Hello Girlfriends!
I send you my greetings from LA LA Land. I am the author of Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of The Hollywood Girls Club. I live and breathe in sunshiny Los Angeles. I didn't start out in LA as an author. Ooooh no. After working as an attorney in Chicago and then in Denver my very first job in entertainment was....wait for it....pushing the mail cart. Yes. You may have heard of this book:
I got to live it. I was an agent trainee who got her start in the mailroom. After two years (6 months of required mailroom duty) of assisting other agents I became a Hollywood Motion Picture Literary Agent. I repped directors and writers and also some authors (turning their books into film). It was while I worked in H-wood as an agent that I sold my first book. So the stories in my books...true? A little bit. Since packing away my Ferragamos and becoming a full time writer I've also written screenplays and television pilots.
Secret? Being on the writing side is more fun. Don't get me wrong, I loved repping my clients and their work. What a thrill to actually see a script become a film, and also to see director clients have astronomical opening weekends. Plus the premieres, while business, are fun. Good stuff to be sure. And sometimes, sometimes, I toy with the idea of agenting again but I am, at least for now, content to be a creative and have agents and managers of my own.
So how does it work, this silly little town called Hollywood? In mystical ways. I can say that some of my most important contacts in the business came from my years at the agency. It is truly an addiction my fascination with this town and how ideas actually become films and tv shows. Right now, I am winding up a slate of meetings with tv producers who read my new pilot Hart & Stone. Will the pilot ever become a true-see-it-on-tv show? Who knows? But with each meeting I take I expand the possibility of that happening.
And really, in Hollywood, the possibility of making it happen is what we live for!
Margaret Marr is an attorney, a former agent, an author, a wife, and a mother. She is the author of Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of The Hollywood Girls Club. She is also the writer of the screenplay, The Apology Expert, currently under option at Dahooma Productions. Her tv pilots include; Mothers & Daughters, Sexology, My Mr. Universe, and Hart & Stone. You can follow her and her journey through tinsel town at www.maggiemarr.com
Fun blog!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the pilot, Maggie. I think the name's great.
I'd love to read a blog post someday about what goes on in those meetings! Good luck and hope to see your pilot soon.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the pilot, Maggie! I love to write but I can definitely see the appeal in being an agent too because I also love the art of the deal.
ReplyDeleteThank you Karin! I really do love LA and all the nuttiness that surrounds the business. A number of great characters and stories. There is a reason that the early seasons of Entourage, are my favorite tv.
ReplyDeleteSarah
ReplyDeleteThose meetings are just like an other business meeting except we are discussing tv and movies and actors and studios. We talk about what type of shows they want to do and what type of shows I want to write. It's a little bit like a pre-job interview...a get to know you sort of thing. One of the best parts is when you get to riffing with the executive about your favorite tv shows or movies.
Lauren
ReplyDeleteI know! Right? There is a definite thrill about closing a deal. And every day was a marathon and a sprint all at once. My phone sheet would be a mile long. The part I enjoyed most was breaking writers. Going out with a spec script and introducing new writers to the town. Spec day was such a thrill.
I've always said that Hollywood is a state of mind more than a place, even though that's true, too. In the late 70's I worked in the Taft building at Hollywood and Vine. What a wonderful three years...and how the town has changed since then.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your pilot, and all the other fingers you've got going in all the other pies! You're bound to hit it big, Maggie!
Oooh, how interesting! Loved reading about your experiences. And good luck with the pilot--so cool!
ReplyDeleteChristine
ReplyDeleteI know exactly where that is! When we first moved to LA we had a little apartment on Franklin and Whitley which is so close Hollywood and Vine. That whole area had a resurgence just as we were moving. New buildings. Condos. Stores. It is a very fun town. Thank you for your well wishes!
Thank you Melissa! I just ordered my copy of The Love Goddess' Cooking School and I am excited for it to get here!!
ReplyDeleteThis is fascinating to me as a complete outsider. Unfortunately, I can do math and know that many people addicted to their dreams do have to eventually move on to more conventional work. Ha! Says me, the person still working on my breakout novel...
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing, Maggie, I enjoyed the blog.
Thanks, Maggie!!
ReplyDeleteMaggie, ooh, now you're making me wish someone would introduce *me* to the town!
ReplyDeleteMore! I want more!!! Your blog post is sooo interesting, Maggie. I totally want to know more! What is your pilot about? Best of luck with it-- fingers crossed!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you were an attorney! Funny how many attorneys end up as writers (my mom included).
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the pilot-very exciting!
I didn't know your background. What an interesting job life you've had!
ReplyDeleteLynne
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by. With your skill as a writer, your breakout book is sure to come very very soon!
Brenda
ReplyDeleteAfter years of nagging by my managers and agents I finally agreed to write a legal pilot. Hart & Stone is about two female 30-something attorneys that were friends in law school. Their friendship ended on a bitter note and their lives went two very different directions. One took the Mommy-track the and the other chose a high power career. These two are thrown back together and forced to work with one another. And the fun begins!
Eden
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by! Yes, so many attorneys become writers. Perhaps because we like words and get used to writing really big briefs??? I know for me, as a child, I had a proclivity for words and not so much for science and math. I was encouraged to consider law. I grew up in the Midwest...not too many writers for neighbors... I didn't even think of the *possibility* as writing as a career choice until long after I'd taken and passed two bar exams.
Aileen
ReplyDeleteThank you! Many many hats.
Wow, where do you find the time to do so many things simultaneously?
ReplyDeleteIt's great fun to read about Hollywood behind the scenes. Good luck with Hart & Stone!
Yes, Hollywood is fascinating to those of us who are outsiders looking in! Tell us more, more, more:). A couple of years ago, our mystery organization Sisters in Crime set up a "SinC Goes to Hollywood" conference. We had a tour of a studio, and talks from agents and producers, and even a chance to pitch a story. Oh so much fun!
ReplyDeleteYour concept sounds good to me Maggie!
Best of luck with the pilot, Maggie! I live in Los Angeles too, a veteran of the music industry and worked adjacent to the WB lot for almost 30 years. Our musical red carpets aren't as well dressed as your TV&Film red carpets but we definitely had drama! I love LA (but the shopping is better in NY, don't you think?)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with Hart and Stone - it's a great title!
ReplyDeleteMaggie, I love the concept of Hart & Stone and am fascinated by the little peek you've given us into the film world...thank you! Best of luck with the pilot -- I've got my fingers crossed for you!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Therese, Roberta, Rochelle, Kathy and Marilyn for you kind words. I think my fingers and toes stay permanently crossed most the time.
ReplyDeleteMaggie,
ReplyDeleteI started out working in entertainment, too, (though I worked on the advertising side of things) and even though it is a heck of a lot of fun getting to hang around the studios, going to movie premiers, and getting invited to all sorts of Hollywood parties, I was really unfulfilled creatively and chucked it all to make some Hollywood magic of my own. It's a long journey, but at least I'm now promoting my own work rather than somebody else's.
Good luck with the pilot!
Ciao,
Lucie