How to get an Agent

If you want to sell your content or program idea to a traditional media outlet -- television network, movie studio. record company, etc. -- it helps to have an agent. Agents, especially those associated with large agencies like CAA, IMG, or William Morris Endeavor, among others, have access that ordinary people lack. They can help target your content to the right buyer, and get it in the hands of a decision maker. If your content is represented by the right agent media companies will review it. They may pass -- they pass on a lot of good material -- but at least they'll look at it. The best way to get an agent is to get an audience. In his book, "On Writing," Stephen King says he didn't have an agent until his third book, although he also says he didn't make as much as he could have from his first three books. Still, I'm sure that when he went looking for an agent he had his pick of the best. Your first book may not be as successful as "Carrie," or your first movie as successful as "Blair Witch Project," but you should try to expose it to as many people as possible. Agents, like everyone in show business, need to make money. If you can help them make money they will fight to represent you. But what if you haven't written a best seller or a blockbuster film? You can still get an agent, but it will require research. You need to research which agents are looking for someone with your talents. Once you find them, you need to call yourself and your work to their attention. You can do that through letters, e-mails, invitations to your performances, samples of your work, etc. It will be a long, slow process, but if you persist and you have the qualities the agent is seeking, you will find one. While you're looking for an agent, remember to keep creating content.