According to Hudson, writers should not depend on the script that got the agent s attention in the first place to be the one that sells. Often producers consider a first script merely a writing sample. You might write a terrific screenplay that never gets sold, but that provides us with a tool in order to acquaint the world with you, adds agent Jack Tantleff of New York based The Tantleff Office. If you don t have another terrific screenplay, on the heels of that, that tool has proven to be useless. Getting an agent is a difficult almost insurmountable goal for most new writers and when one finally gets one, few are prepared for the next step, working with an agent.
All agents have different styles of selling and promoting scripts, which can confuse new writers.
At the outset it is important for an agent and a writer to have a real long conversation once they ve decided they like each other, about the way the agent works and the way the writer works and whether they fit together. Writers have needs and often rely on agents to meet them, however, a writer who needs his agent to help him write his scripts, will be greatly disappointed in an agent who chooses not to take an active role in developing a script. Conversely, the writer who does not appreciate receiving revision notes from his agent will be equally disappointed. It is imperative that writers decide what they want from an agent at the start. Some agents are practically like producers, some agents are like editors, some agents are strictly salesman, some agents are strictly negotiators.