Professional screenwriters love carving out stories. Agents and managers love the business of carving out deals and careers. Then there is the perfect storm, the meeting of these two forces. In Hollywood, it’s called a bidding war.

Jewerl Ross grew up in Los Angeles and left Southern California to study political philosophy at Yale. After graduating in 1997, he returned to L.A. to work in entry-level positions at ICM and Paradigm before joining APA as an agent in early 1999. Three years later, after making a name for himself selling spec scripts, Marathon Entertainment hired Ross as a manager. In January 2006, Ross left to form his own company, Silent R Management.

“It’s definitely given my career a jump start, and it’s definitely given me a lot of great meetings,” says first-place winner Tejal Desai, the 40-year-old pharmacist from Austin, Texas. Desai’s script, Cowboys and Hindus, is about a traditional Hindu woman who discovers the meaning of true American grit when she becomes a cattle rancher. Script sat down with the writer see how Big Break™ changed his life.

Panelists and Script readers convened at Writers Boot Camp in Santa Monica, to discuss the function of representation and the opportunities available in today’s changing market.

Panelists and Script readers convened at Writers Boot Camp in Santa Monica to discuss the function of representation and the opportunities available in today’s changing market.