Screenwriting Agents
Screenwriting Agents and being a Writer
Within any endeavor in the entertainment field, be it either books, or trying to be an actor, writer, screenwriter that you have to go through a middle man, which is called an agent. Agents in the Entertainment world are much different than in the Information Technology field. In the Entertainment world the agent gets 10% of the total that the production company is paying for the actor or writer. In the Information Technology field, the consultant has no way of knowing what the billing rate is, in fact he is actually not even allowed to know what the rate is. Why does this level of criminal activity exist in the Information Technology field exist I have never been able to figure out. Perhaps its because the Federal Government has never stepped in to regulate the industry so greed runs free in my former IT field. There is nothing worse than after accepting a new contract to find out that you are not getting a fair share of what the client is paying for your services.
As far as literary agents, in my limited experience they have been equally if not more rude than IT agents. The problem with a literary agent is that they know that any new writer who wants to break into the field needs them and because of this, they can be very arrogant and rude because they know they have total power over you. Once I asked an agent what movies he was involved with and he hung up on me, no less than 3 times. Another agent promised that she would read my script once I got script coverage from a company she recommended and then never read my script and ignored my emails.
Breaking into the field as an aspiring screenwriter is a crap shoot and it takes many contacts or friends or a family member who somehow is already in the business. My solution has been writing my own book about my career, 3 screenplays, several blogs and I also keep a daily journal. I keep writing and keep thinking about what seems to be a very unlikely dream. I also have been dabbling into affiliate marketing by writing articles, with very little luck so far. Its an ongoing struggle, but the good news about this is that I enjoy the writing process more than the frustration of breaking into this impossible business. The internet makes it possible for many people to write and have their work seen by many people and that includes this Hubpages service.
The Challenging profession of Screenwriting.
