A Clarion Call for Innovation

In Eccelesiastes 1:9, King Solomon boldly proclaimed, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Yet our publishing world is always looking for the next bestseller. It's what I do as an acquisitions editor. I'm looking for a unique twist or a different combination of elements that will attract the attention of the book buying public. To be honest, this type of experimentation will often fail—but that doesn't mean we give up on innovation and continuing to try. We need to continue to write, propose, and search for such innovation.

This weekend, I've been reading Power House CAA, The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artist Agency by James Andrew Miller. It's a new book that I learned about reading the trades. If you get this book, you will discover it is over 750 pages (large) and retails at $32.50. When I learned about this forthcoming book several weeks ago, I searched my local library to see if they were ordering it. Nothing. I suggested the library purchase the book. When you make such a suggestion and the library decides it is a good suggestion, then you are automatically put on the hold list to get the book when available. It's how I got this book (and a strategy that you can use as well occasionally to get books). It's hard to know from the title whether a book is something you will read or not.

Why am I reading through a huge book about these Hollywood agents?

1. Discover real stories about persistence and timing. In the past, I've written about how a lot of publishing is about being at the right place at the right time with the right stuff. I know there were lots of rights in the last sentence yet repeatedly I've witnessed this truth in publishing. If the “rights” don't line up, then you can't get the book published and more important than publishing—reach the right reader (i.e. sell books). It takes years and lots of money to make a Hollywood movie. Power House CAA includes a number of stories about screen plays that could not catch the right details and had been around different studios for years. With innovation, the agents at CAA put a different spin on the deal and the movie was made and became a huge classic hit.

2. Learn to pitch your material in a different way. Power House CAA gives the specifics about they formed relationships within the Hollywood community.  They learned to put together packages for movies and television shows. Because they represented the different element for a movie (actors, directors, book authors, screen writers and others), the agents would pull together the elements into a single deal which they sold to the studios. Before this innovation, each party negotiated their deal separately with the movie studios. Their experiences made the agents have huge deal making and earning power in the Hollywood community. The stories encourage me to continue to look for such innovation among my colleagues and the manuscripts and proposals which come across my desk.

Can you put something together that isn't normally combined and connect with the market in a new way? Can you begin to reach a new audience with that material? Maybe you reach them in person or maybe you connect with them online?

Innovation is possible but will require you to open those doors of opportunity and thinking to achieve it. If I can help you in this process, let me know.  As an acquisitions editor, I'm always looking and you can get my work contact information here.

Have my words stirred you to innovation? Maybe they have pulled you out of the rut of rejection and despair? If so, please tell me in the comment section.

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Contains Years of Wisdom and Insight

If you have ever had the yearning to become a Christian screenwriter or actor or producer or director, then you will take years off wasting your time with this book. Dr. Ted Baehr, the Founder and Publisher of Movieguide, has written a comprehensive guide. As he writes in the introduction, "It is a critical time for people of faith to communicate through the mass media of the entertainment industry...This book intends to help you to do just what Jesus commanded: herald His good news in movies and television, the marketplace of entertainment." (Page xxviii)

Dr. Baehr breaks the contents into two main sections: Foundations and Step-by-Step. Each section is loaded with practical yet detailed information into the business. While the author has years of experience, he has reached out to 30 diverse Hollywood experts with stellar credentials. He interweaves these contributors throughout the book and it strengthens the message and impact of the contents.

While this book is loaded with practical information, I want to give one detailed example as a taste of the contents from the chapter, "If It's Not On the Page...":

"Remember that the average movie takes nine years from start to finish. The Passion of the Christ took ten years. Evita took twenty-three years. Batman took seventeen years. There are several reasons why it takes so long. First, there are 300,000 scripts submitted every year to the Writers guild of America and many more are written that are never submitted, aside from the flood of novels every year, but less than three hundred movies open in theaters every year. Thus, most scripts never make it into production. Second, Hollywood movies cost over $104 million to produce and distribute in 2010, and it takes a long, long time to get all the elements together so that some distributor or investor will want to put up this kind of money. Third, most people take years to get the script right. The Los Angeles Times interviewed a woman who was trying to twenty years to sell her script. She said that in all those years she had not had the time to take a scriptwriting course or read a book on scriptwriting. The Los Angeles Times and all of us should be perplexed: What was she doing all that time that she could not take a moment to learn her chosen craft?" (Page 150 to 151)

Before you follow the beckoning siren of Hollywood, you need the detailed information in How to Succeed in Hollywood (Without Losing Your Soul) A FieldGuide for Christian Screenwriters, Actors, Producers, Directors, and more...