Do I Need An Agent For A Movie, Music Or TV Career? If So, How Do I Get A Movie, Music Or TV Agent?

Movie, Music and TV agents can be a valuableend, it all fizzled out.
resource, but keep in mind, they just are that - aThe big question for most is "how do I get an agent?"
resource. Who would you rather have in control ofRemembering, that a movie, music or tv agent is just a
your career: a person with a 10% interest or a persontool, if you choose to use that tool, here's the short
with a 90% interest. I hope the answer is a personanswer: contact one. If you go to Samuel French
with a 90% interest, which is you. Your agent makesBooks or even Barnes and Noble in LA, you'll find a
money by having many clients and making a little"Hollywood Creative Directory" for anything and
money from a lot of people. You make money only ifanyone you can imagine you'll need in show business.
you make money. This does not make your agent anThere you can find a list of agents and agencies in
evil person, but you need to be aware of this so thatyour field. Pick a name and send them a query letter,
you put everything into perspective.headshot, or reel, etc. Writers, if you're great on the
In essence, it's your movie, music and TV agent's jobphone, you can call and briefly sell yourself to the
to get you that meeting or audition. It's your job toassistant. Never ignore the assistant. No one in
close the deal. Once the deal is closed, your agent willHollywood wants to be an assistant and many
negotiate the major deal points and your lawyer withassistants have already passed the bar or possess
finagle the finer points.doctorates and masters.
You can help your agent by letting him or her knowI've pitched someone once who I thought was an
about great leads such as who could be attached toassistant, who had actually already become full
your project and so forth. Your agent works for youfledged agent just weeks prior. The person read my
and not vice-versa, but once again, your agent onlyscripts. If you're an email person, you can go to
has a 10% interest, so you have to be out therewebsites like and and collect email addresses for all
constantly working for yourself.your favorite agents and assistants. I've emailed as
If you do use an entertainment agent, allow your agentmany as 400 agents and assistants, sent them an
to "be" an agent. I had a screenplay go out wide onceamazing query letter, and had someone contact me
and I assisted my screenwriting agent by having myfrom every top agency to read a script of mine. I'm
manager send out an Evite to key studio andnot afraid to tell anyone about this, because it took me
production executives. You would think that the email180 hours of hard work to make my email list, I had to
would have been ignored as junk mail, but in fact, thelearn how to write a great query letter first, and most
average executive didn't seem to have the power topeople simply aren't willing to go the extra mile and put
ignore the unsolicited email and we ended up doublingin the elbow grease to get ahead.
the amount of requests to read the script. TheFor actors, there are publications at Samuel French
downside was that some of the additional requestsbooks that also list what type of person agents and
were from the bosses of the executives on myagencies are looking for that particular month.
agent's list. The end result was bad vibes from myFor writers, a great book on how to write a query
agent's personal connections and bridges burned. Theletter, as well as how to market your script is "The
script made it all the way to the president of a smallScreenwriter's Bible" by David Trottier. This book is
studio's office by 10:30 a.m. the next morning, but in thealso great for formatting suggestions.