With one click
Export a perfectly formatted traditional script.
As a New York Times best-selling author and five-time Bram Stoker Award winner, author Jonathan Maberry is an encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to the storytelling business, including how to get representation as a writer. He’s written comic books, magazine articles, plays, anthologies, novels, and more. And while he wouldn’t call himself a screenwriter, this author does have onscreen projects to his name. “V-Wars,” based on Jonathan’s best-selling franchise by the same name, was produced by Netflix. And Alcon Entertainment just bought the TV and film rights to “Rot & Ruin,” Jonathan’s young adult zombie fiction series.
We had the privilege of interviewing Jonathan at the SoCreate-sponsored Central Coast Writer’s Conference. He offered up tips specific to authors, but applicable to screenwriters as well, on how to get an agent as a writer. Watch his response below and consider using the same technique in your search for screenwriting representation.
“Finding an agent is a little tricky, and there’s a lot of ways to do it wrong, and there are a couple of ways to do it right.
The simplest way, would be to subscribe, let’s say, to publishersmarketplace.com. It’s pretty much the only site for writers I agree with. But it tracks almost all of the deals in publishing, and each deal listing lists the agent who represented it and the editor who bought it. And their names are clickable links. So you can do a keyword search: say you wanted to write an action western, you can search action westerns and you can find out who’s representing those types right now, who’s buying them right now, and you can go click through to their sites and see what kind of books they’re looking for, what their submission guidelines are, and so forth and so on. That’s probably the most effective way of finding an agent, is to create a targeted list, as opposed to this scattershot approach. It allows you to be precise and not waste your own time, so it helps your career advance a lot more quickly.”
And we all want our careers to advance more quickly, right?
For screenwriters, we’d recommend using Jonathan’s approach to getting a literary agent with a slight tweak: find the people who are making the movies that are most like your story ideas. Find writers who are like you – in style, genre, experience - and see who’s representing them. IMDb Pro is a great resource for tracking down this information.
Of course, to find a screenwriting agent, you’re going to need lots of scripts. SoCreate Screenwriting Software to the rescue! Make sure you’re signed up here for our private beta list to be one of the first to try SoCreate when we launch soon.
Best of luck with your search,
You may also be interested in...
Screenwriter Adam G. Simon Wowed by SoCreate Screenwriting Platform
“Give me the f***ing software! Give me access to it as soon as possible.” – Screenwriter Adam G. Simon, reacting to SoCreate Platform demonstration. It’s rare that we allow anyone to see how the SoCreate Screenwriting Platform works. We fiercely protect it for a few reasons: We don’t want anyone to attempt to copy it, and then deliver a sub-par product to screenwriters; The software needs to be perfect before we release it – we want to prevent future frustrations for screenwriters, not cause them; Lastly, we’re certain that the platform is worth the wait. We’re revolutionizing screenwriting over...
Want to Sell Your Screenplay? Screenwriter Doug Richardson Tells You How
Take it from someone who’s had incredible success in Hollywood: your screenplay had better be great if you’re trying to sell it! Screenwriter Doug Richardson (Die Hard 2, Mooseport, Bad Boys, Hostage) expanded upon that advice during a sit-down with SoCreate at the Central Coast Writer’s Conference. Watch the video or read the transcript below to hear his take on the question he’s asked most often – now that my screenplay is done, how do I sell it? “How do you sell your screenplay? That’s one of the most common questions I’m asked. If you’re selling a screenplay, I think that...
How Do You Sell Your Screenplay? Screenwriter Jeanne V. Bowerman Weighs In
Jeanne V. Bowerman, self-proclaimed “writer of things & scriptwriting therapist,” joined SoCreate at the Central Coast Writers Conference to talk it out. We are so appreciative of writers like Jeanne who help other writers! And she knows a thing to two about putting pen to paper: she’s the editor and online community manager of ScriptMag.com, and she also co-founded and moderates the weekly Twitter screenwriters chat, #ScriptChat. Jeanne gives consultations and lectures at conferences, pitchfests, and universities. And to prove she’s really here to help, she offers tons of great info online as well...