Bestselling "dark fantasy" writer Kim Harrison, in a guest appearance at the WIPs and Chains* blog of romance author Heidi Betts, explains how she wound up with Richard Curtis as a literary agent:

"Several years before I met him," Harrison writes, "I had been a long-time member of my writing group, meeting every week and getting the guidance of an already published author along with several other talented individuals working for publication. When Gwen, my already published writer friend, thought my work was ready to be seen by New York, she encouraged me to attend to a writer conference to meet a few people, coaching me on the 30 second blurb, the one line blurb, and the dos and don'ts of how to talk to an agent without cornering him or her. What I didn't know was she invited Richard Curtis with the hopes that he would like my work."

She didn't think the first face-to-face went so well ("I felt like Ralphy sitting on Santa Claus's lap"), but apparently he thought it was fine, because he took her synopsis the next day, then got back in touch about a month later saying he thought he could sell it. And thus a career was launched.

*Works In Progress. And don't worry; the site has saucy illustrations, but is perfectly SFW.