Looking back, looking forward
The past year has been a good one for Ki, with some significant and exciting commissions for our clients, and the arrival of Roz who’s already done her first deal as an agent.
It’s always hard to announce specific client news, since it’s so far in advance and we have to observe the sensitivities of the publishers and producers involved. But I think it’s OK to congratulate Emma Adams on her first big TV commission, and announce a new book deal for Mike Carey. We’ve got reasonable hopes for several films to start shooting this year. News will be announced on the website and our Facebook page as it happens.
I find retrospectives generally dull, and – despite the global and domestic issues that have been worrying us all – there are reasons to feel cheerful about the coming year. But, as always, we agents have work to do as well.
In the publishing sector, book sales have gone up by 5% after years of slow but consistent decline. Areas of particular increase have been hardcovers and audiobooks.
That being said, the polarization of authors’ earnings has got to be redressed. The big names get larger revenues; the mid-career or less populist authors increasingly less. There are three areas I’m especially concerned about:
- Deep discounts – for a popular author, you can find that about 20% of their books are sold at the standard rate; and the rest at high discount;
- Special sales – large numbers ofcopies sold to places like The Works or The Book People for eye-wateringly low sums;
- Ebooks – publishers are resisting a review of the standard royalty, which was set at the emergence of this format years ago.
In TV drama, we’re seeing a boom in the quantity of commissions, as well as the quality. Besides Netflix and Amazon, other companies like Apple and Google are getting into the act. We’re busy making the most of this increase in opportunity, but here too there’s a caveat: these companies are making their own content in order to gain market share and drive down revenue to the creators, and to avoid having to buy from other producers (who would charge the
m more for their better, premium content).
For the first time recently I had a ‘What is a film?’ conversation with a prominent producer. What will make people make the trip to a cinema and pay the admission is under intense scrutiny. That being said, box office takings are up.
I’m hoping, too, that the globalisation of media companies will give us some buffer against the political and economic turbulence we’re seeing right now.
We’ll all see if I’m right about 2019. Meanwhile, Roz, Ruth and I wish you a very happy, productive and successful year ahead.
Meg
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
Writers are like buses...
Of course, nothing could be further than the truth, but in The Ki Agency world, we’ve just experienced a positive deluge of talented new screenwriters on our own doorstep. Not forgetting our early new signings in September this year, we have just signed FIVE brand new writers!
Following the quieter month of October and just like waiting for the irregular number nineteen bus in North London, we are now extremely proud to welcome, not only three but FIVE new people – ERICA HILLER CARPENTER & CARLYLE KING, a writing duo from LA, whose debut screenplay, THE ENGLISH BRIDE suitably impressed us, CASSIE JAUFFRET-LENZI, deserved winner of the recent Sitcom Mission (2018) with her jet black comedy about cancer and dating (!), THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS, PHILIP JOHNSTONE, a talented young Scotsman with a gritty writing style and last but no means least, SANDY NICHOLSON, a fascinating genre writer with a proud penchant for horror.
Managing writers’ expectations, regardless of age and experience is an essential aspect of any agent’s job. Naturally both agents and writers’ hopes will rise (all too often, up to sky-high) when a script is sent to a well-known and possibly a personal favourite film, TV company or producer. Trying to then elicit a response is a delicate matter and one where timing is all. Keeping cool during these periods is vital too as sometimes it can be a matter of days, weeks or even months. Prodding the people with power and money is part and parcel of any agent’s job, but to do so successfully whilst getting the best deal for a client, is certainly an acquired art.
Watch this space as we may have an exciting and important news announcement to make….
Roz
Photo by Jeremy Downes on Unsplash