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You do not need an agent
to help you sell your script.
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Agents earn their living
by charging 10 to 15% of every script a writer the agency represents.
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Try and know the likes
and dislikes of each studio, production company, producer, director and
actor. Always believe in all rumours, just in case they are true. You cannot
afford to be wrong.
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Even if you have sold
a script to a big studio, do not stop writing, thinking that you are a
professional nowand do not have to write a word until somebody is paying
you. Never wait for the agent to call to ask you to write. You will end
up having moss growing on you if you wait by the phone and refusing to
write.
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First try to sell a
script on your own. Resourceful agents will find you. Or at least
they will not shut the door at your face.
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Get the Writer's Guild
of America for a list of approved agents. These are agents who have
signed the latest WGA pact and have agreed in writing to abide by it. Getting
a conman for your agent is not the best thing for you.
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Become a fairly good
screenwriter before you come out to Hollywood. Living in Hollywood is not
going to be easy. Stay at home and write and send your work here.
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Write more than one
script before trying to contact an agent. No one wants a one-script-self-proclaimed
writer.
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Like what your teacher
had always told you to do, READ. Read diversely - Shakespeare, poetry,
screenplays, journals, non-fictions. Know a bit of everything, for you
may need the information while writing.
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In your letters, always
include a synopsis of what you have already written that you would like
to have the agent read. An agent has got hundreds of scripts to read, and
he does not want to waste time on reading a 1000 page script.
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Be sure to include a
SASE in your letters - (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope). An agent does
not have the time to write out a envelope with YOUR address on it. Or he
cannot be bothered to do it.
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