| Q. What is literary management? |
A. A literary manager is an industry representative
who works with writers (as talent managers work with directors,
actors, and actresses) to develop their careers, both creatively
(through consulting on story development, time-management, and
prioritizing) and financially (through marketing the client's
products). Managers perform many of the same services as do
agents, but aren't' allowed to secure employment for their clients.
Managers are, however allowed to produce films (Eric Gold and
Jimmy Miller, for example, produce films starring their client
Jim Carrey), whereas agents until recently were not. Managers
often work in tandem with agents, and, in general, provide writers
with an array of consulting, advising, and marketing services
that few agents have time for.
|
| Q. What's the difference between
a literary manager and a literary agent? |
A. Agents focus on selling. Managers, although
we also sell, focus on developing our clients’ projects and
careers; and producing their films.
|
| Q. What are the benefits of
literary management? |
A. I'd say the biggest benefits are
(a) that we think "outside the box";
(b) that we're bi-coastal, and love to introduce clients to
the gold mines of the east and the platinum mines of the west
coast;
(c) that we're there from prioritizing what concept should be
developed next to overseeing the production and marketing of
the resulting books and films; and
(d) that we're able to help clients choose agents, if they wish;
but in most cases profit by having several agencies working
to help them rather than being "forgotten" by the one they've
signed with.
|
| Q. Who are you guys and why
should I submit my project to you? |
A. We've created www.AEIonline.com
to tell you who we are, and to offer you resources to develop
your storytelling career..
|
| Q. What's a query letter? |
A. It's a one page introducing yourself and
your project to the company.
|
| Q. Can't I just send my manuscript/script
in? |
A. No, we need some information about the project
to see if it's something we interested in seeing right now so
you need to start with a query letter.
|
| Q. Who do I submit to at your
company? |
A. Jennifer Pope
|
| Q. How long will it take to
look at my project? |
A. If it's a query letter 2-3 weeks. Manuscripts
and scripts 3-6 weeks.
|
| Q. What are you guys looking
for? |
A. Go to what's hot, what's
not on this website. It will tell you what we're looking
for.
|
| Q. Do I have to pay for representation? |
A. Yes, we charge a commission upon every sale
of your story we make.
|
| Q. Do I have to pay upfront
for representation? |
A. Absolutely not.
|
| Q. Do AEI clients require
an outside marketing force when they are trying to promote their
book? |
A. AEI is heavily involved in marketing, and
ALWAYS recommend that clients use the services of a publicist-which
we can provide, or refer them to. In today's highly-competitive
book marketplace (50,000 new titles in the U.S. alone every
year), the new author needs to do everything imaginable and
unimaginable (the latter is where we come in) to get his first
book onto a few bestseller lists-and that's easier than you
might think if you have the right approach.
|
| Q. Do you give notes to new
clients without charge? |
| A. When AEI accepts a writer’s project for representation,
we offer one or two rounds of notes to “perfect” the project
for the marketplace. There is no charge to the writer for these
notes; it’s part of our “management services.” |
| Q. Tell us about some of AEI's
recent successes. |
A. In the past six months, we've seen the release
of two major studio features, Tim Allen and Jim Belushi's "Joe
Somebody" and Angelina Jolie and Ed Burns' "Life or Something
Like It" (both by former client, now partner, John Scott Shepherd).
Brendan Frasier is now attached to another of John's scripts,
"Prince of Pools."
Shirley Palmer's new book Danger Zone (Shirley began, like many
of AEI's clients, as a Writer's Lifeline client) has gotten
rave reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.
AEI just closed a deal three years in the making and nine months
in the negotiating with Paramount Pictures to make a series
of "franchise films" about the adventures of Robert L. Ripley,
of Believe-It-Or-Not! Fame. AEI is partnered with Alphaville
("The Mummy," "Michael," "Dazed and Confused," etc.), and will
produce the Indiana-Jones style movies with them.
Within a single month we've signed several Nicholls Fellowship
semi-finalist screenwriters, had three book writers have their
books picked up by book clubs, and presently have offers coming
in on four different book titles simultaneously.
We're also making progress on concluding a $100-million film
fund that will allow us to participate in financing our clients'
films.
|
| Q. How do your clients come
to AEI? |
A. About 25% are visitors
to our websites, www.aeionline.com
and www.thewriterslifeline.com,
25% referrals from our books (A Writer's Time and Writing Treatments
That Sell), 25% referrals from agencies, production companies,
publishers, attorneys, and studios, and the rest a combination
of former students, referrals from present or past clients,
directories, and just plain ole "word of mouth."
|
| Q. The AEI website has a link
to The
Writer's Lifeline, Inc., which is an editorial development
company aimed at making writers "ready for prime time" (prime
time = commercial representation). Ken Atchity is chairman of
both companies. Does an AEI client have to work with The Writer's
Lifeline? |
A. Absolutely not. AEI accepts clients who are
ready, or nearly ready, for representation and offers them "final"
editorial notes, at no charge, as part of its managerial services
in perfecting their projects for submission to the book and
film market.
Writers whose work is judged not ready for representation by
AEI are sometimes referred to The Writer’s Lifeline if the AEI
staff regards their work as potentially marketable.
When a would-be client offers us a project that is a great idea,
but is not executed professionally, we're happy to be able to
offer them an alternative to the simple rejection that they
receive from agencies and other management companies by suggesting
that they find editorial help either on their own or through
our affiliated company. No one is required to seek such help.
The Writer’s Lifeline was founded, based on Ken’s previous career
as a professor of creative writing at Occidental College and
Distinguished Instructor at UCLA Writers Program, to provide
writers who are not yet ready for prime time with mentoring,
guidance, and editorial development to make them ready for representation.
Writer’s Lifeline is a service company, occupying a unique niche
in the publishing and entertainment industries because it prepares
aspiring writers with marketability as the primary focus for
its editorial work. Writers who come to AEI ready for representation
have no relationship with The Writer’s Lifeline.
Ken Atchity founded The Writer's Lifeline because he found a
vacuum in the market for a sales-focused organization that helped
writers achieve professional readiness for commercial sales
(most editorial companies disclaim all responsibility for sales).
|
| Q. What is AEI's ideal client?
|
A. Our ideal client is someone who's been "out
in the market" long enough to know how rare honest and dedicated
management is, and who therefore respects our time and appreciates
our assistance in making their dreams come true. At the same
time, the ideal client doesn't hand over the dream to us and
say "make it happen for me, big boy!" He knows he alone is ultimately
responsible, and works with us to make it happen by being patient,
understanding, flexible, as well as driven, ambitious, and as
hard-working as we are. I put in 16 hour days nearly 7 days
a week, and I LOVE clients who do the same because I KNOW I
will turn them into millionaires sooner or later if they persist
and remain clear of my and everyone else's "Life is too short!"
list.
Our ideal client is a storyteller with the ability to tell his
or her stories in more than one literary form—novel, screenplay,
stage play, comic book, and nonfiction book—and who’s eager
to make these crossovers.
|
| Q. What is AEI's ideal project? |
A. (a) An ideal "fiction" project, like Martin
Schenk's new novel "The Tenth Muse," or John Robert Marlow's
Prometheus, or John Montague's A Guy Named Michael Egan, or
Stuart Connelly's This Island Made of Bone, is one where we
face this dilemma: Shall we expose it to Hollywood first or
New York? A project that has equal weight on both coasts, that
will make the studios salivate and cause a bidding war among
Manhattan publishers. That's why we say we're "story people,"
not "novel" or "screenplay" people-our goal is to make your
story work on both coasts, and to help you perfect both formats,
screen and book.
(b) In nonfiction, it's a project where the author has a "national
platform," or one easily build-able, and has something to tell
us that makes our lives better. Recent examples are AEI clients
Dr. Gary Buffone's Choking on the Silver Spoon (forthcoming
from Regan Books), Mary Taylor's Bedroom Games (forthcoming
from Three Rivers/Crown), John Robert Marlow's Prometheus (Tor/St.
Martin's), Steve Alten's Domain and Goliath (Tom Doherty Associates),
and Shirley Palmer's Danger Zone (forthcoming from Mira).
|
| Q. Do you have any suggestions
for our readers about how to create the most harmonious relationship
with their agent or manager? |
A. See my answer to question
7.
I guess the basic answer to this question is, "I'd suggest thoughtfulness."
And retaining responsibility, not just handing it off to us.
Remember, that you're the captain of your team even if you're
asking us to quarterback-we hope you'll continue giving us constructive
ideas, thoughts that occur to you, contacts you wonder if we've
thought of, etc. Those kinds of input we love. What we hate
is random calling or verbose emails (I print out any email over
4-5 lines to put into my "read later" pile, because I receive
so many every idea I'd otherwise be spending the entire day
staring at a computer screen instead of making sales), that
are basically saying, "What's going on?" If something tangible
is going on, I assure you, you'll be the first to know. You
can assume that no news is no news, as I say in The Mercury
Transition.
Our ideal client is someone who gives us the project, is delighted
when we decide to represent, is reasonable during contract negotiation
and doesn't nearly ruin the relationship by hiring an uninformed
attorney to ask for an entire rewrite of our standard agreement
as though it had been aimed at his client only (it's always
sad to see a client spend more on his attorney at this stage
than he would have been willing to spend on editorial work!),
someone who then responds to our "next sets of notes" as though
it were the first-always willing to do what's needed to perfect
that asset, and most of all, someone who, while we're working
the market for him focuses all his energies (except a few daily
prayers for our success) on his next asset.
"Start working more," Ray Bradbury advises writers. "It'll get
rid of all those moods you're having." But when you run across
an article in the paper that says Barry Levinson is looking
for a movie about prostitution, don't hesitate to FAX it to
us! When you run across a true story in your neighborhood, don't
hesitate to pitch it to me by email-I may call you up and tell
you to stop your other work immediately and jump on it with
both feet; then we'll tell you exactly how to go about it.
|
| Q. Is AEI currently taking
on new clients? |
A. Absolutely! New clients is where we've had
our greatest success-booking over $27 million in sales for them
in our first six years of business. But it's also true we're
now taking on a number of clients who are mid-career and looking
for a jump to the next plateau either in Hollywood or publishing
or, ideally, both.
|
| Q. How should our readers
approach AEI should they choose the literary management route?
|
A. It's all spelled out on www.aeionline.com,
but basically we like to begin with a simple letter or query
telling us what you're working on and what your track record
is-and what you're looking for in representation. We can be
reached at jp@aeionline.com.
|
| Q. What steps should a storyteller
take to be considered for representation by AEI? |
| A. See the guidelines throughout this website
and the Internet, and read our books—A Writer’s Time: Making
the Time to Write and Writing Treatments That Sell—and make
sure your manuscript is in professional format. Have at least
one professional read it before sending it to us, to assure
you that what you’re sending is indeed professionally “ready.”
|
| Q. Is a contract involved in representation? |
| A. Absolutely. AEI requires a management contract
before it submits your work to publishers and/or entertainment
financiers. We have two kinds of contracts—“project” agreements,
covering only a single project; and “career agreements,” for
writers with multiple projects. |
| Q. Is the relationship with AEI exclusive or
nonexclusive? |
| A. Except under extraordinary situations, it’s
exclusive. |