How to get one's screenplay noticed

[NCscreenwriter]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has any advice at all on getting a screenplay accepted by a literary agent, or at least read by someone with a production company? I'm listed with Inktip but so far, no luck except that my loglines/treatments get read. I don't want to have wasted $120 listing my 2 screenplays with these people, especially when a local company (New DayDream Films) bought a screenplay from someone who listed there. I don't want to be phony and tone down the language/graphic scenes in my screenplays but I'd really like to sell them, especially now that I've started others. How does one get one's foot in the door
as far as indie films? Thanks in advance!

 

[bird]

If you had mentioned that the movie was animation my advice would
have been different. Storyboards and artwork are essential to the
financing of an animated film.

Excellent, then I shall proceed as planned.

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Outstanding advice...

You need to be more proactive than listing in InkTip.

If you don't have any screenplay sales under your belt, you're
going to have to approach an agent cold. Without being able to
say, "Hey, I've sold a script! Sign me.", you have to entice them
some other way. There are two ways to get somebody to read
your script. You can network and get to know them on a personal
level, then ask them to read your script as a favor. Networking,
however, can take years to cultivate the kind of relationship where
an agent is willing to do you the personal favor of considering your
script without it feeling like you're using him. Your other option
is to query. Send a letter to agents, asking them to read your
script. Since you don't have any sold or produced screenplays
under your belt, your letter has to convince them that your
script is worthwhile anyway.

In order to maximize your chances of getting a sale or agent, you
should submit to prodCos as well as agents. An option (or better,
a sale) to a prodCo can often do wonders when it comes to finding
an agent. Almost any agent would be happy to take on a client
(and take his 10%) that's already done the legwork and found money
for his work. When sending query letters to prodCos, call ahead of
time and make sure you know how to spell the name of the person
you're sending it to, and what their exact title is. Screenplays are
read and considered by the Development (or Creative) department.
Just call the prodCo (contact info is listed in the Hollywood Creative
Directory) and ask the receptionist if they accept new material... and
if they do, to whom you should address the letter, and what their title is.

The best way to optimize your chances of getting an option or a sale
is to send it to as many people as possible. Agents, if they like the
script, will send it to the prodCos they have connections with. prodCos,
if they like the script, can pay you for your work, or at least give you
the clout to get an agent.

I would also suggest you drop the feeling that by compromising your
artistic vision you are being a phony. If your goal is to be an "artiste"
then you can stand by your principles and vision. If your goal is to be
a working screenwriter then compromise is essential. You won't always
get every single word up on the screen exactly as you wrote it.

As usual... I would only add that TODAY with the Internet, you might consider querying by email (eQuery) instead of letters... There will be those prodcos that can only be approached with an actually letter but many can and should be approached by email.

I've said this before but it bears repeating... Obtain a subscription to the Hollywood Creative Directory Online:

http://www.HCDOnline.com

I think a subscription is $20 a month... Lots of production companies and managers listed there. Managers are much more open to reading your spec than an agent.

TheOpusFuller is correct... Many say that they do not accept unsolicited material... Unsolicited material means sending your screenplay OUTRIGHT without first querying the prodco, manager, or agent. IF and that's a big IF... But IF your spec sounds marketable -- HIGH CONCEPT -- great HOOK -- then everyone will respond to an email query or query letter... It's just that MOST and by most I mean 98% of the queries both email and letters sound so derivative of other movies, that most if any will not be interested in your material.

Most agencies that I've had experience with won't even accept a script if you query them first... Supposedly the WGA has a list of agents that will accept queries:

http://www.wga.org/agency/agencylist.asp

But I see MANY agencies on that list that won't even read a query letter let alone respond to one... At least not the big agencies. Best to send the agencies on this list a query LETTER.

When querying prodcos, perform a Google search like this: "@prodcodomain.com"

Substitute the production company's domain for prodcodomain.com above... Scroll through the results to see if you can find additional email addresses... Doing this can often give you the formatting of the company's email addresses. My advice is to send to EVERYONE you can find because even a low level assistant is looking to become something OTHER than a low level assistant one day and maybe -- just maybe -- finding that breakout script is all they need to increase their position.

I just recently did this exact same thing because I am currently without an agent... I specifically targeted certain prodcos and performed the above search... Found the email addresses of a couple of Oscar winning actors and sent the eQuery... Most didn't respond but several did and now my script is in their hands. Probably a feat many agents couldn't have even accomplished -- based on my past history of agents. LOL.

filmy

 

[vicky revenge]

this question is for directorix.. does it matter where you're from? I'm from Indonesia.. If I send a query letter or my script to this agents.. are they gonna hold back or refuse it knowing I'm from another country? Thanks

 

[Padnar]

I do not about Indonesia , but I find quite tough to sell ,as I write Indian English . I feel that Indian English is akin to British English ,but I find people asking me in what language you are writing . I am confused myself .
padma

 

[vicky revenge]

i write american english.. but i guess you're right padnar.. I've been trying to send my script to a bunch of agencies in L.A. for a couple of months. They never reply, granted i never use the query letter thing. which agencies asked you that?

 

[directorik]

this question is for directorix.. does it matter where you're from? I'm from Indonesia.. If I send a query letter or my script to this agents.. are they gonna hold back or refuse it knowing I'm from another country? Thanks

The movie business, like any business, is social. Whenever people
are involved the social aspect comes into play. People love to
help people they know personally. So when an interesting query
comes in the producer or development exec wants to meet the
writer. When the writer lives in Indonesia that means they have to
pay to meet the writer.

A lot of people love to play the “exception” game - so I’ll play.
If you have an extraordinary script that will attract top actors
and a top director and is easy to market, the producer will pay
you to come out to Los Angeles (or New York) to meet and work on a
deal.

That’s my long way of saying, yes it matters.

I’m not saying there is no chance that you can sell a script in
the States - I’m saying you will have a much more difficult time
than a writer living and working in Los Angeles. and new writers
living and working in Los Angeles have a VERY difficult time
getting their scripts read.

According to the WGA, about 28,000 scripts were registered in
2009. It is estimated that 75% (about 21,000) of those were spec
scripts. According to Hollywood Reporter 436 spec scripts were
represented by agencies. 72 were sold or optioned.

 

[indietalk]

Put it in a box of Krispy Kremes and have it delivered to the studio readers.

 

[wcmartell]

Wow, everybody else got all the good answers, leaving me with squat.

If you aren't getting any bites, it's probably the bait. A logline is your story's basic idea - the "What's it about?" and if no one is biting I'd look at what your story is about and see if that could be the problem. The new issue of Script Magazine that comes out *tomorrow* has an article by me about being a judge at a film festival pitchfest - along with the producer of THE CRYING GAME. We listened to probably close to 100 pitches that night - and many were boring ideas or ideas not well thought out. The winners had ideas so cool we just had to read those scripts (and the guy from BBC and the indien producers and Stephen Woolley asked for those scripts). So look at your idea - does it have an amazing hook?

And, as others have said - e-query, snail-mail query, network, do everything you can.

I have no agent, no manager, and I do not know Tom Cruise's poolboy... but I have had 19 scripts filmed and have 2 assignments right now (one for a legendary producer who had 2 films come out last year and make money - one on Friday the 13th). I also have Luc Besson's company reading one of my scripts and a bunch of studio based producers reading... and I had a meeting aty Fox a few days ago on a project. I am not good at networking - but I have scripts with exciting ideas that also deliver on those ideas. All you really need are scripts....

Hey - there's something no one else in the thread has mentioned! Do you have a big ol' pile of scripts? The more scripts you have, the better your chances. When sending out queries, you can't really keep hammering away at producers and agent/managers with the same script. You need a different script each time you go back. Even though I have a stack of *great* unsold specs (looking for a good home) I am currently working on a new spec, and then after the assignments, working on *another* new spec. My theory on assignments is that they pay for me to write specs. So I always have something new.

Know that not every screenplay sells - even from professionals, even from famous professionals, even from professionals who have won Oscars. I have a stack of screenplays that have sold and a stack of screenplays that have not sold - want to guess which stack is bigger? Things do not happen overnight, and once you "break in" you must continue to break in with almost every screenplay.

- Bill

 

[vicky revenge]

Thanks directorix. could you give me like a sure way to get my script noticeable to this agents?or even a really really great query letter sample that would blow their brains out? please, teach me how..

 

[2001 Productions]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has any advice at all on getting a screenplay accepted by a literary agent, or at least read by someone with a production company? I'm listed with Inktip but so far, no luck except that my loglines/treatments get read. I don't want to have wasted $120 listing my 2 screenplays with these people, especially when a local company (New DayDream Films) bought a screenplay from someone who listed there. I don't want to be phony and tone down the language/graphic scenes in my screenplays but I'd really like to sell them, especially now that I've started others. How does one get one's foot in the door
as far as indie films? Thanks in advance!

I'll go along with the others here who've supported InkTip. When I first posted a screenplay there I had a request for a hard copy within 24 hours by a major H'wood production company. Ultimately, one of my listings led to my being signed by an LA manager and to meetings at major production companies, including Dreamworks (Spielberg) and Lightstorm (Cameron).

If the producers are only reading your log lines and synopses and not moving on to the screenplay, there is something lacking either in how your log lines/synopses are worded or in your overall concept. It's a good sounding-board for testing your concept. You can send out queries and such, but if no one on InkTip is moving past your log lines/synopses, chances are the recipients of your query won't either.

Try jazzing them up a little; after all, it's a sales pitch, not a grocery list. Choose exactly the right words and use no more of them than absolutely necessary. And, of course, have the killer script to back it up.

 

[Jijenji]

I am not an insider, but this has always been my read on the situation.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The real question is, whether or not getting noticed is extraordinarily difficult,
or if 99% of the writing is just not good enough.

Again, without being an insider, I can only guess.
I would guess that most people simply don't realize their writing is not good enough,
that producers and agents and actors and directors aren't interested because
the writing is mediocre or worse.

I have to admit, I have not spent 5 or 10 years of frustration trying to get my work noticed,
with nobody listening to me. I only hear the stories of how its so difficult,
you have to know the right people, the whole system is against you, etc. etc.

My life experience tells me that is unlikely to be the case. If you have something
people want (a good script), you should have no problem getting people to read it.
If you don't have something people want, then you have to try and try and get nowhere.

And I would guess most people are just not a good judge of their own ability.
Am I off base here?

 

[2001 Productions]

I agree with you Jijenji. I was one of those people. Everything I wrote was perfect; couldn't fathom why producers weren't lining up for a bidding war.

Then I read more and wrote more than a dozen feature screenplays, re-wrote earlier efforts multiple times, educated myself in use of the English language, years and years of effort, honing, perfecting. Eventually people started to take notice.

Then I signed with my manager, who wasn't afraid to point out the places where I still needed to improve my work - and there were a lot of them! Still are!

He and just about every industry person I've ever heard or read an interview with says exactly what you're saying: 99% of what gets submitted to them is poorly written and/or derivative.

 

[aceofspades70]

These days, (and i'm just sharing my honest opinion here) it isn't even worth it to write screenplays for a living, or even try to break into it for the passion of hoping to get noticed.

As stated in earlier posts, there are many many scripts that get submitted every year.

Simply put, if you don't catch the readers attention within the first 60 seconds, forget it.

The wording and structure for a screenplay must be so precise in order to be noticed.

Consider this as well; some individuals who write certain stories, are people that have lived the story they are writing. If they are writing a crime/drama, they were probably a cop or detective at one time.

So, the writers are people who have actually done what they are writing about.

I know I'll never write for big studios, I don't have the type of life experiences that are able to fulfill the kinds of mainstream action that is out there.

I'll stick to more simple ventures. That's just the way it is, and I'm fine with it.

Don't get discouraged though, if you really want to write, then write. Just make sure you're prepared for what lies ahead.

 

[wcmartell]

So, the writers are people who have actually done what they are writing about.

I don't think that's true at all. I kicked off a military action thing at HBO with a spec script about submarines, and was never on a submarine and never in the Navy or any other military service. I just did a bunch of research. That lead to a bunch of other script sales and assignments that were military based - more research!

I've also written and sold cop action scripts, a script about an SEC investigator (to MGM), and Luc Besson's company is reading my script about an Interpol agent. I was a fork lift jockey and a grocery store clerk - so far, have not sold any scripts about those professions. I have sold scripts about vampire hunters and cowboys and border cops in the future (a different kind of illegal alien) and all kinds of other cool occupations that I'm not sure really exist right now.

You don't need experience - you need imagination. To be creative and to be able to empathize.

James Cameron has never been to Pandora.

Shane Black has never been a private eye.

The guys who wrote KICK ASS have never been superheroes.

- Bill

 

[caseyhein]

These days, (and i'm just sharing my honest opinion here) it isn't even worth it to write screenplays for a living, or even try to break into it for the passion of hoping to get noticed.

With that kind of thinking you have killed your chances before FADE IN: Of course its worth it to pursue a living. If its what you need to do to be happy, then you give yourself to the craft. Someone more talented than I said luck=talent+perserverance. You don't get lucky when a script sells, its a direct result of your perserverance to get it read, and the work you put in to finish the script. If you get discouraged and give up after a few "passes" then your right, its not worth it to try make a living, a writers life is just not for you. I for one, know that there is nothing else that I can do to be happy and not hate my situation, I am a writer, I will be an amateur untill my first sells, but eventually it will. I have put a years into this and it is very hard, but its starting to come my way now. I don't regret a second of the hardship.

 

[2001 Productions]

The real challenge these days - if you're dealing with the studios - is getting them excited about an original spec. The vast majority of studio films are adaptations of existing properties (comic books, video games, TV shows, bestselling novels, etc.), remakes or sequels. Development executives hedge their bets on material which they perceive to have a pre-existing audience. As a spec writer, if you can't afford to option the rights to a known property you are not only starting off as an unknown talent, but with an untested concept -- truly the bottom rung of a very steep ladder.

An alternative is to market your material to the independent market, but good luck making a living at it.

 

[Graeme]

You don't need experience - you need imagination. To be creative and to be able to empathize.

And research (as mentioned above), lots of research.

On another note/recommendation:

I have a writer friend who gave me a script (well more of a play), now this guy can write wonderful sentences and excellent monologues. Trouble is its not a screenplay, but more a play, with a lot of monologuing. But I like the concept and the story overall, so what I told him is if I can fix it up, and he likes the fixes, I'll shoot it (It would be very cheap to do so).

I'm also reviewing and making comment/critiquing a 190 page story for another writer.

I also have two scripts currently completed their first drafts. The first thing I did was send it to 25 fellow amateur (some have been published) writers in the local writer's group and said "Hey have a read, if you like it and have some suggestions, let me know"... One week later I'm working on the second drafts with several good solid suggestions on how to make the story better.

So another suggestion I would recommend on getting your stuff noticed is pass it around to your writing friends and see what they think. Two heads are better than one, also it allows you to make connections you never knew where there (found another writer who has a few screenplays for children's show, may be interesting).

 

[wcmartell]

Yes - studios are more interested in "branded" stories (books, comics, board games, TV shows) than originals... but your original script is what gets you hired to do one of those. I've got a remake assignment right now, and I've been offered a stack of novels includfing DaVINCI CODE (turned it down) and *did* adapt a NYT best seller for a producer - never made. So your specs lead to those jobs.

But it is still a crazy business - no logic to it at all.

Best way to get your scripts noticed is to write a great script with a great idea.

- Billl
Free Script Tips:
http://www.ScriptSecrets.Net

 

[2001 Productions]

Bill, you are totally correct, and I didn't mean to dissuade anyone from writing specs (that's what I write, after all). Just illustrating the challenge of actually getting one produced.

 

[Jijenji]

Bill, you are totally correct, and I didn't mean to dissuade anyone from writing specs (that's what I write, after all). Just illustrating the challenge of actually getting one produced.

I think the odds of a newcomer getting a spec produced
are the same as getting an adaptation produced: slim.

That is to say, write whatever you want.

But write it good.