My Second Agent...(Or Some Of The Truths About Representation )

...comments from editthis and schmucks with underwoods kicked me to do this follow-up to yesterday's repost.

First, in answer to the questions, an agent is in the business of helping you find you paying work so you can stay busy doing what you (hopefully) want to do and they can earn a living from their ten percent commisions. I've asked myself many times whether they are worth it, and of course there's a lot of things to factor in, but at the end of the day I'd say yes. I've got some more specific examples why in a repost set for tomorrow.

So what should you look for in an agent?

You'd think you wouldn't want an agent who's aggressive or a bully or irritating or brash or even deceitful and insincere...however those are also all qualities you'll want in your rep at the end of the day. Ironic isn't it. But that's okay, as long as you understand you don't have to be friends with your agent for them to do well by you. It helps if you get along, but it's not absolutely necessary. As long as you always remember they work for you...never forget that.

Here's a few things I've learned from playing in the land of agents...

One: agents don't get you work, you get you work. Agents can hear about projects before you do...they can hustle and get your name out there...they can even get you meetings - but ultimately it's you and your work that gets the offers. And you'll be a bored bitter client if you think otherwise. You have to be working in conjuction with your agent in terms of networking and socializing and shmoozing, not waiting for them to bring you the job. Sure some agents will be better hustlers or better negotiators or better connected than others, and they can prep you and hype you and help you - but it still will be up to you to take the meetings and land the jump.

Two: agents have their reputation, and their roster. It's smart to take a hard look at the other clients in an agent's or agency's stable. Whether you like it or not, you will become associated with them. If they're known as a bunch of hacks, you will be too. If your agent is reputed as an annoying goofball, you will be known as being repped by 'that dork'. Not a good thing. But if there are a lot of serious players at the agency or with your agent, that's a good thing. Why? Because your agent will be hearing about a lot of breaking gigs first since those players are sought after. And then as those players get jobs, your agent will be able sell you (and their other clients) to them first.

Three: agents should negotiate and badger, and be the middle man/woman during the awkward to and fro that occurs when the company/show/studio is offering you scale and you want scale and a half; or you want a cell phone as part of your deal and they want you to use your own and pay the bill; or you feel you should be getting a supervising producer credit and they are offering an executive story editor credit. And so on. And then make sure the checks are arriving when they should be. It takes the personal out of the picture (sort of) so if any disagreements happen or ugliness occurs...you don't have to walk into the office and try to work with the person you would've been haggling/arguing with with the day before.

Four: agents can hurt your feelings and even lie to you. When you are hot and busy they're your best friend and taking all your calls. When you're not so busy and a little cold it's next to impossible to get past the assistant. Expect it. And they'd like to believe they are the best and are tapped into the heartbeat of the industry and hearing about all the jobs out there, and will assure you of this. But the reality is they have their areas of expertise and their niches and are limited by that. And will be perceived in a certain way. Much like you will be if you've specialized in just childrens shows, or scifi shows, or worked only as a writer...or as a director.


I started writing as a means to direct. My first agent was a lovely woman with a small agency that could be described as a Canuck version of a 'boutique agency'. She was a good negotiator and had a good reputation. It was just herself and an assistant in a small yet tasteful three room office space in downtown Toronto. And she repped a short list of writer clients, and focused primarily on Canadian television. And she always was saying she was trying to find me directing work. But she wasn't tied into the network of line producers that do most of the hiring of directors on episodic television series. And the handful of series I got wind of and made some inroads to didn't seem to take my directing samples or reels coming from her as seriously as say, some other agents/agencies in town.

So as I cruised along getting more and more work writing/producing syndicated action/adventure television, I started to miss directing - the reason I got into this whole nutty business in the first place. I started to realize having an agent with those producer contacts and some knowledge of the U.S. scene would be an advantage (since most of these shows were Amercian-based shooting in Canada).

And there was something else going on. When you start to get gigs and become better known, other agents will try to get to you. And they will do so for two reasons...first, if they know you and you are running something, they can try to get one of their clients on board. And second, if they are aggressive (and ruthless), they will want to let you know what they might be able to do for you if you jump ship and came over to their house. I heard from a couple of those agents, and I didn't take any of them up on their promises, but it got me thinking.

I started asking around about Canadian agents who were more focused on directors AS WELL AS writers. There were really only a couple (small industry remember)...one in Toronto and the other in Los Angeles. I'd met the Toronto agent already because he repped a story editor I'd once hired. He was part of a much bigger agency - no CAA or ICM but as close as we get in Canada. They repped writers, directors, actors, etc. And he and I got along okay. Calling him up and broaching whether he'd take me on was relatively painless (as in, he took my call...and said he'd be very interested). We had several lunches talking through his client list and his contacts while I conveyed my desire to get back in front of people as a director again. He wholeheartedly agreed and said he'd make it happen...(but what else are they going to say).

It felt kinda covert and sneaky, but in the end, it was just business. I finished the gig I was on (switching agents mid job can get messy, as in who's entitled to the commision), called my first agent and told her I was moving on and why. She was very pleasant and understanding about it all. Just business. I had to write a letter officially severing the relationship, and that was that.

And as for my second agent, I was with him for 3 years and it was a pretty decent marriage...until I moved to Los Angeles and onto Agent Number Three. Unfortunately, that wasn't the best of relationships, but I'll relate that experience another time.

SONG&ARTIST? - "Get up, (get on up)
Get up, (get on up)
Stay on the scene, (get on up), like a sex machine, (get on up)

And then, shake your money maker,
Shake your money maker,
Shake your money maker,
Shake your money maker,
Shake your money maker,
Shake your money maker,
Shake your money maker

Huh!"

How I Landed My First Freelance Gig...(or How To Get Hired and Not Be Sure Why)

More from the recesses of the mind. When you work in the film/TV business but live far away from the centers of the universe, freelance work is much harder to come by. If you are a writer, you have the best shot at it…presuming you’re really good and have a great agent – but even still, series like for you to come in and meet them, pitch them, walk through the episode on the whiteboard, make sure you don’t have three heads. So if you are living outside of the major production centers, that’s next to impossible to do.

“We’d like to consider you to write an episode of ‘Major Network Series’. Can you come in this afternoon and talk it through? You need to check airline schedules? If you’re lucky you might be able to get here by end of day tomorrow? Uh, never mind.”

However, if you are a really talented scribe and recognized as such, you can work from home and with telephones/computers/email/etc., pull it off.

But if you are a director, it’s next to impossible.

Every major production center has dozens of really good directors just standing by to work. Why fly in and pay to put up an up and coming competent from the regions when you just need to look down the street? Why indeed…

So years ago, shortly after I got my first agent, I finished directing a TV movie that I co-wrote, and then packed me and my family’s bags and moved to Toronto. Nothing was waiting for me/us. But if I wanted to ‘do drama more often’, it was the next logical step.

Cut to six months later and I’d had a bunch of meet and greets around town, but no serious ‘work’ leads developing anywhere. And I remember being very confused as to why some producers and companies that used to meet with me every time I flew to Toronto now wouldn’t take a meeting. I cornered one of the execs at an industry party, and asked him why. His response: “Well, now that you live here – there’s no real reason to meet unless it’s for something specific. We know where to find you if we need to talk.”

Oh.

The other thing that was going on was my lovely agent was pushing me on the handful of big drama series. Some meetings, but no ‘this is going to turn into something’ vibe.

Then my eldest daughter turned old enough to graduate from watching Treehouse channel all the time to watching YTV sometimes. And even though 3 of the 4 shows I’d directed and/or wrote were kids/family mystery/fantasy drama’s, I swear this was the first time in my life I’d seen YTV. And I see a show called ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ Cool show, anthology series, scary tales for kids…much like three of my four credits.

I hastily got the agent on the phone – ask if she knows the show and has contacted them about me.

Silence.

I'm sure she'd heard of the series because they filmed up in Montreal, Canada - but she appeared to have very little information about it. And she seemed a little confused as to why I would be interested in a ‘kids’ show. I said I needed some work, and it looked like an okay series (it was also on Nickelodeon in U.S.), so why not? She said she would look into it.

SIDEROAD #1: when starting out, help your cause and target shows that somewhat match your existing credits. It made no sense for me to be pushing to get on a legal or medical series when most of my credits were family/kids/comedy – blame it on ego, arrogance, ignorance, etc. Producers, execs, etc. are inundated with talent to work on their shows. And they are always looking for a reason to say ‘No’. Make it difficult for them to say no…don’t send a kids fantasy/mystery show as a sample of your work to an adult legal drama series --- or you can submit it to try to get your name in front of the decision-makers, but don’t expect to get hired.

SIDEROAD #2: although I muttered a bit about why it was me that found this series that seemed appropriate for me and my talents, and not my agent – it was my agent who tracked down the Showrunner in L.A., sent my samples in a professional package thus lending credibility to my name, and then followed up and badgered for a meeting. She earned every penny of her 10%.

Anyways, a month or so later there’s a call – agent has heard back that the executive producers will be in Toronto that week for some casting sessions and would like to meet me for breakfast at the Sutton Place Hotel. It’s to discuss directing an episode. Yeehaw.

I rewatch the episodes I’d taped in the previous month – ABP’s…always be prepping… to know the show you are trying to work for. I toss and turn until meeting day, wake up before dawn and race down to the hotel to beat rush hour traffic…and end up having to have a coffee up the street to kill 45 minutes I’m so early. Make my way in to the restaurant and am ushered to the table to meet: Showrunner (from L.A.) and Co-Executive Producer (also from L.A. but is bilingual and will be running the day to day of the show up in Montreal).

Nervous. Sweating. Not sure what they’ll ask…what to say or do…they don’t prep you for these meetings in film school. Can’t remember details other than trying real hard to not to embarrass myself. There was the obligatory chit chat and feeling out part --- then they begin to talk about the show and how it works and what they want…there were a few testing questions about how I worked with kids, how fast I was, could I roll with changes or unexpected disruptions. I answer to the best of my knowledge – nothing too opinionated – don’t embarrass myself I think.

Now I’m starting to get excited…they seem to be leaning toward hiring me…they are talking dates, and whether I’m available --- and all I’m interested in knowing is…why me? Which one of my shows did they watch and like? Or did they watch them all and like them all? Man I must be good – listen to them, they really sound like they are going to hire me!

Meeting starts to wrap up…they say thanks and then drop bombshell that they’ve already informed my agent that they’d like to hire me and will get back to her with details. What?! It’s already a done deal?! Man, I am awesome!

So I blurt out: “You must have watched my samples, the shows I did – what did you like about them?”

The Showrunner glances at the other exec, thinks a bit, and then says: “Actually, I haven’t watched them. But my assistant did and said they were okay. The truth of matter is that I directed that lead kid (the kid that starred in my one hour family mystery/drama) before on another show of mine, and he was nuts…a real handful (which the kid was). I figured if you could work with him, then you could work on anything with anyone.”

Oh.

To say I was a little deflated was an understatement. But I smiled and we shook hands and parted ways. And three weeks later I was on a plane to direct an episode of ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ --- my first freelance gig (which led to more directing and writing for show as well - once in the door kind of stuff - but more on that another time).

So what’s my point…what you do and how you do it and how effective or successful it happens to be is ALL very important. But showrunner’s are busy busy people and most would rather ‘hear’ someone is good or worth working with than have to sit down and watch and make that difficult decision themselves.

SIDEROAD #3: I was once hired onto the staff of a big big show that shot in Vancouver based on a short, relatively rushed meeting in LA at the end of a frantic day while I literally followed the exec through the MGM building talking to him as he prepared to leave for the airport. I found out at a later date that just prior to my meeting, the same exec had happened to sit down on a plane beside a semi-famous actor that was starring in the series I was presently working on. What I heard was exec had told actor that he was considering me for their series, and asked the actor what he thought of me. Actor apparently replied: “Oh, he’s cool.”…and then went on to try to pitch something. I’m not saying that there weren’t a lot of other factors that came into play (there was apparently a first and second choice that both passed on the gig – I was number three), but I’m sure if semi-famous actor says: “Oh, he’s an idiot and an asshole.” – I don’t get hired.

Back to the ‘Dark’ freelance hiring – the people/relationships element is so important. The Showrunner might have seen all kinds of wonderful work in my samples, and perhaps been impressed – but there are also so many intangibles at play if you don’t have any first-hand experience/knowledge about the person you are thinking of hiring. Was the script brilliant and anybody could shoot it and it would work? Did the awesome assistant director in fact direct it for me? Was the cast brilliant and therefore made me, the director, look good?

But because there was a personal, first hand connection (the hyperactive child actor)…he felt comfortable enough to make the hire. And that’s something I could have no way of knowing. It isn’t something you plan for or can orchestrate…it just happens.

So do the best that you can, and treat people with courtesy and respect…the rest of it is really out of your hands.

SONG & ARTIST? - "We've got to hold on to what we've got

'Cause it doesn't make a difference

If we make it or not

We've got each other and that's a lot

For love - we'll give it a shot"

My First Agent..(or How I got Representation and Didn't Even Know It)

...digging back into the recesses of the mind, thought this might be interesting post, especially to those living outside the major entertainment centers.

A long time ago, I was residing in the middle of nowhere in mid-west Canada - living the life of a filmmaker in a place I had no business trying to live that life...in a place that didn't know what a grip or a dolly or what a call sheet was... hell, I barely knew what they were and I'd graduated film school. But I formed a small company with another local, mostly making educational documentaries for government agencies and then repackaging them as a limited/on-going series for a regional tv network - was making a living, sort of.

Then good timing and good fortune shined down (as it always HAS to do) and we found ourselves near the top of list of companies capable of taking advantage of some regional incentives that needed to be spent by some of the federal film funding agencies we have in Canada. And it was us mostly because there wasn't hardly anyone else around with more experience (I only had a few dramatic shorts to my name). And so with my 'drama expertise', and my partner's financing savvy, we managed to produce and I directed two half hour one off tv dramas, and then I co-wrote and directed a one off hour long family drama...all in the same year. Lucky. Yes. But I tend to feel we all get breaks at some time when stars align and such, and you still have to deliver when you get your chance. The shows weren't brilliant, but they weren't embarrassing either (one won a Genini award..Canuck equivilent of Emmy).

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, the first agent...

Where I was living and what I was doing, getting an agent wasn't even on my radar. And even if I did think about it, I was sure no agent was going to be interested in me or able to do anything for someone out in the middle of nowhere. So my next project was a tv movie I had in development with one of the pay tv channels in Canada. The writing had gone well and the script had been well received, but then it stalled - it needed something to push it over the top.

The year before, I'd met a very good writer from Vancouver (who's now doing very well in LA) at the Banff tv festival, and we'd become friends and stayed in touch.
I'll never forget a cassette tape (yes, this was in the days of record albums...pre-cd's) showing up in the mail (also the days pre-internet, file sharing, etc.) from this friend with Pearl Jam's 'Ten' on one side and Motherlovebone on the other...never heard of these Seattle bands before and they blew me away...so I intoduced him to Nirvana and we were even.
Anyway, I asked this friend/writer if he would co-write next draft of the tv movie with me to see if that would help take it to the next level. And I'll never forget his absolute shock, "...no way, this is your baby...it's great the way it is!" But for me, it's always been about getting it made/produced, so I pushed and pushed and he finally agreed (and it did eventually get made).

Oh yeah, the first agent...

So around same time I was in charge of putting together workshops for the local film festival/awards...so I came up with idea of bringing in a couple writers (I also knew a fairly successful writer/friend in Toronto) and their agents, and do an Agent/Writer Relationship workshop. I'd been negotiating with the Vancouver friend's agent for the co-write on the movie, so she and him agreed to come out (she was based out of Toronto). And the Toronto friend and his agent agreed to come out. So it was a go. And we had a great weekend of a long late dinner, the workshop, the so-called awards, another dinner, and everyone went back to their respective homes.

Monday morning, my phone rings. It's my Vancouver friend's agent in Toronto. We exchange pleasantries and boom..she quickly asks if anyone is representing me. I think I laughed out loud. And then said no. And then asked why would she care (I had no clue). She gets very 'agenty' and says she will fax me an agreement and agree to rep me right now if I'm interested. Now keep in mind she had a good reputation and repped several writers I knew, so there wasn't any sort of issue of credibility. But I remember being a little flabbergasted and said something like"...sure, whatever." An hour later the deal was done and I had an agent...a pretty decent agent by Canadian standards...and all I remember doing was answering the phone.

So what's my point. Well, I remember asking her some time later why she wanted to rep me, and she said she'd been hearing about me for a couple years, and she'd heard I did good work, and the Vancouver friend endorsed me, but mostly, she said that when she came out for the workshop...I DIDN'T ask her to rep me. It helped convince her that she 'wanted' me, as opposed to me (or anyone for that matter) 'wanting' her...or wanting her as an agent, at any rate. And I've heard that sentiment echoed over the years from a lot of writers: that it's just so much easier if the agent can hear about you not from you, and begin to think about repping you not because you are telling them to...that it's the agent who makes the first move.

That isn't to put down cold calling agents and trying to get them to read your material to see if you are worth repping ... get in front of anyone you can ... but if you can get a friend or an agent's client to recommend you to that agent, it can only work to your advantage.

And as for my first agent, alas, she's no longer repping me, though we parted amicably for reasons that will be discussed another time.

SONG & ARTIST? - There’s a man who leads a life of danger.

To everyone he meets he stays a stranger

With every move he makes, another chance he takes.

Odds are he won’t live to see tomorrow.