Rachel Miller launched Tom Sawyer Entertainment in February 2006 to manage the careers of writers and directors of feature films and television. Since launching, Tom Sawyer Entertainment has expanded its roster to include animation, digital media, humor books and comic book talent. Her clients include writers and directors on THE DAILY SHOW, THE SIMPSONS, and FRANK TV, along with comic book company Bloodfire Studios.
Rachel graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before returning to her hometown of Los Angeles to pay her dues by working at Endeavor Talent Agency, Handprint Entertainment and Red Wagon Entertainment.
She recently launched ShowMeTheScreenplay.com to help emerging creative talent by giving them honest answers about everything Entertainment.
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Daily Blog
September 1, 2010
I used to think that I had no skills outside the entertainment industry and, if I wanted to switch careers, I would have nothing going for me since I’ve worked in Hollywood my whole life, including going to film school and getting a BFA.
However, I have recently realized that I do have skills that are unique, different and ones that not every Wharton or Harvard MBA has.
These skills are:
• Thinking outside of the box: Being in Hollywood, you quickly learn that you have to think outside the box to get anything done in this town.
• Leaving no stone unturned: Literally. Trying to set up a tv or movie or any project makes you reach out to every single person you know and those you don’t in an effort to get a project set up.
• Not taking no for an answer: To me, a no is just the start of a negotiation.
• Being creative: If you are stumped on something, get creative and work around it.
• Not giving up: It just takes one person to say yes.
• Practicing the art of delegating: This is very important, and many big and small companies fail because their CEOs micromanage too much.
• Bringing the experts in: It’s okay to ask for help because there is no way you can know everything. Part of succeeding in this town is not being afraid to say, hey, can I get some advice?
• Having an opinion: This can not be overstated. I don’t care what your opinion is, having one is a HUGE asset and most people are too scared to have one.
• Being decisive: The best leaders are the ones who are unafraid to make a decision. I have seen companies fold because their leader couldn’t make a decision.
So if you think you don’t have any portable skills portable, think again, and be thankful for all the skills that Hollywood taught you!
August 6, 2010
If you read the trades, you will notice that a lot of agents are becoming managers these days. While sometimes this works, an agent and manager are not interchangeable. Often I have seen agents who became managers quickly going back to being an agent.
Why is this?
Managing is hard work. It’s a lot more hands-on than most agents are use to. It’s also a lot more creative than most agents are use to.
As a manager, I am constantly looking for new ideas for my clients. I am also always looking for the right people with whom to pair them up. In fact, my job is to be as proactive as possible and not wait for someone to call me about my client, which is what most agents are use to.
Agents can sit and wait for the incoming calls while managers are always making outgoing calls.
Also, there is a lot of development that managers do that agents don’t. Often we will do notes on 8-10 drafts of a client’s project before it even goes to an agent. Many agents haven’t developed their notes skills and don’t know how to do detailed notes.
It’s a very different job skill set for managers and most agents don’t realize this when they make the switch. They simply think of it as a different job title for representing clients.
Best of luck to all the agents out there becoming managers. But a piece of advice — it’s not as easy as it looks.
July 7, 2010
The Fourth of July usually means barbeques, beer and fireworks. For Hollywood it also usually means the slow down of the feature film business. Phones stop ringing, specs stop going out, and people start going on vacation.
Does that mean that you have to spend the next two months twiddling your thumbs? No! It means you have two solid months where you can spend your time and energy on things that you could never do while the phone rings every two seconds.
My two favorite activities that I like to do in these summer months are:
* Diversify
* Be creative
By diversify what I mean is I like to spend these summer months looking into arenas that I haven’t explored before and want to have better knowledge about.
For example, when my business partner and I started Tom Sawyer Entertainment, we spent the summer months learning everything about the TV business since we came from the feature world. Now we do almost 1/2 of our business in the TV world and several of our clients are staffed on TV shows.
A couple years ago we spent the summer learning all about the book world. Now we have sold seven books so far and are working on two more book deals.
There is always some segment of the entertainment business of which you could grow your knowledge, and the summer is the perfect time to do that.
By being creative what I mean is having the time to go through all those articles, ideas and scraps of stories that I have kept in a folder while I wait for some peace and quiet to sort through these.
My business partner and I will take an afternoon and read through everything in this folder and see what we want to develop for the next year.
Or being creative means finally having the time to work on my website, blogs, etc. For anything that takes creativity and the time to do it right — the summer is the perfect time for it!
June 18, 2010
If you are reading the trades (Daily Variety, The Hollywood Reporter) I am sure you are reading about studios making less and less pictures and spending less and less money on those pictures.
So what can you do?
The only way to survive in this town is to diversify, diversify, diversify. Think of it like stocks — you want to be in as many businesses as possible because, in case something happens in one field, you have others to fall back on.
What this means as a writer is that you should be in as many different fields as possible (while still endeavoring to be great in all of them). Whether this is books, tv — half hour and hour, film, games, comic books, etc., the more fields you are in, the more stocks you have in different arenas that could pay off.
The other great thing about being in as many fields as possible is that it will stretch your creative muscles. You will be forced to be creative in ways that you might have not thought possible.
And that new creativity will flow through to all your other arenas. It will make you a stronger writer in every other field you are in.
June 9, 2010
I once read an article about a famous old producer who said that he spent over half his day doing favors for other people. And I have to agree with him.
Much of my day is spent doing favors for other people: trying to help friends get jobs, making introductions, reading resumes, introducing actors to casting agents, etc.
It might seem like a waste of my time (and, trust me, there are days that I would agree). But then something happens to remind me that it all comes back to you.
We have been friends over the years with a writer who we have tried to help out whenever we can without the expectation of anything in return. We recently got an email from him saying he is now working at the Huffington Post and he would love to do an article on our very funny client Ben Schwartz.
Of course we said yes and, boy, are we happy about this article. See the link below to read this fantastic article.
And remember, this goes to show you that it’s a good business practice to try to be nice to everyone — you never know how it is going to come back around.
Enjoy reading the article now.
