Breakfast with Sharks Page 16
AVOIDING BAD MANAGERS AND FINDING GOOD ONES
Good managers work in tandem with your agent to create a cohesive strategy for building your career.
Bad managers are abusive; not team players, they cause rifts between you and your agent. Ideally, managers can be “a writer’s silent partner.” You should expect both good advice on specific projects and long-term strategic planning from the relationship. Further, a good manager should be able to roll up his sleeves to pull together a script or make a deal happen. Other keys to look for in a manager are diplomacy, careful honesty, compassion, a good background in psychology, intelligence, and taste.
DOUBLE-DIPPING
There are certain trade-offs between the roles of agents and managers. For example, agents can legally negotiate deals, but managers can’t. Managers, on the other hand, can attach themselves as producers to the projects created by their clients. Agents don’t. Such a role entitles the manager to not only 10 percent of the client’s earnings, but also to a negotiated fee as producer. This sum can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. In fact, managers who attach themselves as producers to all of a client’s projects (sometimes referred to as double-dipping) is a legitimate concern when the credit is inappropriate. That’s because a manager/producer who offers little more than the ability to deliver a coveted project can add hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional expense to a project, since a legitimate producer must still be procured for the project. Producers I know have been forced to pass on a coveted project simply because the acquisition cost was too great—and this usually comes from double-dipping. There is no set rule for dealing with this issue. In fact, the pros and cons of manager/producers are currently a topic of much spirited debate in Hollywood. Bottom line, discuss the situation with your peers and your lawyer. Make sure you go forward with eyes wide open.
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SECTION 331: OTHER KEY PLAYERS BEHIND THE SCENES
Script Readers
Script Consultants
Assistants
EXTRA CREDIT READING:
Crafty Screenwriting by Alex Epstein 500 Ways to Beat the Hollywood Script Reader by Jennifer Lynch
When I face the desolate impossiblity of writing 500 pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day’s work is all I can permit myself to contemplate.
—JOHN STEINBECK
SCRIPT READERS
Every studio and every major production company has a story department that covers (reads and evaluates) material submitted to executives. The task of analyzing thousands of script submissions is handled by mainly freelance readers who are independent contractors paid approximately fifty to sixty dollars per script. While a few union reader positions do exist, these positions pay very well and have greater job security, and so are highly coveted. The only way to become a union reader is to fill a vacancy when someone leaves the union. One well-connected friend I know waited nearly three years for his spot.
Writers arriving in L.A. will find that freelance reading positions are relatively easy to obtain, mainly because the pay is modest and the reader must read a lot of scripts in order to make a living. Readers who are adept at the task can cover from six to ten scripts per week. Most new readers get their position by querying the story departments they find in the Hollywood Creative Directory, then submitting sample coverage. This coverage can be done on a friend’s screenplay, and is mainly to show a story editor at the studio that you know correct format for coverage. Most readers spend their day covering unsolicited submissions—aka crushing the hopes and dreams of their screenwriting brethren. Usually, unsolicited material is the poorest in terms of quality, and new readers can expect to read the worst of the worst, initially, until they have proven themselves. Coverage consists of two pages of synopsis and one page of comment, followed by a recommendation to “consider” or “pass.” One writer-turned-reader whom I know did not give more than one “consider” during his first four months.
Initially, it’s difficult to read a script of a potentially unfamiliar genre, then analyze what works and what doesn’t and write it all out in fewer than four pages. Such a task may take an entire day, which will leave you feeling like David Copperfield when you get that tiny, tiny check. However, the huge trade-off is that you’re learning about writing and writers, what works and who doesn’t. Such experience can be invaluable in terms of your own work. Needless to say, you won’t retire to Maui on such an income. But the flexibility of schedule is an important benefit, since you’re working at home and can still take a phone call or make a meeting.
What follows is a list of twelve elements I use in my own writing to impress a reader:
Twelve Ways to Impress a Reader
1. Make sure the script is properly formatted. Do not use cheap covers or tin or plastic brads (solid brass are best).
2. Have more white space than black (typing). White space means that the writer has focused only on the essential details.
3. Your script should ideally run 108–115 pages, but no more than the industry standard maximum of 120. More than that number of pages indicates a poor understanding of what constitutes a professional script.
4. Create a major story or action beat (key moment) on page 1 of the script.
5. Establish the central theme by page 3.
6. Establish the protagonist’s universe by page 10.
7. Select key details and description that pop off the page, and discard others for a lean look.
8. Do not overuse adverbs. Avoid passive voice.
9. Make the reader feel he or she is there by using stage directions that are “intense” and “in the moment.”
10. Give the protagonist an Achilles’ heel, a potentially fatal flaw. Give him or her one big speech (what I refer to as the Oscar clip moment) that lays bare motivations and themes.
11. Give supporting characters distinguishing quirks. For example, Ted Danson is a DA who happens to tap dance in Body Heat.
12. Figure out each character’s private agenda for each scene, to play off conflicting agendas and the disparity between what is said and what is meant.
SCRIPT CONSULTANTS
Every two years the industry magazine Creative Screenwriting spends more than $10,000 to go undercover and rate and review the leading script consultants in the industry. That this review is a cover-story feature is an indication of the size of this cottage industry. A good analyst should provide you with the following:
The equivalent of studio coverage
What’s right and what’s wrong with your script
Suggestions for fixing script problems
Basically, script consultants should be able to point out strengths (e.g., a promising premise) and flaws in your script (e.g., weak dialogue or a reactive protagonist) with an expert’s eye. There are so many different story elements to juggle when writing a script that even expert writers will overlook a few. That’s why it’s good to have another set of eyes. Unfortunately, 90 percent of emerging screenwriters hope that potential buyers and agents will be those eyes—a poor option, given the dictates of the market. Remember, you want your project to be as perfect as possible the first time a producer reads it, since few will have the time or inclination to show you how to fix it. Personally, I use a consultant to evaluate my work, and I highly recommend the investment.
Script consultants are not cheap, with a price range of $100– $1,000, $400 being the norm. The best have development backgrounds at the studio or production company level. The consultant that I use understands all facets of the script-to-screen process because he has the following credits: director of development at a well-known production company; producer of a feature film; director of a feature film; writer of six screenplays; part-time college instructor; and professional consultant for more than six years. Again, such expertise does not come cheap, but the cost is tax-deductible, and far less than ruining a potential sale by submitting a “green” dra
ft.
Here are some basic qualifications for a good script consultant:
has studio or production company development experience
is willing to provide samples of prior critiques particularly in the same genre of your project
has references available upon request
is available for a follow-up consultation within a prescribed time period for limited additional cost
works within the framework of your script to help you write the story you intended, as opposed to some other story the consultant envisions
offers to turn around a script within two weeks
If you are primarily right-brain functioning (instinct- and imagination-oriented), try to find a consultant whose comments are left-brain (logic- and detail-oriented), and vice versa. Such a pairing will use distinctly different criteria to point out inconsistencies or weaknesses in your story.
Finally, consider consultant services only after you have submitted your script to your Five Trusted Readers and you feel that the project is the best it can be. Remember, rewriting is the essence of screenwriting, so the consultant is one of many strategic steps en route to the screen.
ASSISTANTS
All producers, executives, agents, managers, and successful directors, and some writers, have assistants who handle all the secretarial and non-secretarial functions of the office, ranging from typing letters and answering phones to reading scripts and picking up dry cleaning. Assistants in Hollywood work long hours, often six or seven days a week. They are like an army of seemingly invisible gnomes who wield connections and information for their bosses, and often for themselves in pursuit of their own career aspirations. A big faux pas to avoid is making reference to someone’s “secretary.” For one thing, most assistants aspire to have their boss’s job or a comparable one at some point, so few aspire to be secretaries. While true career secretaries do exist in Hollywood, they earn much more than assistants, and are usually reserved for senior executives.
Assistants are sometimes referred to pejoratively as “phone monkeys,” because they must effortlessly handle hundreds of phone calls each day. For example, imagine that Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson call at exactly the same time. Knowing that Hollywood is the most insecure place on the planet, where saying “Mel, Todd will call you right back” may be grounds for the star to move to another agency, whose call do you put through first and whom do you put on hold? Depending on circumstances, putting Julia’s call through, while shamelessly flirting with Mr. Gibson for the thirty seconds it takes for the agent to deal with Julia and then pick up the second, may be an assistant’s course of action. All the stories you’ve heard about assistants taking a lot of abuse are true. For example, one powerful agent has a complete collection of pro football helmets from all the teams. This agent is well known for hurling the helmets down the hall at his assistants whenever he’s in a tirade. However, while such dysfunction was rewarded in the past with a “tough, but gets it done” rep, such boorish behavior is becoming increasingly archaic in the corporate culture of modern-day Hollywood.
As a writer, you must get to know and place in your Industry Rolodex every assistant you encounter, for three reasons:
1. Not only do assistants have access to contact information for every player in the industry, and sometimes use their own discretion in passing along information, but they can provide or deny access to the specific exec, producer, or agent you’ve targeted. Assistants hold the keys for every decision-maker.
2. Assistants are usually first to see and judge any material coming into the office.
3. Assistants may only be weeks or months from becoming decision-makers themselves. When they do, the former assistants will need their own contacts. You may be the first one they call.
Note that assistants can move around a lot from office to office and exec to exec, as they try to find the optimal fit that will allow them to jump up into the decision-making ranks. You’ll need to update your Rolodex regularly to keep track of all of their movements.
PART FOUR
Ways Into the Hollywood System As a Screenwriter
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SECTION 401: THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF HOLLYWOOD
The Power of Networking
Where to Go to See and Be Seen
Writing Groups
Collaborating with Writing Partners
Screenings
Joie de Vivre
EXTRA CREDIT READING:
Making Movies by Sydney Lumet
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, And the strength of the wolf is the pack.
—RUDYARD KIPLING,
THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK
THE POWER OF NETWORKING
Whether or not you come to live in Hollywood, you should get used to traveling in packs. Writing, in particular, is a solitary pursuit, but that doesn’t mean you have to become Travis Bickel from Taxi Driver. Building relationships with other “creatives” is crucial because of the interactive nature of the filmmaking enterprise. There is a logarithmic progression of the number of people involved as a movie travels down the development path. The benefits of building a creative community, or at least a marauding hoard of like-minded individuals, are immeasurable and will enhance your opportunities in this business. Commit the following to memory: Community is crucial and coveting kills careers. Many in Hollywood believe that since the money used to buy scripts and make them into movies is finite, someone else’s failure is their success. However, I have always believed that the success of a colleague validates the strength of my group, and people remember who offered a hand during a difficult time.
In film school, it was five of us sharing lunch every Wednesday for story meetings. Nowadays it’s a Friday-morning breakfast at the worst dive we can find, along with an every-other-Thursday poker game. The second Monday of each month is dinner with still another group. At these occasions, projects are discussed and information is shared, while strategies and contacts are offered. Think of your own group as not only an opportunity for interaction but also a web of support. For example, while in grad school, I used a connection to submit my best spec to the undisputed biggest agency on the planet at that time. Three weeks later, a three-quarters-of-an-inch thick package slithered back into my mailbox. Inside was my screenplay, along with an unsigned form letter pass. I soon discovered that my script had undergone a disturbing metamorphosis during its time away. For starters, someone had used a red marker to write “Dream on!” on page 12, then “Why do you keep directing this fucking script????” on page 17, apparently in response to an overzealous stage direction. The size-9 shoe prints imbedded into page 21, accompanying a helpful suggestion to “Learn to write!!!!” did little to prepare me for pages 26 and 27, which were stuck together with a substance that I will forever give the benefit of the doubt as spit.
My reactions ran the gamut from incredulous laughter to an impulse to murder, to an overpowering urge to take a swim with cinderblocks in my khaki short pockets. However, my group of fellow student writers quickly closed ranks to bolster my sagging ego with contact offers, tales of bitter recrimination, and jokes about diminutive agents. Within days I was able to go back to my writing, while wishing my anonymous, saliva-control-challenged friend the very best of luck with all those pesky inner demons. Then, two weeks later, the same version of the trampled spec garnered an offer of representation at mega-agency ICM. Such scenarios play out dozens and dozens of times during the course of a creative career in Hollywood. Having a group with whom to commiserate keeps the wax on your Icarus wings.
WHERE TO GO TO SEE AND BE SEEN
Dedication to one’s craft is certainly admirable, but there’s certainly no reason to risk contracting rickets by spending hour after sun-deprived hour working without coming up for air. You should have your ritual that gets you out of the abode and away from all those phone calls that you hope will come today, but often don’t. Beyond my home office, I alternate different venues for my workspace. These include libraries and coffeehous
es. Many writers like to mark up scripts or work on their laptops at a favorite bean grind where they can nod to a few other creatives and hold court at a place where everybody seems to know their names. In fact, coffeehouses are perfect places to observe all kinds of human interactions between bosses and subordinates, friends, dates, customers and staff, etc. These places are conducive for certain aspects of the creative process, like bringing authenticity to your work. However, sometimes it can get kinda noisy with the frappaccino machines going and people discussing the character flaws of loved ones. Such a place can be especially distracting when you’re trying to nail down a problematic scene. That’s where the library comes in handy, too. Besides being a quiet space for research, libraries are good for feeling like you’re part of the human race, even if it means not hearing the human race.
Some Well-Known Places Where Writers and Filmmakers Hang Out
Samuel French Booksellers in Hollywood and Universal City Book Soup in West Hollywood
Mel’s Diner on Sunset
Best Western Hotel Diner on Franklin
The Beverly Hills Library
The House of Pies in Los Feliz
Farmers Market on Fairfax
WGA Screenings at the Writers Guild in Beverly Hills
DGA Screenings at the Directors Guild in West Hollywood Writers Block Lecture Series in Beverly Hills
UCLA Extension courses in Westwood
The Writers Computer Store in Sherman Oaks