Part 33: Meeting with Hollywood Manager #1, My List of Questions, and How to Spot Red Flags and Not Get Scammed

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This is me researching a manager and management company before a meeting.

When THE ONLY WAY OUT won 1st Place in the TrackingB Screenplay competition, I had the opportunity to meet with several managers. Before each meeting, I took a moment to remind myself that any manager I hire works for me, not the other way around.

Sure, the manager has to accept my pitch and want to rep me based on my work, but ultimately, it's my job to hire the right manager, someone who is passionate about my work and who, through their connections and knowledge, can help me achieve my career goals. I think of a manager as a business partner and in order for either of us to be successful, both partners have to be equally invested in success.

During my first meeting, I was given an offer for representation. It was so exciting. This manager was incredibly nice and seemed like they'd be a good fit and I was really hoping it would work out, but in my gut, something wasn't adding up.

The first thing that gave me pause before our meeting was that, based on my research, the manager's company's website was strongly focused on adapting video games into feature-length films. This wasn't a genre with which I had any familiarity and, to be honest, it's not even on my radar as an area of interest.

I don't play video games, I don't know squat about them, and I had no idea what it was about THE ONLY WAY OUT that would have made someone think, "Hey, I'll bet Amy'd love to do video game adaptations."

But then again, maybe that's not what this manager was thinking at all. You never know in this business. However,

the second thing that gave me pause before our meeting was that I couldn't find a single recent script sale or pitch sale.

I did happen to find a screenwriter, a contest finalist, who was represented by this person about a decade ago. But when I looked up the writer, they didn't have any IMDB credits to their name which means they didn't score a sale while working with this particular manager or anyone else. This was a possible red flag.

However, failure to sell a script is not always the manager's fault. Writers are odd creatures and sometimes we fail to deliver, and then there's the industry itself, which is so, incredibly finicky.

Had I wanted to know more about this person as a manager, I could have asked them to connect me with some of the screenwriters this person represents, so I could chat with them about their experiences, but I didn't because...

BIG RED FLAG #1

When I asked how many writers this person represented, they said, "not many" and when I asked how many, "not many" was, they said they weren't sure. Hum... My first thought was if you run a boutique management company that represents a small number of writers, why is it you don't have any idea how many writers you represent? Yikes!

BIG RED FLAGS #2, #3, and #4

And it gets better. When I asked what their most recent script sale was, they couldn't tell me. Hum... And then when I asked the average amount of one of his script sales, he said, "Oh, I don't know." I pressed them again in an email and they said it was probably to X or Y company and was probably somewhere in the mid six-figure range.

I'm sorry, but as a writer and penny pincher, I can't for the life of me imagine not remembering the last thing I'd sold and to whom and especially if that thing was sold for somewhere in the mid six-figure range. I also can't imagine talking about anything so concrete, like money and script sales in the conditional!

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And then I asked what's your success rate. And the manager said that for every 10 scripts they take out, probably about one "gets some action," so about a 10% success rate. But success, in this case, wasn't defined.

By success rate, did that mean a script was read by execs or did that mean he was selling 1 in 10 scripts? Based on the lack of data showing this manager's recent script sales, I had to assume that getting action meant 1 in 10 of the scripts he took out were read by industry people.

At the end of our conversation, I let the manager know that I had a few more meetings and would get back with them soon. They encouraged me to take the additional meetings, which was nice. I took the time to reflect. I really, really wanted this to work out.

QUESTIONS TO ASK A POTENTIAL MANAGER:

1. What's your most recent script sale or what are your most recent script sales?

2. How much did you sell that/those script(s) for?

3. What percentage do you take? (10% is standard.)

4. Do you charge any fees? (FEES ARE A HUGE RED FLAG as are mandatory classes, workshops, etc.)

5. Are you WGA signatory or do you follow signatory rules?

6. Who do you represent?

7. How many clients (writers) do you represent?

8. How much time per week do you spend on average, developing ideas with your writers? And/or how much input/guidance do you provide when I'm working on new projects?

9. How much time per week do you spend marketing your clients' scripts?

10. Can I speak with some of your clients?

11. What's your biggest success story?

12. As a manager, what's your biggest failure story and what did you learn from it?

13. What percentage of the projects that you represent get sold?

14. Who have you worked with? Producer Names/Production Companies/Agencies/Management Companies?

15. Where are you located?

16. What's the average script option fee/option percentage you negotiate for your clients?

17. What kind of scripts do you see me writing?

18. What's your favorite movie/TV show and why?

19. What can I expect from you while developing a script and marketing a script?

20. What are your expectations of me?

    
    

GUT FEELING OR SOMETHING ELSE?

I really wanted to find a new manager and have that magical spark that happened between my existing manager, Stephanie Rogers, and I. I found myself coming up with excuses and trying to justify the red flags.

Fortunately, I have a wonderful producer friend I can bounce ideas off of. I spoke with her, reached out to some of my professional screenwriting groups and asked if anyone had worked with this manager.

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My producer friend, who did a quick internet search for this manager, confirmed my gut feelings and validated my concerns. Meanwhile, nobody in my professional screenwriting community had heard of this manager.

And so, as painful as it was, I chose to message the manager and let them know, politely, that while I appreciated his time and am so glad we met, I didn't feel we had the same vision for my career moving forward. He was very kind, and we both wished each other well and moved on.

Every now and then, my OCD kicks in and raises doubt and forces me to ask myself whether I just threw away the opportunity of a lifetime, whether I just shot myself in the foot (as I'm known to do). It takes a little work and about 7 miles of walking on the treadmill to calm it down and allow reason to take over.

If I've learned anything in this business (and in life), it's that when something doesn't feel right, it's not right and the sooner you figure it out and move forward, the better.

So, moving forward... Fortunately, I had another meeting with a different management company, one that had a lot of access to some really great IP (Intellectual Property), stuff that's right up my alley. The business of adapting novels to scripts is huge and because the books this company has available for adaptation were books that I'd love to adapt, I was very excited about meeting the two managers running the company, then...

To be continued...

While you wait, be sure to check out my newest MAMA FIX IT episodes and YouTube shorts at www.YouTube.com/@GiaquintoProductionsLLC.

Thank you!

Amy Giaquinto, MAMA FIX IT, Hula Hoops in a Neck Brace 11-weeks Post-Op from ACDF Spine Surgery.