GumboWriters Interview with Literary Manager, Michael Kuciak from AEI

How long have you been agent and how did you get your start Mike? I started in the film industry working as PA and grip in Chicago. I moved to LA, and landed an internship at the Bruce Brown Literary Agency in 2002. From there, I was hired as a creative executive at AEI, and am now senior vice president of development at the same company. Also... To clarify, we're a management/production company. There is a lot of overlap with agents, and we perform many of the functions -- finding, developing and selling books, scripts and television projects, etc. The only thing we don't do is find television employment for writers, as that's the sole purview of agents. In exchange, however, we have the freedom to engage duties of a producer, such as pulling a package together, finding financing, and so on. For that reason, we're less focused on short-range goals like running a script around town and dropping it if it doesn't sell, and more focused on the longer-ranged goals of developing projects to their best possible incarnation, pulling together the best deal we can, and never, ever giving up on projects in which we believe. What makes your agency different than any others? Our company is unique in the extent to which we deal in the world of books and publishing. We take queries from both screenwriters and novelists, and our perfect client is someone who can do one or the other. That's easier said than done; though creating a script or book are both functions of writing, they're disciplines which work different sets of muscles, and we've found some people are better screenwriters than novelists, and vice versa. We maintain a close relationship with New York, and we always have just as many books out there and working as we do film projects. For that reason, we're always looking for books that could make great movies and televison. On the flip side, we'll sometimes run across a script that isn't very commercial as a spec, but becomes very interesting to the studios if it's based on a novel. A good story is a good story, but publishing and filmmaking are two different business models, and each has specific needs. By way of a recent example, I doubt TWILIGHT would have opened to $70m if it were based on a spec instead of a bestselling series of novels with a rabid fan base. Given our relationships in the publishing world, we also get access to a lot more books than many other production companies. In the same vein, we're in the midst of pushing our range of crossover into graphic novels, as well. What are you looking for specifically that you wish you would see more of? Clean, strong, high-concept, well-executed projects in almost any genre - but particularly comedies and thrillers - from writers who are writing both for themselves and for the market. Dramas are very hard to sell, and horror is tough in the current market. Things change over time, of course, but thriller, action-thriller, broad comedy and action-comedy are our main points of focus at the moment. Mike what are you tired of receiving? There are four kinds. They are: 1) Derivative, me-too scripts. These are projects that are so clearly wearing their inspirations on their sleeves that it seems like the writer did nothing but watch a bunch of movies and cribbed ideas. There is such a thing as being inspired, and such a thing as providing the beats an audience expects from every given genre or sub-genre. But any chump can sit down, watch a bunch of zombie movies, and write a zombie script that's nothing but just another rehash of the same beats. Every piece of art says something and, when a screenwriter pours months of effort into creating a story that has nothing more to say than, "I've watched a lot of Quentin Tarantino movies," it's an empty waste of time, in writing and in reading. Every kind of script can be derivative, even "indie" scripts that are just a mash-up of Wes Anderson/Kevin Smith/Coen Brothers. 2) At the other end of the spectrum, we get a lot of scripts that make us wonder, "Who in their right mind thinks this will get turned into a movie?" It's important to find your own voice as a writer, and find unique ways into a story so it doesn't fall under the sins of example 1, above. But at the same time, writers should be aware of what's come before, what's coming out soon and what's in development. This is just a matter of reading the trades and paying attention to the industry you hope to become a part of in the first place. Not only do you want to avoid writing a script that already has something very similar on its way into theaters, you also want to look at the marquee and see what kind of movies are getting made. When you look at a movie poster, is there any question what the genre is, what kind of movie you'll get for your ten bucks? Writers are told be craft unique stories, and the frequent response is to smoosh together as many different kinds of movies as possible, so it's a unique mess. That's shallow thinking. 3) Scripts that are poorly executed. This may sound like stating the obvious, but sadly it's not: if you want to be considered a professional writer, you should learn basic skills of the craft, like spelling and sentence structure. No one's English teacher is going to go through your script with a red pen and give you a grade but, if you want to come across as someone who takes the job and craft seriously, the very basic-BASIC skills should be givens. It's like a guy who shows up to an open try-out for an NFL team smoking a joint and wearing a bathrobe. The coach's instant reaction is - what were you thinking when you left the house this morning? There are plenty of examples of professional screenwriters who are somewhat lax in their spell-checking, but they make up for it in other aspects of the craft: character development, story structure, cinematic storytelling, awesome dialogue. DO NOT fool yourself into thinking that someone will take the time to wade through your garbage to find the diamond buried within. They will in all likelihood just take you for lazy and/or untalented, and pass on page two. 4) Stories that don't tell the truth. It is the writer's first task to tell the truth. This is the one and only way to craft stories that are meaningful and engaging to the audience. You can tell stories with a lot of fantasy, but the stories, at the end of the day, are written by human beings, about human being and for human beings. Unless you're relaying how people truly react, feel, speak and act, you're just repeating cliches you've heard on television. For instance, though the main characters are robots, WALL-E is a far more true and human story than most of the scripts I've read by writers who think crafting a script is just a matter of stringing cliches together and laying on some quirk. It's an empty and meaningless waste of time. I should also say that a writer should be versed and passionate about the story they're trying to tell. For example, I'll sometimes read an action-comedy script (for instance) written by someone who obviously doesn't have a passion for action-comedies; they've written the script only because they think it'll be commercial. It's the opposite - the script only shows your writing in the worst light, a hollow and mercenary exercise. The key is to write good, unique stories that are marketable, which also spring from your passions as a human being and as an artist. How can a new writer get your attention in a good way? Come in with a smart and original concept, well-executed (see above), be cool, friendly and professional. This second part is as important as the first. Many writers hear so many horror stories about Hollywood that they come in defensive and ready for a fight. It's exhausting to deal with, and makes us look for reasons to break off the relationship.  How can a signed writer stay in your radar without driving you insane? Check in every once in a while, and have something pertinent to ask or report. A weekly "I'm on page x of the script I said I'd write" is perfect, along with a "By the way, did we ever hear from Lionsgate about that submission...?" Email is always best, because I can get to it when I can get to it, whereas with a phone call, I have to drop everything else to give it my full attention and, even then, it'll likely be interrupted. You should be enthusiastic and proactive in your career, and the best way to express that is it write, take notes, offer ideas and understand that 90% of your success will come from you. On the other hand, the most swift and sure way to lose representation is to start blaming them as the sole reason why you're not Mr. Hollywood yet. If you were writing scripts and novels that were easy to sell, you wouldn't be thinking of whom to blame for your failures. What do you wish more writers understood about you as an agent Mike that they don't seem to? Extending the thoughts touched on above... Many writers are told in film school or in screenwriting how-to books/seminars that all they have to do is write a good story and they'll get a Rich and Famous Contract, and if they don't, well... Obviously their agent is a hack and/or Hollywood is too dumb to understand their genius. This is ridiculous. If you want to write whatever you want and let that be that, you should write poetry and post it on your blog. But filmmaking -- and, thus, screenwriting -- is a collaborative art and business. Movies require tens of millions of dollars to produce and market. The entities which front that money expect to make it back, and then some. But you're not building a house or manufacturing widgets - this is still art. You should write stories that can be attractive to financiers because they reflect the current marketplace; you should write emotional stories in a visual manner that are attractive to directors, and you should write interesting characters with great dialogue to attract cast. This may seem like the script is serving many masters, and that's right. It's not easy, which is why screenwriters are paid so well. They are specialists of the form and, if you would like to join their number, you must become a specialist, as well. Also understand that this is not an overnight thing. A screenwriter is, at the core, an entrepreneur, offering both a good and a service to a very specific market, i.e. Hollywood. It can take years to build any small business from the garage level to Fortune 500 status, and screenwriting (or producing, or directing, or acting, or whatever) is no different. Think of the long road, play the long game, understand that you have to build a career brick-by-brick, and you'll have a closer comprehension of the reality than the writers who think all they have to do is type "THE END" and a limousine is going to pull up to whisk them off to the Oscars. What's the best way for a writer to reach you? mk@aeionline.com