I'm going in to meet an agent. What should I say?

Just go in and be charming and funny and smart.

But also be businesslike. You want her to know that you're working your career, not just stumbling through it.

Be ready to pitch whatever you just wrote, whatever you are writing now, and what you'd like to write.

Ask businesslike questions, e.g.

a. If you rep me, where would you see pitching me / sending me?
b. What do you see as my strengths and weaknesses?
c. What should I work on next? Should I write another spec? Or a spec pilot? What shows should I spec?
d. Tell me about your agency. How many writers do you rep at my level?

Write down the answers. You might want to remind her later on if she forgets any of the people she thought of. It's always a good idea to follow up with agents. They have to keep a lot in their heads, and they have many clients, so the client who helps them organize their work will get more work done for him.

Agencies will often have feature people and TV people. If you write both, make sure you're talking to both.

You don't have to like your agent personally, though it's always a plus (and my agents are both adorable). If you're a quiet, unassuming person, you probably won't like an agent who's arrogant and full of hustle and spin. But that might be a good agent for you.

My rule of thumb in evaluating agents is enthusiasm x enthusiasm x clout. Clout is their ability to get people to read and see you. Enthusiasm speaks for itself. Agents can blow a lot of smoke, though, so make sure there's actual fire.

And be enthusiastic yourself. Agents are human. They want to feel you appreciate them. And agent who doesn't feel appreciated is unlikely to work her hardest for you, even if she's seeing nice commissions. Make clear that you consider the relationship to be a two-way street: if you can reward your agent, whether with goodies or by directing good clients to them, or just by remembering to thank them, you'll deserve better treatment, and get it.

Health Plan

Q. Since TV jobs are never secure, and we in the States don't have that fancy Canadian universal healthcare (yet), do most TV writers in the U.S. find health insurance independently?

Most professional writers are in the WGA, and the WGA has a great health plan. If you're getting work, it's free, and if you're not, you can buy in.

If you're not in the WGA, you're on your own, in this as in so many ways.

What Are You Speccing

Every now and then, we at Complications Ensue ask you guys what you're speccing, and what you've heard people are speccing, so everyone can get a sense of what the hot specs are.

And it's that time again. Especially because the network, alas yes, pulled the plug on my pay cable series, and I'm debating between writing an hour spec or a half hour spec pilot.

What are you speccing, or what have you recently specced?

What have you heard other people are speccing?

Budget from Outline?

Q. I have the ability to direct movies without scripts but just outlines. I can schedule and budget on the basis of an outline and then complete the production. So far all of my productions have followed the same pattern. Is it impossible to find investors for such kind of film-maker even on low-budgets in the US?

Yep.

Okay, let me clarify that a bit. I am not sure Henry Jaglom has scripts. He seems to shoot a great deal of improv and then edit. And there are other directors who have shot pictures that way; a lot of experiments were done in the '60's and '70's.

And, of course, "reality" tv shows have outlines, but no scripts.

So if your selling point is that you like to let the actors improvise, you may be able to get away with it. But it's a hard sell. Buyers can't see what movie you're planning to make. There's no way to tell if the comedy is funny, if the romance is suave, etc. They have to trust that you can direct the hell out of your outline.

What you would need to finance an outline would be at least one and hopefully several brilliant finished movies made the same way, without a script. And you would probably have to show that these movies have made money for their investors.

Unfortunately, now is just about the worst imaginable time to try to get new investors. The credit crunch has dried up all the loose money. I'm not sure investors are in the mood for experiments right now. I'm not sure audiences are, either.

TV and Film Jobs

Here's a useful link: Media Match's list of Film & TV Jobs. Check it out, and let me know!

Free screenwriting seminar

Producer Marvin Acuna is giving away his 90-minute screenwriting seminar online. Check it out!

Ed Zwick's 10 Filmmaking Rules

From MovieMaker Magazine:

There are 10 simple rules to great moviemaking. Unfortunately, I never learned them. These are the best I could come up with on short notice…

1. Remember to breathe. You’ve probably worked for two years to get to this moment, and there’s no guarantee you’ll ever get to do it again. You might as well enjoy it.

2. The camera is a Buddha. It sees the world as it is. It doesn’t photograph your expectations or your fantasies. Try to see as the camera sees.

3. No plan survives contact with the enemy. [Note: Field-Marshall von Moltke.] Over-prepare and then be ready to throw it all away when the actor feels his character wouldn’t do it that way.

4. A good idea can come from anywhere. You might as well listen to what others have to say because you’re going to get the credit (and blame) anyway. The key grip has made six times as many movies as you have.

5. Life is messy. It doesn’t stop while you’re talking on the telephone. If it feels too comfortable, it’s probably wrong; if it feels right it’s probably too slow.

6. No movie can ever be funny enough. Surgeons, cops and priests need to laugh, too.

7. An audience’s attention span is even shorter than yours. Fill every moment, stick to the story and try not to shoot the parts you’re going to cut.

8. The actors move the camera, the camera doesn’t move the actors. Unless you have a style, don’t act as if you do.

9. Make your movie for one person at a time. Imagine your fourth grade teacher sitting alone in the dark.

10. Where there is no solution there is no problem. At some point in every production, the director loses faith in the movie and the crew loses faith in the director. Somehow it all works out.

Make of that what you will.

First Page

Lisa and I are working on a written pitch. The two things we're working hardest on are:

• Making sure the first page grabs the reader; and
• Making sure it's clear what the show is.

It's easy enough describing the characters, the world, the backstory. What's tougher is crystallizing what the show is going to be. What's the template? What's the franchise? What happens every week?

We'll probably want to pitch the thing in person, rather than send our prose in to producers or network execs. But we need to crystallize the show on paper for ourselves, so we can pitch clearly in person.