My Hollywood Agent: A love-hate relationship

I love my agent because he's always right.

I hate my agent because he's always right.

I finally talked with my agent about the spec. And here are the results:

While he still believes in the concept (and he should because it was mainly his idea) and thinks I can bring this baby home, he told me I need to throw about 2/3 of it out and start again.

You heard me 2/3.

Gulp. (And, yes, if you're wondering, that goes down about as easy as chugging lighter fluid spiked with hot sauce.)

But, I'm a pro. And I took it like a pro. I listened.

Because I had distance from the script. I'm really grateful my wise managers made me sit on it and that it took a couple weeks to connect with my agent about his response.

Emotionally disconnecting from your work before you get feedback is always key. Get away from it for as long as you can and it will hurt less. Kind of like a band-aid that's gotten really gooey from the shower before you rip it off.

I listened to what my big agent was saying, but just as importantly I listened to what my gut was saying. And my gut actually agreed with the big agent. (Traitor! I have a love-hate relationship with my gut, too.) What my gut was saying was, "He's right again, damn him, I'd rather see that movie, too."

So how do I feel about going back to the nearly blank chalkboard? Actually, I feel inspired.

My agent gets paid the big bucks because he's very good at his job. He also is one of the rare agents out there that give really brilliant feedback, not only zeroing in on the market, but actually breaking the story as good as any writer I know.

It kinda makes me want to bash him in the teeth.

But, I can't because... well, I love him.

I needed to write this version of the script in order to get to the best version of the script. Often times, us writers just troll around having no idea we are headed in the wrong direction until the odious evidence wafts up from our falsely landed foot. (Sometimes it's just fun to write really bad stuff like that.)

Luckily, I'm not alone. And I'm very grateful.

So, now that meeting is behind me and I delivered the pitch (news still pending on that one, but it's off my desk for the moment) - here's the plan:

1) Finish the assignment.

2) During Reading Period (this is when the studio and producers and director read and give you feedback) I will dive back into the Spec.

I love a challenge and I'm determined to make the spec the greatest work of my career (so far...)

Keep those emails and posts coming. They really brighten my day, well... they stop me from eating chips for a few minutes at least.

Happy Writing.