Literary agents

Please forgive me, for I have sinned; it has been two months since my last blog post. Although seeing as though my blog is supposed to be a diary of my activities and work then this is a fairly accurate representation of the work I have done. Nothing – zilch, nada, zip. They say December is a quiet month in TV, but that gives me little excuse for November. Like many blogs I’ve been reading lately I’m still feeling a little disheartened. I know you have to think positive, and the more I practise the luckier I’ll get, but it’s been almost a year and jobs are still thin on the ground. Even those with years of experience on me are struggling. I hate being a cop out and blaming the situation, I know it’s easy to moan and grumble about recessions and closed doors but I can’t help feeling that an already tough to break industry has gotten even tougher.

But I can’t let that grind me down, and I have a plan B waiting in the wings so fingers crossed. I also had a really useful meeting with a development director who suggested working at a literary agency. It’s certainly something I would consider and is a role that hadn’t crossed my mind before. However it does make sense: for me the writing aspect of scripts is more important than the final product. I love talking about writing and about ideas, I enjoy reading new scripts, building relationships with new writers and attending the theatre trawling for new talent.

Some agencies suggested to me were:
The Agency
Cassarotto
Sayle Screen
Troika Talent
United Agents
Curtis Brown

Now, of course I knew that literary agents existed but what their job actually involves was a mystery to me. Hopefully thinking down this sort of avenue would keep me involved in the aspects of scripts that I’m really interested in.

I’m reluctant to try to get into tv through the back door at the moment, as I’ve seen just how long and how tough it would be in the current climate to get to my ideal role. I don’t want to apply to literary agencies as a route into somewhere else, as this could be circuitous. Instead I need to speak to people and decide if this is definitely something I’d like to do as a career, combining my interests with my current skill-set. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board…