Ways To Know If You're Ready for Representation as a Screenwriter

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Are you a screenwriter looking to get representation from an agent, but don’t know if you’re ready or not? Well, keep reading!

I’ve been asked the question “I’ve written a screenplay. How do I get representation?”

Practice Makes Perfect

First things first. Get into the habit of rewriting your scripts. According to a blog post by Screencraft “Your first screenplay will be your worst. You haven’t honed your craft. You haven’t learned from your mistakes and applied those lessons to do better drafts and better scripts.”

This may be an annoying question to ask, but how many times have you re-written your current script? Once? Twice? Or, have you rewritten it over ten times? I’m not saying to change your story or your plot twist. But writing your screenplay only one time is not enough. Your screenplay should be rewritten numerous times, edited and PROOFREAD by a second set of eyes. Screencraft shares in their blog post titled 7 Ways to Master The Art of the Rewrite “Rewrites are a fact of life for the screenwriter’s life.” Screencraft also shares some tips on it takes to accomplish a great rewrite.

Preparation

Don’t Write Blindly

Rewrite As You Go

Take a Vacation From Your First Draft

Become Your Strongest Critique

Pepper Your Script

Kill Your Darlings

“3” is the Magic Number

Sciptshadow gives Screenwriter’s a few tips on “How To Know When You’re Ready For an Agent”. They advise writers to “write at least three scripts”. By writing three scripts, the scripts you write should be GOOD and free of grammatical errors along with your screenplay formatted correctly. They also advise writers that “ ‘readiness’ can be gauged fairly through screenplay competitions and that you “should at least get to the second round of two of them.” Click on the article for more details.

Feedback!

A third way to know if you’re ready for an agent (many don’t like this but - ) is to “get feedback.” They also state that “long-term feedback is the best bet. The longer you get feedback from someone, the more honest they’ll be. It becomes easier to figure out which of your scripts is getting the best response and therefore which may be ready to send out.”

Are you a screenwriter who after reading this blog post believes they’re ready to submit to an agent or willing to follow these steps? Please comment below!