On the eve of the London International Book Fair, Monday 7th April, Literary Agent and Swanwick fan Meg Davis took an hour out of the pre-fair preparations to answer some #AskSwanwick questions.
Meg Davis represents a range of authors and scriptwriters as well as handling film and TV rights for a number of other agencies. She is also a popular Swanwick course leader. Having set up her own company, Ki Agency Ltd, Meg’s clients include bestselling authors Anne Perry and Simon Scarrow, and authors/scriptwriters Mike Carey, Daniel Depp, Catherine Webb, and Stephen Davis.
Meg Davis represents a range of authors and scriptwriters as well as handling film and TV rights for a number of other agencies. She is also a popular Swanwick course leader. Having set up her own company, Ki Agency Ltd, Meg’s clients include bestselling authors Anne Perry and Simon Scarrow, and authors/scriptwriters Mike Carey, Daniel Depp, Catherine Webb, and Stephen Davis.
Meg was asked what an agent does at the London Book Fair (LBF) and what a typical day looks like. For most of the fair she has 1/2-hour meetings with foreign agents and publishers. These are opportunities to meet face-to-face with contacts to develop their ongoing relationships as well as to sell foreign rights for next year’s titles. It’s important, Meg said, not to bore people at these meetings and make sure they had things to discuss and food to nibble (although she had the dilemma over what to feed some important French publishers!)
Meg Davis represents a lot of screenwriters. She talked about approaching producers and showing them why people would love the show/film. In both screenwriting and novel writing it is important to write something producible or publishable. It has to be an idea that can be sold. She warned about the dangers of being derivative, for both screenwriters and novelists – as Meg says, “it’s not a creative choice to make safe decisions”. Creative work takes place on new and often terrifying ground. She suggested that working on short films was a very good spring board for aspiring screenwriters – and that have a fresh and authentic eye of the weirdness of everyday life was a real advantage.
We talked about why authors and screenwriters should think about having an agent. Top of Meg’s list was that an agent gives you a professional eye on contracts, an experienced editorial ear to make sure work really sings, invaluable career guidance as well as day-to-day problem solving for the many issues that come up for professional writers. Meg is, however, a realist: there are few writers making lots of money either with an agent or without an agent.
After a range of candid and useful answers, many tweeter wondered what caught Meg’s eye when she was looking for new clients. She confessed to really liking crime, horror, historical and urban fantasy.
Once again we’d like to extend our thanks to Meg Davis - please follower her (and us!) on Twitter - and to all the tweeters who took part in the discussions. We hope you can join us for our next #AskSwanwick session. We hope our Twitter chats offer a sweet morsel of the tasty goodies in store for us in August!
Meg Davis represents a lot of screenwriters. She talked about approaching producers and showing them why people would love the show/film. In both screenwriting and novel writing it is important to write something producible or publishable. It has to be an idea that can be sold. She warned about the dangers of being derivative, for both screenwriters and novelists – as Meg says, “it’s not a creative choice to make safe decisions”. Creative work takes place on new and often terrifying ground. She suggested that working on short films was a very good spring board for aspiring screenwriters – and that have a fresh and authentic eye of the weirdness of everyday life was a real advantage.
We talked about why authors and screenwriters should think about having an agent. Top of Meg’s list was that an agent gives you a professional eye on contracts, an experienced editorial ear to make sure work really sings, invaluable career guidance as well as day-to-day problem solving for the many issues that come up for professional writers. Meg is, however, a realist: there are few writers making lots of money either with an agent or without an agent.
After a range of candid and useful answers, many tweeter wondered what caught Meg’s eye when she was looking for new clients. She confessed to really liking crime, horror, historical and urban fantasy.
Once again we’d like to extend our thanks to Meg Davis - please follower her (and us!) on Twitter - and to all the tweeters who took part in the discussions. We hope you can join us for our next #AskSwanwick session. We hope our Twitter chats offer a sweet morsel of the tasty goodies in store for us in August!
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