with a CAA cover. Whee.
That said, I don’t know if someone who can fire you can be called an employee. I think your “partnership” description is the best one.
BTW, Writer Action is dead without you. Show some pity, ignore the idiots, and start posting there again.
Agents can’t fire us. They can only quit. :)
As for WA, I’m concentrating on making this site as good as I can. Maybe one day I’ll head back to the old ‘hood.
Great article. When the time comes and you have to make the switch, how do you recommend finding a solid agent?
Also, a high-profile friend of mine keeps telling me that only a manager and a lawyer are needed. He says agents (for many reasons, including those above), have developed themselves out of a truly meaningful role (spoken with genuine loathing). In the last few years, he says, the manager/lawyer combo has picked up where the agent left off. Any thoughts?
Listen to your friend. :)
C.
Jackoway Tyernan (sp?) is one of those entertainment law firms that does more work than most agencies. One of the partners there sells an average of two specs a month. They have a ton of high-profile clients. Someone there, with a manager, would make for a super killer team.
“The only thing worse than no agent is a bad agent.”
Amen, Craig. My last agent, though interested in my career, was awful. He sent a spec comedy of mine out and it got good response. He listed the four or five production companies that wanted to meet with me, then only secured one meeting for me.
He then, apparently without ever reading my thriller spec, sent it out and got a producer attached. The producer thought it was “a page turner” and I worked with the producer for a month on the rewrite, which he was going to try to set up at Sony.
Once finished with the rewrite, I sent a copy over for my agent to read. My 23-year-old, ignorant a$$ agent read the script, then sent me an email basically ripping the script apart, telling me he didn’t agree that it was a page turner, etc. What’s worse, on the email, he CC:d the producer I was working with, who quickly dropped off of the project. Sabatouged by my own employee.
What’s the reason, you ask? My agent, who had been teased for having no story sense, said he was “trying to develop his sense of story” as he read my script.
I fired him the same day.
I would rather have no agent then deal with someone like that…
Does that story take the prize for worst “agent story” in Hollywood?