Adventures in the Screen Trade

by William Goldman

agent. (1) You better have something written that’s as good as you can do. A screenplay, in proper form and—don’t laugh—legible. If you have more than one screenplay, better yet. Not that you’re going to show the agent two, not at the beginning. But if he reads one and is at least intrigued, he’s liable to ask for another sample of your work. (2) Find out who and where the agents are. How? Easy. Contact the Writers Guild of America, either the East Coast branch in New York or the West Coast branch in Los Angeles, and acquire their list of accredited agents. I am looking at such a list now. It is dated July 1981 and it is nine pages long and lists, I would guess, the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least two hundred agents. (3) Study the list. Really go over it and over it. Bewildering, but keep at it. On the first page, for example, there are only five entries. “Agency for Artists”—forget about them for now; and the same, again for now, with AAG—Artists Agent Group. But “Adams, Limited, Bret”—that may be of value. Bret Adams is a name. And that’s what we’re tracking down now—names. Because any point of contact, no matter how distant, is infinitely preferable to no contact at all.