How To Know It’s Time To Leave Your Rep(s)
Having had two different managers and a pair of agents in my relatively young career, far be it from me to ever downplay the significance of achieving the rep milestone. Anyone with proximity to the business knows that attracting enough attention to build a team-- a group of people who work to promote you, so you’re not fighting your career battles alone-- is a sizable feat. This means the idea of ever having to part ways with members of your rep team is daunting and never taken lightly.
But there does come a time in almost every screenwriter’s career when they may have to consider making that difficult choice. During the recent WGA strike, The Ankler reported that major agencies allegedly attempted to incite a “coup” within the guild’s leadership. And in 2019, thousands of WGA members collectively fired their agents to seek accountability for unethical practices. Without access to collective bargaining action, many non-union writers wouldn’t dream of making the same choice-- even if they were victims of unethical practices, themselves. However, there are signs that leaving your current rep might be the best thing for you. And these indicators shouldn’t be taken lightly, either.
1) You Don’t Feel Protected/Supported
As in the case of the #FireYourAgents action a few years ago, screenwriters must remember that our representatives work for us. This is especially hard for newer writers to grasp because they are paying for guidance and advice. That might complicate the idea of who gets the final answer. The truth is, that reps take a commission to perform a service. And that service does come with some reasonable expectations and duties. One of these duties is specifically fiduciary. What does that mean?
Most simply put, fiduciary duty is a representative’s obligation to act in their client’s best interest. This includes but is not limited to, a duty to protect the client’s finances.
This fiduciary duty does not begin when the client is considered a “name” or a “blue chip”, meaning they are a top earner on the rep’s roster. This duty begins at signing. From a business standpoint, some might argue it makes sense that a representative would only expend resources in a way that matches a client’s earning track record. However, that doesn’t do much for you if you’re not yet among those top clients. In fact, you may feel this prohibits you from reaching that echelon.
If you find that you are left on your own to fight career battles that boil down to a power imbalance, and the official advice from your representatives is that you’ve simply got to stick it out until you’ve got more power, it’s likely that you are being failed. Lawyer Phillip Maltin asserts that there may even be instances where agents are liable for abuse suffered by clients if they’ve ignored red flags for their own financial gain. Maltin is not the first to allude to accusations of reps taking a sacrificial lamb approach to their clients, as profiled by Vanity Fair. So, it is not unreasonable to question whether you’re being treated like a pawn and swiftly exit if you find that you are.
2) You Don’t Feel Respected
Hollywood is not a place where feelings are often prioritized. However, there’s a special irony we don’t talk about in paying someone a percentage of your income to talk to you like you are a child. Taking exception to this shouldn’t be taboo. I have heard complaints from writers all up and down the tax bracket spectrum about being disrespected by agents or managers. This is especially harmful because your representatives set the tone for how the industry perceives you. If they seem to take you most seriously when they’re talking about you while courting a deal, instead of when they’re talking to you and contributing to the self-image of your place in the business-- pay attention. If the respect is reserved for the show, that’s an energy that will impact how they pitch you.
Do they ever lie to you? Do they push you into situations that they know don’t resonate with who you are? Insisting that you consider overriding your personal ethics? If your pronouns have changed, are they still introducing you to the old ones? These are issues that some professionals would argue fledging writers can’t afford to be “picky” about. I say that these are the things that can add up to folks feeling miserable even in the face of success.
3) You Don’t Feel Understood
Even the most wonderful agent or manager may not be your “forever home” for representation. Sometimes we grow out of being the writer that we were when our reps met us, and that’s nobody’s fault. You’ve been together for some time, you’ve done the last lap of the water bottle tour, and you find that things just aren’t lining up. You’ve taken the notes as best as you could. You’ve tried to write for the markets they’re specifically plugged into. Still, there’s not the sense of synergy you were hoping for. And that’s simply because you’re not the perfect fit.
Reps are drawn to writers for all sorts of reasons, including feeling like the writer may bring something to the table that their roster doesn’t yet have. But sometimes that means they don’t yet have the connections or experiential context that gel with you as a creative. That could mean style-wise, identity-wise, or otherwise. The industry places the onus on the screenwriter to be the chameleonic contortionist. It is considered our job to do everything in our power to fit the needs of those who pay us, those who might only pay us in “exposure”, and in the context of reps-- those we pay. However, that doesn’t feel like a sustainable way to build a personal brand. Nor does it feel conducive to being an artist. Sometimes, we’re forced to choose between a stable track and a fulfilling track. And finding reps who are capable of melding those is like looking for the Holy Grail.
If I were to craft a Screenwriter’s Bill of Rights, Protection and Respect would be the top priorities. This is why writers at all levels have considered the old cut-and-run when they find themselves facing issues with their agents or managers. The question of Understanding is a little more abstract and something every writer is arguably seeking, anyway. I say this to reiterate that a glass-slipper approach to finding reps is an idea that might get anyone outside of the Forbes lists laughed out of town. But if you feel disparagingly undervalued or imperiled by members of your team, don’t let anyone tell you that parting ways-- with or without a backup-- is unwise.