Monday, September 8, 2014
MICHELE WALLERSTEIN THE WRITER'S CONSULTANT & THE AUTHOR OF "MIND YOUR BUSINESS": HOW AGENTS THINK
MICHELE WALLERSTEIN THE WRITER'S CONSULTANT & THE AUTHOR OF "MIND YOUR BUSINESS": HOW AGENTS THINK: After wracking my brain for weeks I believe I've come up with sharing some vital information with all of you writers. Do you want to kn...
Friday, September 5, 2014
HOW AGENTS THINK
After wracking my brain for weeks I believe I've come up with sharing some vital information with all of you writers. Do you want to know how agents think? Do you want to know what motivates them? If you do then continue reading and I will explain these things. This information will help you to get an agent and to have a great relationship with them.
The first thing you need to realize is that the job of being an agent is work. It isn't fun and play time in Hollywood. It's very hard work with long hours, huge disappointments, heartbreak, and even mental abuse. Being an agent is not a secure job with the receipt of a gold watch at the end of a long career with one company. They don't always get health insurance and retirement packages. They often work on commission and must survive and support families through strikes and bad times. Agents often get fired for political as well as financial reasons. They are often replaced by younger people with good connections. Do you get it? It ain't easy.
The first and most important thing that pushes agents is to sell. They must make deals to make a living and keep their jobs. If their clients do well, then they do well. It's actually a wonderfully symbiotic relationship. Agents want their clients to work and to make tons of money.
They are often very bright and well educated people yet they live in fear of losing their clients who sometimes change agents the way other people change their clothes. Small agencies often do the hardest work because they build up new writers. The boutique agencies are the ones that clients leave so that they can go to big prestigious firms. Those big firms invariably disappoint these clients because they have so much inter-office politics and pressure that they can not give individual writers the time they need.
Very often agents get personally involved with their clients in that those clients tell their life stories and problems to their agents.
Agents are often thrilled to find new and great writers who they can work with and mold into big and important careers. But they also know that those people, for which they work so hard, will someday leave them. It is simply that clients feel that if their careers start to slide it is easier and emotionally safer to blame their agent than to take responsibility for their own failures.
Believe me agents are most often the good guys and gals in your life. Hope this helps.
The first thing you need to realize is that the job of being an agent is work. It isn't fun and play time in Hollywood. It's very hard work with long hours, huge disappointments, heartbreak, and even mental abuse. Being an agent is not a secure job with the receipt of a gold watch at the end of a long career with one company. They don't always get health insurance and retirement packages. They often work on commission and must survive and support families through strikes and bad times. Agents often get fired for political as well as financial reasons. They are often replaced by younger people with good connections. Do you get it? It ain't easy.
The first and most important thing that pushes agents is to sell. They must make deals to make a living and keep their jobs. If their clients do well, then they do well. It's actually a wonderfully symbiotic relationship. Agents want their clients to work and to make tons of money.
They are often very bright and well educated people yet they live in fear of losing their clients who sometimes change agents the way other people change their clothes. Small agencies often do the hardest work because they build up new writers. The boutique agencies are the ones that clients leave so that they can go to big prestigious firms. Those big firms invariably disappoint these clients because they have so much inter-office politics and pressure that they can not give individual writers the time they need.
Very often agents get personally involved with their clients in that those clients tell their life stories and problems to their agents.
Agents are often thrilled to find new and great writers who they can work with and mold into big and important careers. But they also know that those people, for which they work so hard, will someday leave them. It is simply that clients feel that if their careers start to slide it is easier and emotionally safer to blame their agent than to take responsibility for their own failures.
Believe me agents are most often the good guys and gals in your life. Hope this helps.
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