How do I get agents at my productions?
If your play is produced, an agent may be in the audience without you knowing it. Agents or their scouts do attend performances or readings on the Fringe, the Edinburgh Festival, and receptions for competition winners as a means of finding writers.
However, the sheer amount of work being done means that they often select performances to go along to on the basis of personal tip-offs, reading reviews, etc. This is particularly true if it means traveling outside London. Many also prefer to read a script rather than see a performance, believing bad acting and direction can destroy any sense of a play's worth.
If you feel that agents might miss your production, ensure that the company you are working with includes agents on their press list and sends them a press pack. This may be a good time to send the script and any others you might want the agent to read.
In the end it is best to work out who the best agent is for you from tip-offs from other practitioners and (perhaps most importantly) from what each agent says about your work. You should only allow an agent who has total commitment to your writing to represent you. Within this agents rarely have strictures on form or style.
"We're not looking for great playwrights, but good ones. A fresh, original marketable television sitcom is as much of interest as anything."
Most agents will be interested in representing a writer when they have shown some kind of definite commitment to their work or career and some kind of track record. With this and the added incentive of a deal ready to be done, you will be even more interesting; get a definite commitment to a production at a prestigious venue and a feeding frenzy will probably occur, allowing you to make a choice of the agents. |
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