Wrong Place, Wrong Time
After seriously botching my first screenplay (see The Importance of Failure), I made big efforts to correct my momentary idiocy. In late 1999 I finished my second screenplay, Phineas Goodman. The efforts must have paid off, because by early 2000, I had an accredited WGAE agent excited to take it on. Alas, the script never sold. I had intentionally written it so that it could be easily adapted for screen, cable, or television. What I thought was a clever marketing plan turned out to bite me in the posterior.
My agent submitted it to several different production companies for all of those media, and they passed based on the fact that Phineas Goodman would have been better suited in another vehicle. Movie producers said that it would be better as cable, cable producers said that it would be better as a Made for TV, and Made for TV said that it would be better as cable. After that, the script kind of sat in limbo.
My agent passed on my third script, but was very excited with my fourth script, Prism. This is where everything fell apart. To make a long story short, my agent wanted to turn it into a completely different screenplay before trying to sell it. I'm on record as saying that he was absolutely correct.
Granted, my original story was more original, but he was advising me to make changes that would help it sell. That's his job. I dropped the ball when I didn't stay in touch. I tried to make the changes that he suggested, but I made them slowly, and I failed to act upon his suggestions enthusiastically. If I'm not excited about the script, why should he be?
That being said, I had a good reason for dropping the ball. My wife had just given birth to our first child, and we had been financially devastated by circumstances well out of our control that forced us to relocated to the mountains and live in a six hundred square foot cottage on my in-laws property. Nonetheless, it was my lack of effort that completely destroyed my relationship with my agent. It was the opportunity of a life time, but it came at the wrong place and time in my life. Now, it's four years later. I've written four more screenplays, one novel, and made quarter and/or semi finals in three different script competitions. He still won't return my calls or letters. I successfully burned my only bridge to selling a screenplay, and the chances that I ever get another one are statistically slim.
Aspiring writers (like me) would to well to heed this as a cautionary tale. If you're lucky enough to get an agent who's excited to represent your work, can't sell it, but is still excited to work with you on another project, by gosh, don't waste the agent's time. Make the effort to call the agent. Do exactly what the agent asks you, and do it as fast as you can. I've had to learn from my mistakes, maybe you can too.
Readers feel free to comment on similar tragedies so I don't feel like the only dunce in the world.
My agent submitted it to several different production companies for all of those media, and they passed based on the fact that Phineas Goodman would have been better suited in another vehicle. Movie producers said that it would be better as cable, cable producers said that it would be better as a Made for TV, and Made for TV said that it would be better as cable. After that, the script kind of sat in limbo.
My agent passed on my third script, but was very excited with my fourth script, Prism. This is where everything fell apart. To make a long story short, my agent wanted to turn it into a completely different screenplay before trying to sell it. I'm on record as saying that he was absolutely correct.
Granted, my original story was more original, but he was advising me to make changes that would help it sell. That's his job. I dropped the ball when I didn't stay in touch. I tried to make the changes that he suggested, but I made them slowly, and I failed to act upon his suggestions enthusiastically. If I'm not excited about the script, why should he be?
That being said, I had a good reason for dropping the ball. My wife had just given birth to our first child, and we had been financially devastated by circumstances well out of our control that forced us to relocated to the mountains and live in a six hundred square foot cottage on my in-laws property. Nonetheless, it was my lack of effort that completely destroyed my relationship with my agent. It was the opportunity of a life time, but it came at the wrong place and time in my life. Now, it's four years later. I've written four more screenplays, one novel, and made quarter and/or semi finals in three different script competitions. He still won't return my calls or letters. I successfully burned my only bridge to selling a screenplay, and the chances that I ever get another one are statistically slim.
Aspiring writers (like me) would to well to heed this as a cautionary tale. If you're lucky enough to get an agent who's excited to represent your work, can't sell it, but is still excited to work with you on another project, by gosh, don't waste the agent's time. Make the effort to call the agent. Do exactly what the agent asks you, and do it as fast as you can. I've had to learn from my mistakes, maybe you can too.
Readers feel free to comment on similar tragedies so I don't feel like the only dunce in the world.
posted by Matthew W. Vickers at 6:37 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home