Development for Beginners - Attaining Representation Information
by Julie Winters
One of the most important (and annoying) things
you have to do as a development assistant, is be able to locate the agent
of anyone your boss asks. This is not always as easy as it seems: people
change agents frequently, are repped by some little law firm in Kentucky that
no one has ever heard of, or (my favorite) are managed by his or her mom.
If you don't already know, you young folk are more
fortunate than the development assistants of the past (those who assisted in
the pre-FilmTracker era). FilmTracker has a great, newly launched online resource
called InfoSource, that can locate the agent of virtually every writer,
director or actor on the planet. If InfoSource doesn’t have the information
you need listed, FilmTracker’s research team can provide the answer for you
using ResearchRequest. Both of these features can be utilized by your company
on an unlimited basis for a monthly charge (see What is InfoSource for details).
So knock yourselves
out. May you never need to search frantically again.
If, for some reason, you are a) at a cheap-ass company that won’t
pay for InfoSource, b) aren’t friends with someone at a company that’s not so
cheap and DOES have access to it, c) there’s been some kind of internet Armageddon
that causes EVERYONE to fall off line, or d) you are just a glutton for punishment,
you have to get creative.
If you have friends who have InfoSource, you can
ask them for help. The next place to look is the guilds, hoping that the artist
you need representation info for is union. The Screen Actors' Guild (SAG),
The Writers' Guild of America (WGA) and The Directors' Guild of America (DGA)
all have representation info lines in Los Angeles:
SAG (323) 549-6737
DGA (323) 851-3671
WGA (323)782-4502
If these info lines have outdated information (which
they often do) or no info at all, there are two options left: 1) if you have
friends at the artist's former agency, you might be able to convince
them to tell you where they went. This can be difficult, however, as agents
are very territorial and do not like you to know how to find their ex-clients
whereabouts. They will often treat you like you are betraying them just be
asking where this client is now repped. So be careful. Alternatively, (the
last resort for which you may still need someone with access to InfoSource
or Studio System), 2) locate the producer or production company associated with
the artist's most recent project and try to get contact information out of them.
Additionally, if you can get the name of the artist’s most recent project, you
may be able to get the production company name and contact number from the Academy
Reference Hotline (310) 247-3020. They often have contact information for
even the most obscure companies. But honestly, save yourself some time and
just let the nice people in the research department at FilmTracker do your job
for you.
And if all that didn't help, well…Maybe you
just don't deserve that $489.00 a week. You just think about that.
Articles in the Development for Beginners Series:
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