THE WRONG STUFF

A struggling screenwriter recently wrote to Calendar Letters wondering if there was a place he could send “truly original” screenplays “to literate people who can read and are mature enough to understand a good story when they find it.”

“Nope,” was Calendar Letters’ flippant retort.

Wrong, claimed an enterprising Hollywood literary agent--let’s call him Agent X--who phoned to tell us that, despite what keeps showing up on our TV and movie screens, there actually are people in Hollywood who can read and who are always looking for quality scripts.

Agent X, who said he’s read 168 scripts since he last optioned one, tracked our letter writer down and agreed to read his three scripts--in addition to the 40 or 50 others he gets each week.

“Producers are desperate for good material,” Agent X said. “I could sell a script a day but I don’t have them. Every good producer knows the difference between mediocre and great, but most scripts are mediocre.”

Well, OK, but what about our hopeful letter writer’s three screen efforts? Um, Agent X recommended that he keep his day job.