I read something, somewhere on the forum, about using a book agent to sell a screenplay. Assuming the agent is reputable, has worked with many writers whose books have been made into movies (even one blockbuster), and further assuming that the screenplay is at least adequate (that is, competent and professional), how does one do this?
Using a book agent to sell a screenplay?
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There are some cross over agents, but you absolutely must make sure that the book agent is a cross over agent.
Hollywood plays by different rules than New York and there's a lot of land mines you can step in if you don't know what to look for.
Otherwise you're not gaining anything by having that agent.
A bad agent is worse than no agent at all, that includes one that doesn't know what the heck they're doing or what rules they should be following.
As for how one does that, you need to write a really good book and a script to match, get the agent to love the book, sell it to a big publisher, then the agent will then auction the script.
They will be book agents first and script agents second. Some agencies actually have separate agents who deal with the script side because it's totally different contacts and totally different contracts.
Hollywood plays by different rules than New York and there's a lot of land mines you can step in if you don't know what to look for.
Otherwise you're not gaining anything by having that agent.
A bad agent is worse than no agent at all, that includes one that doesn't know what the heck they're doing or what rules they should be following.
As for how one does that, you need to write a really good book and a script to match, get the agent to love the book, sell it to a big publisher, then the agent will then auction the script.
They will be book agents first and script agents second. Some agencies actually have separate agents who deal with the script side because it's totally different contacts and totally different contracts.
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How does one do this? One goes to QueryTracker or any other agent directory and clicks on every. single. entry. to find the ones who represent screenplays as well as books. The agency websites tell you what they rep and what they don't.
You can visit the Writers Guild of America websites (East or West, depending on your location relative to the Mississipp!) and find a link to signatories.
The Paul Levine Agency is the only one that I know does both.
The Paul Levine Agency is the only one that I know does both.
I'm sorry. I think I wasn't clear. I have a book agent. I've sold novels. Some of my agent's books have done quite well as movies, but she just sold the film rights to the novel, not the screenplay itself.
I remember reading something here about how someone in my position might use his or her already-existing book-not-screenplay agent to sell a screenplay. Cold-calling production companies, perhaps? That's wiser than trying to get a screenplay agent directly? Clearly I should learn the search function here!
I remember reading something here about how someone in my position might use his or her already-existing book-not-screenplay agent to sell a screenplay. Cold-calling production companies, perhaps? That's wiser than trying to get a screenplay agent directly? Clearly I should learn the search function here!
Shouldn't it be your agent's job to figure out how best to sell you?
I guess my feeling is - if your agent knew how to sell a screenplay, she'd be doing it, not leaving it to you to research how she ought to do it.
This pretty much sums it up. You would start by approaching your agent and say "Hey, I have this screenplay that's not a book, I was wondering if you'd be willing to submit it."
If your agent says no, they don't do that, then there's your answer.
There's a reason why book publishers and movie producers congregate on opposite coasts. The screenplay agents tend to be in California, so they can have those luncheons and meetings with producers. In publishing, you can submit from anywhere. In production, you really need to be where the action is. I learned that the painful way by being repeatedly rejected solely for my zipcode and nothing else.
Nothing like, "Hey, you're perfect for the job, we have this three picture deal we'd like you to head up and there are bonuses, and meetings with awesome heads of major studios...wait, you aren't in California. Wow, sorry about that. Call me if you ever get to california. *click*" to make you realize how important it is in script business to be where the action is if you want any sort of a real shot at the business.
Sorry to hijack the thread, but this is a real concern for me. I would absolutely move to LA if I sold something. I'd be on the next plane out to make that big meeting. But I can't see myself uprooting my kids and dragging them out to LA just on hope.
It seems my options are: give up screenwriting and focus on novels or wait til my kids are grown, by which time I'll be even more "too old" than I already am, or...write the greatest screenplay of all time and hope that by some miracle it falls into the right hands.
Sigh.
You see, here's part of the problem. People just fail to understand that in this business as in any other that uses this word "agent" -- it is a "legal" term. Agent. Agency. Someone acting as my "agent."
Just like a real estate agent acts as my agent in respect to the buying and selling of property and has to go through a whole process before they can get a real estate license and become an official real estate agent.
In California, at least, not just anybody can call themselves an agent in respect to the motion picture industry, which means that you can *legally* represent the interests and make deals on behalf of people in our business.
For instance, in order to do business as an agent in California, you have to be bonded.
This is one of the key differences between agents and managers. And this is why, in principle, a manager is *not* supposed to be making deals and selling your stuff -- because, even though, on the down low they sort of do it, legally they cannot actually represent you.
A lawyer can represent you. An agent can represent you.
That means something very specific. It means that if your lawyer or your agent goes into a room and says, "My client agrees to X, Y, and Z -- it means that he, on your behalf, have agreed to X, Y, and Z. By virtue of making him your agent, you give him the right to make the deal on your behalf.
Of course, a responsible agent doesn't just go off like a lunatic and agree to stuff without consulting you but you have given him the right, by proxy to pull the string on a deal.
That is what "agency" -- what being someone's "agent" means.
And at least in California, because so much is at stake in our business, not just anybody gets to do it.
So question one in respect to any agent, if you're interested in having them sell screenplays, is whether or not they or their agency are licensed to do it in California (the point being that this is very different from selling the *screen rights* to a novel, which doesn't require any special licensing or bonding), because if they are not, they're not going to be of any particular use to you.
Many agencies have both a literary and a motion picture division, in the same way they may have a feature and a TV division and so, within the one agency, one might have multiple representation.
But barring that, if your agency just deals with books, chances are the best you'd be likely to get is a personal recommendation to another agent at an appropriate agency that specializes in what you're looking for.
NMS
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I'm not suuuure you've found it.
You've gotten your novels agented and published, right? And now you've also written a screenplay (or two) that is not based on any of these books -- it's a totally new story that you wrote as a screenplay -- and you want to utilize your literary relationships to sell your screenplay to Hollywood? Is that right? (If it isn't, skip the rest of this post because I've got a whole 'nother load of advice for you in that case.)
Since your agent doesn't rep screenplays, you can ask her for a referral to an agent who does. There are a few New York literary agents who do rep screenplays as well as books. If she can't give you a referral, the only way I know of for finding them yourself is to go to every agency website on whatever agency directory you choose and check, or maybe do a google search. Publishers Marketplace and QueryTracker don't designate "Screenplay" as a genre, although it might be nice if they did. You could then ask your agent to refer you to one of those, or you could just mention your publication credits and your novel representation in your pitch letter.
HOWEVER --
How effective these book/screenplay New York folks are is debatable. I have a hunch that an L.A.-based screenplay agent will do a lot better for you than someone in New York who does books and screenplays. Here are the thoughts of someone more knowledgeable than I: http://www.agentquery.com/writer_la.aspx
A snippet:
That said, I think Jason Yarn of Paradigm reps both screenplays and books. Maybe also some of the folks in ICM's New York offices. And here is an aaaaaancient thread about book/screenplay agents. http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/boards/showthread.php?t=25708
If you want to go that route, write or e-mail those folks your pitch letter and conclude with your publication credits and the line, "I am currently repped by Ms Smith of the Jones Agency."
I see your other method is to try to make it past the gatekeeper at a prodco and THEN say you're an agented and published novelist. Well, maybe. If that's the route you choose, let us know how it goes!
Yes, that's exactly the situation, Miss Plum. And I'd never heard that advice before, about using a book agent to sell a screenplay directly to production companies (via cold-calling I'd do myself)--which was why I found it so interesting!
Really I'm getting ahead of myself, though. I know I can sell another novel (for a pittance). I don't know if I can sell a screenplay. Also, I've only written a handful of scripts, so I'm still a rank amateur. It's just that lately, the ideas have been arriving attached to slug lines. Still, probably best to stick with what I know.
Really I'm getting ahead of myself, though. I know I can sell another novel (for a pittance). I don't know if I can sell a screenplay. Also, I've only written a handful of scripts, so I'm still a rank amateur. It's just that lately, the ideas have been arriving attached to slug lines. Still, probably best to stick with what I know.
There's nothing wrong with writing both and trying to sell both, IMO, I do. But we just want you to know that it's a whole other animal than publishing. It has different rules, styles, ect.
Here is the deal on that. This is something that I wrote and indeed it can work -- as part of a campaign of "self-marketing."
Having a book agent, even a book agent who, in principle, isn't bonded in California and shouldn't actually be acting as an agent on your behalf, is still better than not having anybody.
In the same way that submitting through an attorney, even an attorney that isn't an entertainment attorney but just your own family attorney, is better than not having anybody.
In the same way that, even though in principle a manager is not supposed to act as an agent and submit material on your behalf, that didn't stop my wife, who acted as my manager and cold-called on my behalf, do exactly that countless times.
In the end what matters is what works and thus what matters is what makes your come across as more professional rather than less.
Ideally, having an agent who is part of an L.A.-based agency who is personally known to the studio exec in question calling up and pitching them the script and then sending it over to them is the ideal situation.
But that is not a situation that many beginners find themselves in.
So you have to try to find some other situation that gives you a leg up, that gives a potential producer or exec the sense that you haven't just wandered in off the street with a bunch of worthless pages.
Being a published author is one of those ways. Being a sold and produced screenwriter who submits through an attorney is one of those ways. Being a professional journalist is one of those ways.
Being anything that suggests that you are a professional writer -- somebody that somebody else has already paid for your work, (and that the work in question might just be something worth making into a movie) is inevitably going to suggest to them that it might just possibly not be a complete waste of time to look at something that you've written.
Because the cold cruel fact is -- most things that they read are exactly that -- a complete waste of time, and they really don't need to seek out opportunities to waste any more time.
NMS
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Not sure you'd fine too many lit agents who also tackle screenplays. That said, I understand that it's a lot harder to submit to screenplay agents unsolicited.
I located several literary agencies in NY and elsewhere that dealt in screenplays as well as fiction and non-fiction books. I queried several with no positive results. You can go to QueryTracker & AgentQuery and check there or just google the two topic areas (screenplay and literary agents). I found about a dozen or so listed, queried a few and received no positive feedback. The closer an agency was located to Southern Cal, the more likelihood that they might look at a screenplay, but unfortunately, if an literary agency lists screenplays on its website it is more likely that they are closed to unsolicited queries. Here's a llong list that includes a few literary agencies that might be interested in looking at a screenplay.
Good luck (you'll need it),
Henri
My blog
Good luck (you'll need it),
Henri
My blog
Just a quick comment re 'representation': anyone can represent you in any negotiations and enter into a contract on your behalf as long as they have your legal authority to do so: normally this means being able to prove that such legal authority exists, which is either by virtue of a contract such as an agency agreement which must contain that express 'agree to be bound by' provision OR by a legal document signed and witnessed as a deed called a power of attorney. Your milkman can have power of attorney over your career if you so choose, and certainly your manager can too.
Being bonded or having professional liability insurance is the key for any client: if something goes wrong you need to know (as the client) that insurance will help sort out the relevant issues even if your agent is not financially able to do so.
Being bonded or having professional liability insurance is the key for any client: if something goes wrong you need to know (as the client) that insurance will help sort out the relevant issues even if your agent is not financially able to do so.
Just a quick note, my last screenwriting agent also represented novelists, so they are out there.