|
||||||||||
|
Subscribe to the Absolute Write Newsletter and get the Agents! Agents! Agents! report free! Click here.
|
Win a 1-year subscription to Writer's Digest by subscribing to Absolute Markets-- all paying markets for your writing. Click here. |
|
| |||||||||||||
|
|
Interview
with Dr. Ken Atchity, Chairman and CEO of A.E.I. Inc.
Interview
by Mehroo Siddiqui With more than thirty years of
experience in the publishing world, and over ten years in entertainment, Ken
Atchity is a writer, producer, teacher, and literary manager, responsible for
launching dozens of books and films. Always a high achiever, Dr. Atchity
received his PhD from Yale University, was formerly a professor of
Comparative Literature and Creative Writing at Occidental College, Fulbright
Professor to Italy, and Distinguished Instructor at UCLA's Writers Program. He
has written fourteen books, and based on his own
teaching and writing experience, he has successfully built best-selling careers
for novelists, nonfiction writers, and screenwriters from the ground up. Now, as
chairman and CEO of Atchity Editorial/Entertainment International, Inc., Dr.
Atchity is maximizing his entrepreneurial skills to provide a one-stop
full-service management machine for commercial and literary writers by building
their presence on the Web,
promoting their books and careers through public relations,
media management, and speaking engagements,
selling their books to publishers, and producing motion pictures
and television films
of client screenplays, novels, and nonfiction books. Tell me about A.E.I; how and when was it conceived and how has the journey been from then until now? Atchity Entertainment International (www.aeionline.com) is the company I formed with my partner Chi-Li Wong after I sold my first company L/A House, Inc., which had produced my first 16 films (romance movies, made direct to video and TV). I made sure the name abbreviated to “aei” because that's the Homeric Greek word for “forever”-- a private reminder of where I'd started from (as a professor of Classical and Comparative Literature, whose first book was on Homer). Although it was first a production company, AEI evolved into a management company when Chi-Li pointed out that my strength in my former career was developing writers and understanding the underlying mythic structure of stories (I once had a column in Entertainment Today on “myth and film” where I analyzed contemporary films by reference to how well they lived up to their underlying mythic structures). As a management and production company, in exchange for developing careers and stories, we have access to stories to produce-- an access you otherwise get only with deep pockets (which we've never had). Are you satisfied by
your progress? Yes, I'm satisfied, on the deepest level, because I'm doing what I was destined to do and loving every minute of it. No, I'm never satisfied-- which is what drives me from 4 or 5 a.m. every day till I wind down for the evenings, at around 7 or 8. I'm a dreamer, with dreams of my own, and I'm especially a recognizer and enabler of other people's dreams-- so I'm never going to run out of dreams that need to be made into realities, at least until humans stop coming up with and needing stories. I know we can do better, which is why I'm in the middle of a major capital campaign, expansion fund plus production fund, to enhance our sales abilities and our production capacities. What about Writer's Lifeline? How did that come into being? Would you say that A.E.I. provided you with the motivation and inspiration to begin Writer's Lifeline? Yes, precisely. After AEI existed for a few years, I kept seeing GREAT concepts poorly executed-- that were basically homeless. Chi-Li Wong, my partner, pointed out that what I USED to do as a professor of Creative Writing (as well as Comparative Literature and Mythology) was developing writers-- and we realized very few people were specifically developing writers for the COMMERCIAL MARKETPLACE. So I founded, with my sister and best editor, Andrea McKeown, the Writer's Lifeline (the title based on a several-years series of lectures I gave monthly, at the Beverly Hills Library, about the world's greatest storytellers) to help writers' skill and craft come up to the level of their vision and ambition (subscribe@thewriterslifeline.com, for a daily inspirational newsletter). You say that you left the academic literary world for Hollywood because of the need for 'creative freedom' (http://webdelsol.com/SolPix/sp-keninterview.htm). Can you elaborate on that? How did the latter inhibit your creativity and how did Hollywood nurture it? As I spell out in my new book, How to Escape Lifetime Security and Pursue Your Impossible Dream: A Guide to Transforming Your Career (Helios), I felt the academic world wanted you to specialize too much and wanted you to limit your aspirations to purely academic matters, while mine are, basically, unlimited (and therefore unlimitable). Hollywood nurtures creativity because it PREFERS you if you think big, and accepts you immediately on that level if you deliver what it requires-- big stories, well-executed, and well-developed. You are known as a
producer, literary manager, author, screenwriter, editor, publishing and
creativity consultant, magazine writer, book critic, and public speaker! Also,
you have worked as a professor in the past. What have you most enjoyed doing and
why? I enjoy it all, but especially miss teaching in the auditorium with a large audience needing information and inspiration. I've been the keynote speaker at several writers’ conferences, and love doing that. Writers crave inspiration, and I love being the enthusiast who appreciates their vision. Once in a while I miss writing reviews for The Los Angeles Times. But dealing with four $100-million films at the same time, as we are now, requires focus-- a book review makes no sense when the hours it takes to write it can be closing the last hitch in a film deal heading for green light. Haven't you ever felt that it is a great deal of work trying to balance so many things at one time? I guess I'd feel that way if I regarded what I do as work. I love what I do so much it's really more like “focused play” than effort. That doesn't mean my brain doesn't get fried nearly every day. It does. But that's why we have evenings, and it's why I work out in the a.m. for at least an hour! Through your books
you give tips to aspiring writers and artists on how to better their work and
embrace the 'creative lifestyle.' Was anyone around to offer you such advice
when you were young and beginning your career? It must be very satisfying to be
in a position to be able to help people in this way... what inspired you to
write your first book? I was fortunate enough to have a father who taught me micro-management and accounting; a mother who urged me to reach for the stars; and great academic mentors, like novelist John Gardner (who taught me to write for the general audience) and professors Tom Bergin (persistence), Lowry Nelson (Go for it!), and Bart Giamatti (accept the higher challenge) at Yale. When I broke into my new career, dozens of people helped me along the way-- Dennis Stanfill; my attorneys, Joel McKuin and Jeff Frankl; and director Mort Ransen. But lacking a mentor specifically for that purpose led me to write books to help others. I looked around, saw people I admired, and learned from their approaches. I recently jointed the Producers Guild of America's mentorship program to mentor others formally. What PGA didn't know is that I myself wanted to apply to be a mentee! As a literary manager, what would your ideal client be like? Have you met someone like that yet? Our ideal client-- and we have several, I'm happy to report-- is a writer who's serious about his or her career, and has a sense of humor about his or her ego. He knows the world he wants to enter hasn't just been sitting on its hands waiting for his entrance, and that it takes time because there are others before him in the queue. He's respectful of your time, as a result; and dead serious about where he invests his own time-- he'd never think of writing a novel or screenplay without checking with you first to see if there's a market for it. He writes from his heart, but writes about things that matter to the rest of us. He wants to break in so badly, or to move to the next level so badly, that he'll do anything (legal) required to get there. He joys in getting critical notes because he realizes how rare it is to get any notes at all-- and knows this is the only way to continue growing and learning. His mantra to you is, “I just want to be the best I can be,” instead of, “I just want to do what I want to do.” He respects my staff as much as he does me, and doesn't use us as psychiatrists-- that's what his spouse is for! Gratitude and loyalty are good, too. What is the difference between a literary manager and literary agent and how can people contact you for representation? The difference is spelled out on our website, www.aeionline.com: primarily it's (a) that managers produce films, agents don't; so if your book has film potential, we can help you on both coasts; (b) our primary incentive is to produce; for that reason we refund our sales commission on the dramatic rights to your work once we receive our producing fees from the film's financier; and (c) we focus on the writer's career, and prioritizing his or her choices of what to work on next, more than most agents have time for. We work with agents all the time, by the way, both NY literary agents and Hollywood literary and talent agents. What do you look for
in the works of people you agree to represent? We look for big concepts, well-executed, that appeal to the story needs of global markets-- issues that affect us all today as human beings in a troubled world that is as rich in potential as it is filled with terror. Don't tell us “my story can be done for a budget.” We have four $100-million plus films set to go into production-- and by far they are easier to set up than the smaller ones. Everyone loves HUGE ideas-- if they are original-- American-set, male leads (for film), high-concept, and franchisable (meaning the hero can go on in another book or novel). Is there also an
ideal project, as a literary manager/producer/author, that you look forward to
working on in the future? What would that be like, if you could elaborate on
this please. I'm selfishly tempted here to tell the truth (instead of marketing for new clients!): I'd love to produce Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind, as I would have loved to produce Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. In fact, I'd love to WRITE one of them. I'm also secretly working on a better film treatment of The Iliad than Troy’s, which I thought was pathetically inept at bringing us the power of Homer's story. Short of that; bring me Michael Chabon or the next Michael Chabon, Amy Tan or the next Amy Tan! Do you think a great many new writers have benefited from companies like A.E.I and Writer's Lifeline? How? I don't understand this question. Of course they have. We are the bridges to the buyers of stories, and without the buyers writers would remain closet cases. Is there any part of
the work you do that you dislike? Why or why not? I don't like dealing with insane writers or directors or producers who don't have their insanity under control. Fortunately, having learned the warning signs of suicidal narcissism by heart now, I have to do that less and less. The degree of self-sabotage artists are capable of I used to consider interesting; now it's just pitiful and/or disgusting. If you can't contain your madness, and turn it into method, you shouldn't be playing on this particular game board-- there are too many people who can control themselves lined up waiting to get onto it. In the same
interview which you gave to Michael Neff (http://webdelsol.com/SolPix/sp-keninterview.htm),
you mention that 'the masses we court appreciate art but only if it's disguised
as drama.' Do you think then, that the taste of the masses cannot be developed
towards the more 'artsy' and less commercial and dramatic? What if you receive a
screenplay which has obviously been written with a great deal of sincerity and
which shows a lot of talent but is more inclined towards art than drama? I believe the taste of the “masses,” which is your word not mine, can evolve toward the better-- and, in fact, does so: more people in sheer numbers go to art films and read literary books than ever before. I just don't think it's my particular mission to get them to that point, though it's ONE of the pleasures I allow myself every time we take on a great “indie” screenplay for management or production. It just has to be very, very good so it's clear to me and everyone who sees it from me why I'm involved in it. Many that come in this category are NOT that good, just think they are. About 20% of what we're involved in is this kind of movie -- and we're hoping it'll be a higher number, especially coming from literary novelists like Yoram Kaniuk (whose Adam Resurrected and The Queen and I we are involved with). I realize that you
have written books on this topic so there is a lot you can say about it but if I
ask you to give one piece of advice to people who want to make a name as writers
what would you say? More than one piece of advice, or one piece strung together: I'd say begin with the premise that you will never give up, never allow discouragement to interfere with persistence, worship only your work and never your ego, value those who will give you honest response, and never force them by your behavior to be less than honest. - For inspiration, tips, and news about AEI, Inc. and Writers Lifeline, Inc. clients, subscribe@thewriterslifeline.com. - Originally from Pakistan, where she worked in the publications department of an organization, Mehroo Siddiqui is currently doing her Masters from George Mason University in Virginia.
|
Sponsored links 
Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer! How to find a book publisher |
Text on this site Copyright © 1998-2007
Absolute Write, all rights reserved.
|
