In this extract from his Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2027 article, agent Giles Smart offers you the best advice for making the right approach to an agent.
I was once on a panel of alleged experts, one of whom was a brilliant person who used to run a theatre. A writer asked her how best to approach her. She replied: ‘Always keep your submission short.’ This is a particularly wise piece of advice. If you are sending work to an agent, your email is going to land in an already crowded inbox.
If I am brutally honest, my heart always sinks when I receive a long email containing many paragraphs. Even more so if those emails are written in many different fonts, and with multiple attachments. Please keep your email attention-grabbingly succinct, with a writing CV (list of credits) attached and one script (ideally, the one of which you are currently most proud). In your admirably short email, please do list any recent notable achievements: these could be current productions, awards won or schemes that you’ve been on. But keep things pithy. Long lists sap the energy and are hard to focus on.
The next question to consider is which script to send. This all-important attachment could be your most recent work, but it should be the one that you are currently most excited by. And it should be the one that captures your voice the most effectively. This is your chance to grab an agent’s attention with both hands, so please send the script that is the most polished and the most compelling. I do realise that any writer pressing ‘Send’ on their submission email is taking the most enormous leap of faith. But that’s why you should submit your most confident piece of work. Ideally, that script will also be one that you have written on your own, and have not co-authored. You want to give the strongest and clearest sense of your voice.
Get your copy of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2027 at Bloomsbury.com.
Giles Smart is the Co-Head of the Film & TV Department at United Agents in London. His clients include BAFTA-nominated and award-winning writers, producers, directors, and sound and lightning designers. To find out more, visit: www.unitedagents.co.uk/agent/giles-smart.
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