Screenwriting : Negotiations by Marisa Torre

Marisa, agents know the lay of the land, rules, and personalities far better than you. In fact, they are people known and trusted inside the industry - which is why they can get people to look at your work when you can't. And, this is the part you really need to know, they make their money as a percentage of what they can get for you. If they screw you, they screw themselves. They have a strong incentive to get you every dime they can, because one penny of that dime is theirs. I hope this helps put your mind at ease.

An agent should not take thing personal as maybe a principal would..

If you can negotiate better than an agent then you should negotiate.

... if you can even get your foot in the door.

I've been told it's easier to get a manager. They take your project around town and will also try to find you work. An agent is looking for a solid sale. I believe Bill Mattel said he only uses a entertainment lawyer.

thanks guys, very interesting

You only really need a lawyer to negotiate a deal. An agent may help you sell it...

Some production companies and investors will only listen to a pitch from an entertainment attorney or agent. For example, I represent a screenwriter who has his own contacts and has a production company interested in his latest script. But they told him they prefer to deal with agents so he hired me pitch the script for him. I think the reasoning is that the production companies don't feel writers understand the process and they want to deal with someone who is "professional". I'm also a screenwriter, so I think this is a little unfair, but if you find a studio directory that features submission requirements you will notice they usually require you to be an entertainment attorney, agent (registered at WGA) or manager to submit either a pitch or a script.

so much valuable insight, thanks so much!!

no problem, feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Only about 5% of production companies accept unrepresented scripts, and they are usually very small companies. Does not having professional representation mean getting your script sold is impossible? No, it's just very daunting.

Thanks everyone this is interesting information. Do they have any set percentage they work with?

Rules are different for WGA and nonWGA. Go over to the website.

Thanks Wayne, will check that out.

This is a good point, because for a few of the bigger studios, your agent has to be either an entertainment attorney, manager, or an agent who is registered with the WGA. In general, it is only the big studios that have the WGA requirement- when you are dealing with low budget films, generally they cannot afford to pay the WGA minimum and thus make the film without WGA approval. It is similar to how when a production company hires extras, the bigger studios require them to use SAG rules and hire SAG extras, whereas the lower budget films are usually not SAG approved, and cannot pay the minimum SAG acting rates and abide by their other regulations.