You're in show business, baby
Голдман о том, как найти себе агента XD:
Okay, let's set about trying to get an agent.
(1) You better have something written that's as good as you can do. A screenplay, in proper form and - don't laugh - legible. If you have more than one screenplay, better yet. Not that you're going to show the agent two, not at the beginning. But if he reads one and is at least intrigued, he's liable to ask for another sample of your work.
(2) Find out who and where the agents are. How? Easy. Contact the Writers Guild of America, either the East Coast branch in New York or the West Coast branch in Los Angeles, and acquire their list of accredited agents. I am looking at such a list now. It is dated July 1981 and it is nine pages long and lists, I would guess, the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least two hundred agents.
(3) Study the list. Really go over it and over it. On the first page, for example, there are only five entries. "Agency for Artists" - forget about them for now; and the same, again for now, with AAG - Artists Agent Group. But "Adams, Limited, Bret" - that may be of value. Bret Adams is a name. And that's what we're tracking down now - names.
Because any point of contact, no matter how distant, is infinitely preferable to no contact at all.
Do you have a lawyer? Probably you don't. Do your parents? No? Well, somebody in your family must have come in contact with a lawyer sometime. Call that lawyer. Ask did that lawyer go to grad school with anyone who ended up in some form of show-business law? If the answer is yes, throw yourself on the mercy of the lawyer you know to contact his old buddy from Virginia. If he will, fine; if he won't, and he probably won't, thank him anyway and think some more.
Did your mother go to high school with anyone who ended up as a performer? Probably she didn't and if she did, probably you knew that already. But did she go to high school with anyone who ended up working for a performer? Doubtful. But maybe she went to high school with someone who once did makeup for a local tv talk show. If she did, have her renew that acquaintance, or do it yourself. Nothing will come of it.
But if you want an agent, get used to frustration.
And rejection.
A lot of rejection.
But maybe - unlikely, but it's within the realm - somebody knew somebody who knows Bret Adams.
No? On to the next.
Buddy Altoni. He's next. Anyone have any way at all of getting to Buddy? How about Velvet Amber? Or Fred Amsel? Or any of the B's or C's or down the line.
No? Keep at it.
By the time you're done you will have come up with zip. But at least you're in show business, baby.
Okay, let's set about trying to get an agent.
(1) You better have something written that's as good as you can do. A screenplay, in proper form and - don't laugh - legible. If you have more than one screenplay, better yet. Not that you're going to show the agent two, not at the beginning. But if he reads one and is at least intrigued, he's liable to ask for another sample of your work.
(2) Find out who and where the agents are. How? Easy. Contact the Writers Guild of America, either the East Coast branch in New York or the West Coast branch in Los Angeles, and acquire their list of accredited agents. I am looking at such a list now. It is dated July 1981 and it is nine pages long and lists, I would guess, the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least two hundred agents.
(3) Study the list. Really go over it and over it. On the first page, for example, there are only five entries. "Agency for Artists" - forget about them for now; and the same, again for now, with AAG - Artists Agent Group. But "Adams, Limited, Bret" - that may be of value. Bret Adams is a name. And that's what we're tracking down now - names.
Because any point of contact, no matter how distant, is infinitely preferable to no contact at all.
Do you have a lawyer? Probably you don't. Do your parents? No? Well, somebody in your family must have come in contact with a lawyer sometime. Call that lawyer. Ask did that lawyer go to grad school with anyone who ended up in some form of show-business law? If the answer is yes, throw yourself on the mercy of the lawyer you know to contact his old buddy from Virginia. If he will, fine; if he won't, and he probably won't, thank him anyway and think some more.
Did your mother go to high school with anyone who ended up as a performer? Probably she didn't and if she did, probably you knew that already. But did she go to high school with anyone who ended up working for a performer? Doubtful. But maybe she went to high school with someone who once did makeup for a local tv talk show. If she did, have her renew that acquaintance, or do it yourself. Nothing will come of it.
But if you want an agent, get used to frustration.
And rejection.
A lot of rejection.
But maybe - unlikely, but it's within the realm - somebody knew somebody who knows Bret Adams.
No? On to the next.
Buddy Altoni. He's next. Anyone have any way at all of getting to Buddy? How about Velvet Amber? Or Fred Amsel? Or any of the B's or C's or down the line.
No? Keep at it.
By the time you're done you will have come up with zip. But at least you're in show business, baby.