Howard Rodman on How I Got My Agent
I was eating Thai noodles with a friend and we ran out of things to talk about and then he said "Are you looking for an agent?" and I’d at that point written three unproduced and perhaps unproduceable screenplays, but did not want to appear overly eager, so I said, "Yes," instead of what I wanted to say, which was, "Good god, yes!"
He hooked me up with a friend of his who had just that month become an agent. She read my work and liked my work and agreed, perhaps too quickly, to represent me. She was not particularly well-known and she did not have any ‘clout’ but she understood my work and sent it around anyplace she could get a foot in the door.
Three years later she left the agenting business, having come to understand she was not really temperamentally suited for it. But by that time I’d gotten a couple of real assignments from real producers at real studios. Finding the second agent was not so difficult.
Howard A. Rodman wrote the screenplay for JOE GOULD’S SECRET. He also wrote F., which is consistently ranked among the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. His TV credits include episodes of "Fallen Angels" and "The Hunger." He served as artistic director of the Sundance Writing Lab in 2002 and 2003. Currently, Howard chairs the film and television writing program at the University of Southern California, and is also co-chair of the Writers Guild indie caucus.
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July 29th, 2005 at 1:02 pm
Greetings John:
I attened the director series at FIND, (formerly, IFP). Howard Rodman was the moderator. I am trying to get in touch with Howard. Can you please forward my message to him or send me his email address? I seemed to have misplaced it.
Thank you, Jennifer Frankovis