Literary Management in Hollywood

Fervent Forte strongly believes that literary management can be a great boost – in other words, a great help – to screenwriters and teleplay writers in Hollywood, whether one is an experienced, industry-established screenwriter or a writer with talent looking for initial, break-in opportunities.  There’s a lot to screenwriting and teleplay writing – maybe more than relatively new writers realize – and idea- and story-shaping from someone experienced at that can really raise overall work product quality and a screenwriter’s profile.

An adept literary manager for the film and television industry in Hollywood can support creative endeavors in ways that fit and bring along, in a targeted way, individual writers with differing goals and capabilities.  Fervent Forte Management subscribes to this approach, and services include:

  • Film and television script idea development;
  • Writing coaching; script reviewing and editing;
  • Education about the Hollywood film and television “systems,” which includes coverage of changes and inevitable evolution to the way Hollywood works;
  • Giving Hollywood marketing-related guidance and advice;
  • Preparation assistance for in-person or written screenplay and teleplay pitches or proposals;
  • General film and television career guidance and counseling;
  • Industry introductions, and taking advantage of introduction and marketing opportunities that arise;
  • Assistance with creating content for non-traditional or newer media platforms; and
  • Working/coordinating with a Hollywood agent or attorney.

A guiding tenet of Fervent Forte is that, for better or worse, no two people in Hollywood (or elsewhere) have the exact same opinion about anything, including any piece of creative writing.  For an important Hollywood player, the difference between a winning script and something less than that could be something unanticipated and/or a difference that’s hard to effectively (or practically) pick apart.  This can mean that Hollywood successes and misses can, in fact, “live” close to one another.  Sometimes very close to one another.  That may be a very challenging situation to have to deal with, but it also represents an opportunity.  If one can just take a doable step over to a nearby success lane, a world of difference could open up.

Because of these realities, Fervent Forte Management believes that one sure way to succeed as a writer in Hollywood is to write enough great product that one can’t be denied.  And to keep cranking out the high-quality writings.  This can have the power to convince Hollywood professionals that a writer is a well-working fountain of eye-opening ideas and potentially lucrative projects.

Hollywood is variable enough that finish lines, including interim/incremental ones, are hard to predict, and things are at least a little different for every person and every film or television endeavor.  Fervent Forte’s approach is to work through every hurdle.  Although literary managers are not licensed talent agents who have the legal standing in California to procure work or negotiate employment contracts for screenwriters and teleplay writers, there is a lot of steering, arranging, and guiding they can do.  Fervent Forte Management is always looking for “more” in that regard.

For screenwriters and teleplay writers who do work with a literary manager and literary management firms, it is, of course, important to honor, so to speak, the power of others in Hollywood who hold keys to success on an idea or project.  That would mean honor the opinions of others who have the power to forward projects and writing careers.  “Honor” doesn’t mean always give in; it does mean always be respectful, understanding (or at least attempt to understand), collaborative, and willing to power-share the decision for a next creative step.  Fervent Forte believes it is important to be very patient with others in the film and television industry and always keep communications as positive as professionally possible.

And going even beyond that can benefit a Hollywood screenwriting or teleplay-writing career substantially.  In general, to get people to work with you, they have to like you, and liking you in the Hollywood context means more than just not disliking you.  Other professionals should really look forward to working with you.  As Fervent Forte sizes Hollywood up, style points count not just in writings, but also in personality and personal and professional attitude and outlook.  A screenwriter or teleplay writer needs to be and stay interesting, brightly insightful, funny, wonderfully nice, contagiously positive – or something else at that level of good-to-be-around.

If nothing else, Fervent Forte Management recommends always keeping one’s very best foot forward, and never deviating from that position.

MORE ABOUT HUNTER RIDGWAY

Hunter Ridgway founded Fervent Forte Management in Los Angeles in 2025 as a Hollywood literary management undertaking.  Hunter’s goal with Fervent Forte is to forward the vision of a select group of screenwriters and teleplay writers by developing and championing their passionate intensity and superior perception about drama and the world it illuminates.

Hunter’s foundation in screenwriting comes from his meticulous studying and cataloging of the fundamental and advanced elements of how to write an engaging, moving, screen story that began 1990 and continues to this day.  While working full-time on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for three+ decades, including serving as a congressional Chief of Staff for 27 years, Hunter also wrote a number of award-earning screenplays, including MARIA ISABELLA SILVALESSA, COUP OF ME, ELEANOR OF ELLENDALE OF EARTH, and I HATE THE SMART ART CLUB!

During this decades-spanning study and writing, Hunter outlined and strategically ordered creative, thought-provoking, screen story writing points spanning the topics (and delving into the subtopics) of visuality, conflict, pressure, emotional journeyism, motivation, characterization, backstory, complications, suspense, momentum, timing, subtext, crisis points, and theme, among other elements.  In 2017, he launched a uniquely thorough, independent screenwriting class in order to engage other writers and share information about what makes a great story.  These “Pen It by Hunter Ridgway” screenwriting classes have their own In-Class Workbook that lays out a multitude of screenplay writing/structure points and ingredients to an entertainingly memorable story.

A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Hunter Ridgway grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and Mobile, Alabama. He earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Virginia and is a law review graduate of Southern Methodist University (SMU) law school in Dallas.  During his time on Capitol Hill in Washington, Hunter served as a political staff director, senior communications manager, campaign advisor, and a legislative specialist in federal budget policy, including annual appropriations for transportation, housing and urban development, science, space, technology, and the Department of Commerce.