Hollywood agent and author Rima Greer must be magnetic, because many of her clients have stuck with her for over 20 years. Representing feature writers and directors and in a few special cases, actors, she has negotiated thousands of deals.

Greer launched her career in 1984. She sold projects such as "Memphis Belle," "Highlander," "Backdraft" and "Milk Money." Greer quickly worked her way up, becoming President of Literary for Writers & Artists Agency in 1989. In 1994, she launched her own company, Above the Line Agency. No stranger to big studio projects, she and her clients have been involved with "Charlie's Angels" (Columbia), "Constantine" (Warner Bros.), and the upcoming "Nowhereland" (Paramount). Greer loves independent film and enjoys transitioning her writers into writer/directors. She was instrumental in bringing several independent projects to the screen including "The Prophecy" (Dimension/First Look), "Slow Burn" (Artisan) and "The Poker House" (Cannell Studios). Greer's clients have worked on countless other films including "The Doors," "Jumanji," "Captain Ron," "Mr. Wrong" and "Striking Distance."

Greer's book, "The Real, Low Down, Dirty Truth About Hollywood Agenting," was published last November. She wrote the book to help others understand the business. A believer in outreach, on June 1, 2008, Greer will present a workshop, "Hollywood Agenting--The Down & Dirty Truth," at the 10th Annual Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe (www.scsfe.com). On May 31, she's also teaching "The Art of the 5-minute Pitch." In this interview, Greer talks about Hollywood agenting, pitching, how to raise the odds that your script will be read by an agent, and what you should do when the buyer finally says "yes."

Q: Would you share a few nuggets with us on Hollywood agenting?

A: The book started as a letter to somebody who did something really rotten to me. You know, when you write that letter that you never send?

Q: Right.

A: It turned into a book, because, after speaking at seminars and doing a million outreach things, I discovered that most people have no idea what an agent does. In fact, before I became an agent, I had no idea what an agent did. Then I discovered that no film agents had ever written a book before as far as I could tell. And I thought, "No wonder nobody knows." So, I thought I might as well explain it.

What I talk about in the book is what agents do and how we think, and why it's so hard to get representation. That's the real question everybody wants to ask an agent is "How can I get you to represent me?" There is no easy answer to that. If there was, everybody would do it, right?

Q: Right.

A: One of the most important things to learn in order to function in Hollywood is how to play the six degrees of separation game. The best way to get an agent is to have someone who knows that agent and who that agent respects to call up and say, "Shut up. You have to read this script. I don't care if you're busy. I don't that you have enough clients. I don't care. You have to read this." When a producer or a studio executive or somebody who's in the business calls me up and says that, I do eventually read it. Frankly, that's probably the only way you'll get me or any of my friends to read your stuff. We don't look for new clients until everything else is done. Since everything else is never done, it's kind of hard to get us to read [work produced by a new writer]. So, we really need that referral from somebody that we know and trust and do business with. It's the only way for us to really filter out what is worth our time. I'm not even one of the big boys and I get between 25 and 75 calls and letters a day. There's just no way ...

It takes between a year and three years to get a new person going; before they earn a dime. I don't earn a dime until my client earns a dime, so it takes a lot to want to take on somebody new.

The good news is that I explain in the book how we function in our everyday life, how you can help your agent do a great job for you, how movies actually get made, what goes on in the studio system, what coverage really is. There's more to it than how hard it is to get us to talk to you.

Q: At the Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe, you're also teaching "The Art of the 5-minute Pitch." Can you share some tips on what's important in a short pitch?

A: All pitches should be short. If your pitch takes longer than twelve minutes, you're in deep trouble. The person you're pitching to is so incredibly busy.

With chit-chat before the meeting and getting everybody a cup of coffee and making the connection, "Why do I know you?" and then, you tell the story and they have questions--if that takes more than a half hour, your chances of making the sale are low.

No only that, but I learned [a lesson] from someone, a very good friend of mine, who started his life running a shoe store and ended up being the senior vice president of an international company. What I learned from him is the second somebody says they like it, shut up and leave the room.

Q: Good tip!

A: When the guy in front of you says, "yes," stop talking and let your agent close the sale. You don't want to be in there too long because less is more.

And then, obviously, you have to know what your story is. Most people in Hollywood expect your story to have a structure that looks like something that Robert McKee talks about. So, if you don't know McKee, you have to read McKee and make your stuff fit that paradigm.

And then, finally, my personal words of wisdom are never use a descriptor for your movie. Never say it is "unique." Never say it is "commercial." Never say it is a "blockbuster." Never say any of those things. It begs a question and you want the person you are selling to make their own evaluation.

You can go in there and be excited and say, "My favorite part of what I'm going to tell you is this..." Don't tell them it's commercial because anybody who thinks they know what commercial means is either stupid or lying. Nobody knows what that is.

Q: What do you look for in a writer?

A: Somebody who knows everything I just told you and has a really distinctive voice when they write. There are a couple of tip-offs when I am reading something that tells me I am not interested. If a character description has the word "typical," "obvious," "stereotypical," "handsome," or "beautiful," I immediately close the script because that doesn't tell me anything. My favorite character description I ever read--and I haven't actually read the script for 20 years and I still remember the character description--told me that this guy could write. It goes like this: "Her name was Abbey. She had a jaw line that could cut paper and eyes that could scare a wolf in a stare-down." You know everything you need to know about that girl, right?

Q: Right.

A: He never said what she looked like and never said how old she was and he never said she was pretty--none of that. I'm looking for writing like that.

Q: What defines a prolific writer to you?

A: Somebody that delivers me three spec scripts a year. That's my favorite kind of client. We can't go sell something that doesn't exist.

Q: And you've worked on some independent projects?

A: Yes. A lot of what I do is independent. I love independent film.

Q: Do you work with writer/directors?

A: Exactly. Most of my clients are writer/directors. They do both jobs. The reason I like that is if the writer and director are the same person, they're more likely to agree on what the movie should be like. We've all had movies completely ruined where you have a great script and you hire a great director, who is just the wrong guy--where he doesn't get it. So, the movie doesn't click. And there are a lot of great movies that just cannot be made within the studio system. Not that the studios can't make great movies--they can and they do--but there are a lot of other movies that just aren't what studios do that are great movies. I would be very proud of making a movie like "Boys Don't Cry" or "Garden State." I have my own versions of these films, but I figure it's a good idea to give broader examples that aren't my movies.

I'm particularly excited about micro-budget films. I had one out this past year where the budget was miniscule, but it allowed the filmmaker to make something that was really innovative; to do whatever he wanted creatively. Because the budget was so low, we didn't need it to be a blockbuster hit in order for it to make its money back and for everyone to make a little bit of money. For that reason, it attracted great talent and we did really well. It's out on DVD right now. It's called "He Was a Quiet Man." For me, that is really exciting. The guy who wrote and directed that writes gigantic movies for lots of money at studios. That was his chance to do something that was just his creative flyer.

Q: What defines a micro-budget?

A: About $1 million. I think the Writer's Guild defines it as under $1.2 million.

Q: Do you take in writers and transition them to a writer/director?

A: Yes. That is my favorite thing to do. I just did that last year with one of my clients who is an actress, Lori Petty. She wrote her first screenplay and I found her financing and she also directed it. That movie is called "The Poker House." It's not out, yet. I was very excited to help her transition into directing and especially because it is so hard for women--it was really exciting to start a woman director.

Q: According to your company Web site, in the near future, your company is planning to help connect filmmakers with the Independent Film Channel University (IFCU). What is that about?

A: The reason they are on my Web site is that I'm an advisor to the board of directors, so I'm not completely unbiased. IFCU is a new online program that is being put together by a team of screenwriters, directors, educators and the Independent Film Channel (IFC). They're creating a gigantic, online film school and community. I believe the target startup is this fall. The idea is to bring film education resources to people around the world; to connect filmmakers to each other; and to be up on the latest technology of independent filmmaking. Who better than IFC to sponsor such a thing? They're all about that! Their watchwords for this program, as they're building it are "The democratization of film." Film isn't just for [Academy Award-winning "Lawrence of Arabia" director] David Lean anymore. Film is for everybody. YouTube has proven that. So, why not educate all the people who are now slapping their videos up on YouTube? And the ones who are interested in filmmaking--help them do that?

Q: How exciting for filmmakers! Where can people learn more?

A: Go to www.abovethelineagency.com and click on the IFCU link. Send the e-mail. We're not answering that e-mail. That's a special e-mail address that will put you on the mailing list for IFCU.

Q: You accept submissions through your Web site?

A: Yes. We finally decided to do submissions only through our Web site so we have an organized method of doing triage. The only other way to submit to us is through a referral; where somebody we know calls us up and says, "You've got to read this. It's great."

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: This ties to my book. There's a sort of mythos that surrounds agents. There's this idea that we can just pick up the phone and make one phone call and make all your dreams come true if only you can talk us into doing that. I wish that were true. It's not for 99.999 percent of the time, for any agent, no matter how big or how small. I'm hoping that those readers who decide that they're going to take a look at my book--that the book will help them to help their agents get them further along. The agent-client relationship is a partnership and if we all know how to function in that partnership, we'll all do better for each other.

Regardless of our reputation as being slimy snakes who screw people over right and left--that's true of some of us, or all of us on occasion (both laugh)--but for the most part we really love our clients. If we don't we fire them. So, we actually love our clients and want to do really, really well for them. You just have to help us do that.

Greer's company accepts submissions through their Web site: www.abovethelineagency.com. To learn more about Greer's book, visit: quilldriverbooks.com/hollywood_agent/about_hollywood_agent.htm.

Would you like to have your question answered by pros working in the industry? If there's a topic you'd like to see addressed in this column, please send me an e-mail (CindyRinaldi@visionization.com) with "WBW" in the subject line.