In a shameless act of self-promotion I have decided it’s time to talk about why I left my job as a screenplay agent and what I do now.
Don’t get me wrong, working as an agent for a big screenwriting agency has its benefits. There’s the prestigious client roster. The endless benefits (although these have dwindled in recent years). Schmoozing and dining. You feel connected to the industry—to the screenwriters you represent and the studios and executives you deal with on a daily basis.
This is all great, but. But if you care as much about the entertainment industry as I do, you can’t help but feel frustrated sometimes. Hey, I know, no one has it easy and all jobs come with an element of frustration.
Missed Opportunities
You might think I got frustrated dealing with studio execs and difficult clients, but these daily issues were not a large part of my frustration. The real frustration came from not being able to help as many great writers as I came across.
As a screenplay agent, you are only able and capable of taking on so many clients in your roster. This is mainly due to unhealthy time restrictions.
This also applied to all my colleagues in the screenwriting agency I worked for. It was our job to find promising screenwriters and take them on and develop them into professional screenwriters.
In addition, we also had to take care of our current stable of professional screenwriters. The bread and butter clients. The ones who were almost always guaranteed work in the industry.
It’s a tough job and a screenplay agent is always on the go and almost always on the phone (just like the clichéd agent you see in the movies—art imitates life). But what frustrated me more than anything was this…
Elusive Talent
I would receive a new spec screenplay on my desk from one of the many interns who worked for us. The intern would rave about how great the screenplay is and that I just have to read it. And so, after all my work was done, and I’m lying on my bed ready to go to sleep… I reach into my bag and take a look at the script.
I read the first page, then the next, then the next and before I realize what’s happened it’s 1am and I’m completely sleep-deprived… and hooked. The intern was right. The screenplay is fantastic! It’s amazing! It’s incredible!
I wake up the next morning and I’m still excited about the screenplay. I absolutely have to represent this writer. I look through my diary for a time to arrange a meeting and my heart sinks. I literally have no free time available for the next month.
Not to mention the fact that I’m already over-stretched as it is. Not wanting to let this screenwriter get away, I talk to my colleagues who, having not read the screenplay, are nowhere near as enthusiastic as I am. They all tell me the same thing. I can’t even think about taking on any new clients this month. Maybe next month.
So what could I do? There’s nothing I can do. Even though I worked for a big screenwriting agency, there are times when we were so busy taking on new clients was just impossible.
Digging For Gold
One of my fellow agents put it like this. It’s like a prospector digging in the earth who finds the largest lump of gold imaginable. But the only problem is, the gold is so heavy the prospector can’t carry it and his donkey can’t carry it. So he has to let it go.
So the screenwriter who my intern was so enthusiastic about found representation with another screenwriting agency. But he only found representation after a few months of looking—when another agency could fit him into their schedule.
I spoke to the writer in question and found out that he now had an agent and was able to sell his screenplay. It was easy to sell the screenplay but it took him some time to find an agent.
This is when I thought Hollywood was crazy. But then the writer informed me that he had only contacted a couple of screenwriting agencies. Then I thought the writer was crazy.
“You mean to say,” I told him. “That you wrote such a great screenplay and you didn’t believe in yourself enough to shop your story to every agency in town?”
“It’s not that I didn’t believe in myself,” he responded. “I just literally didn’t know who to contact. And after the first few rejections… maybe you’re right, I kind of lost belief in myself.”
I apologized to the writer for not being able to represent him. And slowly realized, just as many agents already know that there is a bigger problem at hand. The problem is finding the next great writer, or, maybe more importantly, getting the next great screenwriter to find you.
A New Start
Coincidentally another agent, who happened to be a friend of mine, told me that he had just quit his job to start a new business with some other agents. This business would be focused on helping talented individuals break into the entertainment industry.
“Don’t we already do that?” I asked my friend.
“We’re limited,” he replied. You know it and I know it. Doesn’t it haunt you watching all that great talent slip through your fingers?”
He’d struck a nerve. It did haunt me.
“Instead of trying to represent all these talented individuals, which is impossible,” he went on. “Our new business is all about connecting talented people with all the agencies out there. So if one agency, or two or three or fifty agents are busy, then our business will find you the one agent who isn’t busy.”
It sounded like a great idea. It certainly seemed to address a major issue that had plagued screenwriters and screenplay agents for years.
“So why don’t you come work for us,” my friend added.
That was it. That was all he had to say. I didn’t need to think about it anymore. His business was a business with a business model I could believe in. I already knew and liked the people I would be working with. And it seemed to be an exciting new opportunity.
Since I started working for Script Mailer I haven’t looked back. I truly believe in what we do here. I think we offer great value to our clients. And nothing makes me happier than helping talented individuals who might have gone years or a lifetime without getting a break.
I often think it’s funny that I had to quit my job as an agent in order to help dozens of screenwriters find an agent! The world has a strange sense of humor sometimes. But I for one have never been happier 🙂
*Jennifer Sloane has worked as a screenplay agent in Los Angeles and Nashville for the last five years. Jennifer loves good movies, music and animals. A former television and movie executive, Jennifer currently heads business development at Script Mailer (a company that connects screenwriters with agents and producers in Hollywood).