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Type of Agent you Want
I’ve had experience with two agents so far in my career. They were both in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and their specialty was theoretically ‘literary screen and tv’ work, but, in fact, these agents also act for cinematographers and other top-end crew.
The problem was that their ‘reach’ was very small. Neither of them could classify as having any influence in Los Angeles, which is necessary to sell a big series or a film. I believe they didn’t even reach Toronto in terms of influence. (And, yes, Netflix does a lot of shows here, but the initial show buy is not done here. The service producer and crew are hired here usually. Writers might be CDN but really usually are hired out of Los Angeles.)
Agents 1 and 2
Agent 1 switched to teaching ESL as he didn’t make enough as an agent here.
Agent 2 is making a living here, but I have to say that in the years I had him, he found me no sales that I wanted. If I sold a script, then he’d be happy to have the fee. Agent 2 brought me down-market opportunities as the industry got smaller in 2008-9, so we parted ways. I said ‘no’ three times to him, not being interested in working on reality-style docudramas like: ‘sisters who kill sisters’, or doing a poorly-paid ‘story consultant’ job on the world’s most boring reality tv. (I won’t say which shows… I might want to work again here in TV.) I had a career in one-hour dramas which I wanted to continue, but those were hard to get.
So-o-o-o, my tip is to make certain you are getting the right sort of agent. At the time, it was great to be able to have an agent for my cards, website, and mostly for producers to deal with in episodic TV. Now, once I am ready with my novel, I’ve picked out a NYC SFF specialist agent that I want to target. But my tv work? If I need an agent again, I think I’ll look in LA this time. -
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