Wednesday, July 23, 2014

10 TIPS TO FIND AN AGENT!

10 tips to find an agent

Courtesy of the Stage - By: Stuart Piper

I’m approaching my 10th year of agenting next year, but when I started I remember how hard it was when having to knock on many doors that seemed bolted shut.

It didn’t help that this industry’s behind the scenes activity was, and still is, shrouded in a degree of secrecy. I had to learn by trial and error the correct etiquette and I didn’t always get it right. But it led me to operate without a curtain over the Wizard of Oz mechanics of agenting, which led to to publish Cole Kitchenn’s client list online back in 2005 when I only had 10 clients, back when few other agencies had websites at all.
In keeping with that spirit, here follows five dos and don’ts for those readers starting out and looking for just a smidgeon of guidance…

Do keep your cover letter brief, edit out the bullsh*t, and let the agent simply see the bare bones of the facts at a glance
Don’t open with a bad joke.
Do send your submission and wait a week before one gentle nudge to ensure the safe receipt/draw attention to the approach.
Don’t turn up at the office with a CV in hand. I’m pretty sure that’s always an awkward moment. And don’t chase more than once.
Do send them an example of work – be it a showreel, a home filmed scene or song even if just recorded around a piano.
Don’t pretend you know the agent better than you do – over familiarity can lead back to that awkwardness.
Do put on a show if you have to. Don’t grab attention by phone harassment or door stepping, grab attention by doing something brilliant. A showcase, a fringe play, a screening of a self made short, a concert. We agents know how hard it is to achieve one of those things, and respect it.
Don’t send presents. Over the years I’ve received all sorts of weird and wonderful packages, but I’ve never signed someone because of a lollipop or an envelope stuffed with confetti.
Do sell yourself, rooted in truth. Imagine how an American actor would introduce themselves, and own it. We Brits are often too self effacing.
Don’t lie. Like any relationship, a good one is built on trust.

Monday, July 21, 2014

BREAKING NEWS: TULISA CONTOSTAVLOS TRAIL COLLAPSES

Tulisa Contostavlos trial collapses over Mazher Mahmood evidence

Courtesy of Peter Walker and Hatty Collier http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jul/21/tulisa-contostavlos-trial-collapses-mazher-mahmood

Reporter suspended by Sun after judge says case cannot go on because of 'strong grounds to believe' he lied at hearing

The trial of the singer and TV entertainer Tulisa Contostavlos over drugs allegations has dramatically collapsed after the judge ruled that the Sun investigative reporter whose evidence was central to the case had seemingly lied on oath.
In scathing comments with potentially significant repercussions for Mazher Mahmood, the veteran undercover reporter often known as the "fake sheikh", judge Alistair McCreath said he believed Mahmood had lied in the witness stand.
Mahmood has since been suspended by his newspaper.
There were "strong grounds for believing that the underlying purpose of these lies was to conceal the fact that he had been manipulating the evidence in this case" by getting another witness to change his account, McCreath told the jury.
The judge dismissed the jury at Southwark crown court, telling them the case "cannot go any further".
Contostavlos grinned broadly in the glassed dock as the judge read his ruling. She then hugged relatives and supporters, weeping. Her lawyer embraced the 26-year-old outside the courtroom, telling her: "It's over now."
Outside court a nervous-looking Contostavlos condemned "a horrific and disgusting entrapment" by Mahmood and the newspaper.
She said: "Mahmood has now been exposed by my lawyers openly lying to the judge and jury. These lies were told to stop crucial evidence going before the jury."
She added: "Thankfully, the lies have been uncovered and justice has been done."
Contostavlos was on trial for allegedly setting up an £800 cocaine deal between a friend and Mahmood, who made his name with similar sting-type operations on the News of the World before that paper closed.
Mahmood posed as a wealthy Bollywood film producer interested in casting the singer and former X Factor judge as the lead in a major film, flying her to Las Vegas and taking her to a luxury London restaurant. Details of the drugs deal and her alleged role in it were then published in the Sun.
Contostavlos insisted throughout that she had been entrapped and only pretended an interest in drugs to play up to a "bad girl" image seemingly sought by the producers.
Her friend, Mike Coombs, a rapper with the stage name Mike GLC, pleaded guilty to supplying the drugs to Mahmood, but the case against him has also been dropped.
The apparent lie by Mahmood dates back to a pre-trial hearing in which he denied having seen a police statement made by his driver, Alan Smith, about a conversation Smith had with Contostavlos while dropping her home in which she expressed disapproval of drugs.
But under cross-examination on Thursday Mahmood conceded he had received an emailed copy of the statement.
Jeremy Dein QC, for the defence, asked if he had "put influence" on Smith to change the statement. The reporter denied this, but later conceded he had discussed his worries about the statement with Smith.
The judge intervened to say this appeared to show Mahmood had lied to manipulate the evidence and that he was considering whether to order a trial, allow bad character evidence against Mahmood, or drop the case entirely.
On Monday he announced the latter option, telling the jury that had he known about Mahmood's actions he would have agreed to an earlier defence application to dismiss the case.
Mahmood, he added, was the "sole progenitor" of the case and had gone to "considerable" lengths to get Contostavlos involved in crime, certainly more than police would have done.
The judge did not mention whether Mahmood could face a perjury trial, but this is now a possibility.