This journal documents the author's experiences as a television writer. To read the story from its inception, go to the beginning.

October 22, 2001

How tv writer got an agent
Below is the text of an email I sent to an aspiring sitcom writer explaining how I found an agent (the names of individuals mentioned have been removed to preserve their privacy). To read the journal entry that discusses the repercussions of this letter, click here.

Hi [Aspiring Sitcom Writer],

[Our mutual friend] wrote to me saying you were trying to get your sitcom spec scripts read by agencies and asked me to drop you a line relating how my writing partner and I got our tv literary agent (a feat we accomplished just two months ago). For what it's worth, here's what I did:

1. I read everything I could on getting a sitcom agent. By far, the best book on the business side of television sitcom writing is (in my humble opinion) Successful Sitcom Writing" " by Jurgen Wolff. We mostly followed the marketing plan in this book. (Also a bit helpful, but long-winded and devoting much verbiage to the writing side of sitcoms, was Evan S. Smith's Writing Television Sitcoms.)

2. Almost every book and article I read on getting a tv literary agent (and I read dozens) insisted the best way to get representation was to have an established tv writer recommend you to his or her agent. Barring that, have anyone with any connection to the business try to get you a personal recommendation. Although we did this (huge props to [our mutual friend]!), our contacts were few and nothing panned out with this course of action.

3. Over a period of eight months [my collaborator] and I sent out three mass mailings of 50-60 requests for representation to specific agents at their respective agencies. Our mailings consisted of a query letter and a three-page writing sample from one of our specs (see the Jurgen Wolff book for more on this). I accumulated the names and addresses of agents from Ross Reports, Henderson mailing labels (available at Drama Book Shop), and a reference entitled Hollywood Creative Directory: Agents and Managers. [My writing partner] and I also called all the Los Angeles agencies on our list to confirm individual agent contact names. In hindsight, I believe just using "Hollywood Creative Directory: Agents and Managers" should give you an address and possible name for pretty much every agency that does TV literary. The most recent "HCD: Agents and Managers" book (it's published twice a year) can be purchased from http://www.hcdonline.com or, if you don't want to part with the money, can be used at (but not removed from) The New York Public Library of Science, Industry and Business. (This is what I did, devoting the better part of a day to compiling research from the HCD.)

� 2001 - 2002 tv writer. All rights reserved.