Write On: Screenwriting Coach Lee Jessup & Literary Manager Jeff Portnoy

“The streaming bubble finally popped, and I think the tip of the
spear that popped it was the double strikes we had last year and
now we’re calling it the great contraction. It’s a really tough
time for up-and-coming writers to break in. It’s tough for
everyone, even up-and-coming agents and managers, anyone coming
out to Hollywood to pursue a career. It’s one of the toughest
times ever, so you need to be patient,” says literary manager
Jeff Portnoy, of Bellevue Productions.  


On today’s podcast, guest host Lee Jessup, Hollywood’s leading
screenwriting career coach and judge of the Big Break
screenwriting competition, interviews Jeff Portnoy, literary
manager for Bellevue Productions. They discuss the current state
of the industry and how it’s affecting writers. 


“We’ve been encouraging a lot of new writers to focus on features
at the moment and explaining how bleak the TV staffing market is
right now. So if they have hopes of getting staffed, it’s very
difficult right now. Typically, if we had a client who wants to
write in the TV space, we’d help them get a TV agent and we, the
agents and I, would go out and try to get them staffed. But
agents aren’t really signing anyone below mid level right now, so
they’re not taking on those up-and-coming writers,” says
Portnoy. 


But there is hope considering business trends are always
cyclical. Portnoy shares this advice about writing spec features
in this climate: “You want to stand out and that comes down to
your ideas. The execution has to be great. It’s about choosing
ideas that really stand out in a pack – the words I like to use
are loud, bold, audacious. Managers, agents, producers – we see
thousands of loglines a month and if we see a logline that’s
loud, audacious and bold, it’s going to stand out.”


To hear more about the state of the industry, listen to the
podcast.