Can't Stop Progress

I was about to have my hero find his brother's old photos, and then I realized, his brother's under 30, he probably doesn't have photos. Not a bunch of printed out ones. I haven't printed out a photo in a few years.

Lisa pointed out that the entire ending of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS would have been pretty short if Jodie Foster had a smart phone.

On the other hand, thank goodness for cell phones. Your hero doesn't have to sit still when he calls, he can be running around somewhere calling. And thanks to Caller ID, we no longer have to hear, "Hello?" "Hi, it's Joe."

Le Reliquaire

I went to Le Reliquaire, Dann Godin's monthly (francophone) gathering of game designers on the top floor of L'Amère A Boire, a brewpub on St. Denis. As a show business guy, I'm fascinated by the game industry. It's in a ferment. Sure, companies are hiring and the business is expanding like mad. But it is also a very young industry where people are still trying to figure out what games can do. (Who could have predicted Farmville would have 60 million users?)

So they give talks. In the game industry, it seems like your Powerpoint skillz are pretty crucial. I'm giving a talk in November at the Montreal International Game Summit; it'll be the first time I've ever given a Powerpoint presentation. (In showbiz, we're still doing dry erase.) That's an actual professional people pay money for. But even for this monthly drink-a-thon, a guy got up and gave a 15 minute powerpoint about virtual worlds and criteria for evaluating them. And then people asked questions, and responded. And then some more people got up and gave their 5 minute powerpoints on how certain virtual worlds needed improvement.

I'm impressed with the seriousness of the game community. I can get showbiz people out to drink together, but presentations?

Tell Her You Love Her Too

Q. I sent my script out to a bunch of agencies ten days ago. Now, after meeting me, one wants to represent me. What about the other agencies? Should I tell the first agent I'm waiting to hear from the other agents? This agent ad the other are all legit agents, though one I'm waiting to hear from is a bigshot.

One of the rarest things to have in Hollywood is a champion. And almost nothing gets done without one. Projects don't get set up without a champion, and writers don't get jobs without champions.

Your agent is your personal champion.

And what that means is, the most important thing in choosing an agent is her enthusiasm for you. If I had to reduce it to a formula, I'd say the value of your agent is enthusiasm x enthusiasm x clout.

You have someone who read your script inside ten days, which is fast, met you right away, and offered to represent you. That's enthusiasm.

Here's the surprising thing: agents are people with feelings. You think they're cold-hearted professionals? That's a role they play when negotiating for you. But agents are people who feel about their relationships with their clients the way you feel about your stories, the way a tightrope walker feels about being on the wire: it's what they get up in the morning for. At least, the ones who are any good.

And it's easy to kill their enthusiasm. If you tell this agent you're waiting to hear from the others, what she's going to hear is that you're just not that into her, but she'll do in a pinch. She's going to feel rejected. Maybe even hurt. And there goes the enthusiasm. She might, conceivably, still rep you? But her heart won't be in it.

I know it's hard to tell other people "no" before they've said anything, especially Mr. Bigshot. But Mr. Bigshot hasn't read your script yet, and didn't call you to meet.

And, actually, your stock will go up with all those other agents. Even Mr. Bigshot. Call and thank them, of course. Next time, maybe they'll read your script faster.

I think as much as possible, you go with the enthusiasm.

So-- congratulations! You've got a champion.

UPDATE:

DMc responds in the comments:

.You're mostly right here, Alex. But a couple of caveats. You never go into enthusiasm blind. Your research should be done first. Due diligence should not be considered an insult; if it is then that should be a red flag.

If I was the person in question, I'd signal genuine thanks for the enthusiasm, say that you had set a couple meetings already and will let them know in a few days when you've followed through.

Take your swing at others for contrast but don't keep that person on the hook. Let them know you will get back to them in, say, 5 days once you've fulfilled your other responsibilities.

Part of that relationship is being able to commit to that person fully because you know they're the best for you. To do that one must erase doubt. Asking for a few days to do that is an investment in your future relationship, and if they didn't see it that way, I'd be concerned about how the business relationship would progress.

Well, that's the conundrum. In principle, sure, get back to them in 5 days. But in my experience, that's risky. A director friend of mine did that with an agency, and lost the agency. The agents' feeling was basically, "Don't ask me out on a date if you're not sure you want to sleep with me." Which is unreasonable, sure, and even in dating you ought to be allowed a few dates before you fall into bed. But in real life, there's a risk to tell a girl who's hot for you, "I'm not sure I want to go out with you yet, I'm dating some other girls and they might be better." Your girl who's hot for you may just dump you, and your early doubts will always be part of the relationship and make her doubt your commitment to it. All my best relationships started with fireworks.

So sure, I think you can delay on the grounds of you want to get to know them better first. But I don't think you can on the basis of you're checking out other agencies. I think that will kill the buzz.

Basically, I think you have to do the due diligence before you send in your material. Make sure any agency you're applying to is an agency you'd want to get with. And then if they're interested, have a meeting or two and ask questions. Feel free to go back and ask for another meeting, to get to know them better. Or lunch. Lunch is always good. But no, DMc, I'd be very careful about asking for 5 days. I'd ask for lunch, but not 5 days.

Note also that I'm talking about enthusiasm. If they're not jumping all over themselves to sign you -- if their "yes" is qualified -- you are entitled to be equally cautious.

Put Down the Ducky

Discuss.

Ahem.

Deus Ex

If I've been a bit quiet, I've fallen into DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION.

I think this may be the best video game I've ever played.

It's a game you can play like Call of Duty, and kill everything that comes against you. Or, you can play stealth, and not kill anyone (which is how I try to play it). There are multiple ways to play each mission. Some of them involve social engineering.

A while ago I blogged about "conversational combat." (Posts are here and here.) Too many games treat dialog as exposition, but not gameplay. Just keep clicking on the NPC, and he'll tell you everything you need to know.

In DX:HR, there's quite a bit of information that you only get if you say the right things -- browbeating some characters, placating others. You can even upgrade your character so he's better at saying the right things.

I'm having a lot of fun.

Any Specific Advice?

I understand your time is valuable so I will try to keep this short. My name is [name that starts with N], and I am a sophomore at [university you've heard of]. I have a rough TV script for a sit-com that I've worked on, about [snip]. I have read most of your website and I fully intend on buying your books, but I am writing to you to see if you could offer any additional advice that is specific to my situation. I've read online that the chances of a production company even acknowledging an unestablished writer are nonexistent, but I refuse to give up. I am confident that my concept has commercial potential, and I intend to see it through.

I don't have the money to pay you to read my script, and I don't have the money to find an agent. I truly value your feedback if you should find the time to respond.

Dear Name That Starts With N:

Here's one bit of specific advice: do your homework before you bug professionals for advice. Many people will give you one free conversation with them, but very few will give you two. You have just wasted your free conversation with me.

How have you wasted it? Well, you haven't bothered to get my books. What are the odds that my book CRAFTY TV WRITING: THINKING INSIDE THE BOX might contain some information about your spec pilot and your chances of getting it read? I'm pretty sure it's in the library at [university you've heard of].

Or how about my blog? In my six years of blog entries, there are quite a few tagged "spec pilot" and "breaking in." You obviously haven't read through my blog posts. Instead you just figured you'd dash off an email.

Your request comes off as lazy and over-entitled. You haven't even rewritten your script and you already want me to reassure you that you might be able to sell it. You haven't even cracked my books, and you want to assure me that you "refuse to give up." It's like you're yelling "I have not yet begun to fight!" after an evening at a bar talking about joining the Navy.

(You "don't have money to find an agent"? What does that even mean?)

When you contact people in the business, do your homework. Read their books or articles or blog posts if they have them. See their movies and TV shows if they've written or created them. People like answering educated questions. ("When you were developing THE OUTER LIMITS, how did you try to distinguish it from THE TWILIGHT ZONE?") They want a sense that you treasure their input, and you've put in at least as much effort into the question as they will have to put into the answer.

That way, you earn the right to a second conversation.

UPDATE:

I apologize if I insulted you or wasted your time, this was my first stab at this. While the truth stings a bit, I believe this is what I needed.

A willingness to embrace criticism is an extremely important virtue in any biz, but particularly this one. Bravo.

L'Avventura, and Adventures Properly Considerered

Our plan was to go into New York tonight, grab the kid and head North, but now it seems unrealistic to drive into New York, and it looks like we wouldn't be able to grab the kid until too late.

So, we're riding it out in East Hampton, in a house made of wood and huge glass windows. Fortunately, we're on one of the few bits of really high ground in town.

At least, we hope we're riding it out; there may be mandatory evacuations. In which case we're riding it out in the high school. Which doesn't seem much fun at all.

However, "an adventure is an inconvenience properly considered."

We did watch L'AVVENTURA, Antonioni's 1960 masterpiece. It is a strange movie. Almost nothing happens. Some rich people go to an island. A girl disappears. They search for her, but then give up. Her boyfriend and her best friend hook up. Yet somehow, it holds your interest.

How does Antonioni do it? I don't know. And that's why the movie bears watching over and over.