Read 'Will an established writer get credit for my screenplay?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“Upon finishing a screenplay I contacted a producer/script doctor/who seemed to know what he was talking about…and as a published screenplay writer himself, he advised me that most likely my own name would never ever be attached to this project should it ever be sold. Instead a published screenplay writer would take credit for my own writing…the trade off is a large payment ranging between 1-5 (million) or so he said. This would be payment for all rights concerning this project. The news felt like a slap in the face. My desire is for a career-with my book rights in tact-not a get rich quick exercise.

Mr. Meyers-is any of what I have been told regarding unpublished screenplay writers true at all? Is it really true that an established screenplay writer would take full credit for an entire years worth of my hard work-and the studio would retain all creative rights after the sale?”

No need to worry. I’m not sure what “script doctor” you used but as best I can tell he’s wrong on every front.

Virtually no screenwriter is paid over a million dollars for a single script and the few who might get close to that figure are certainly not new writers, they’re established screenwriters with serious track records. I haven’t heard of anyone getting this sort of money since the early 90′s when Shane Black and Joe Eszterhas were all the rage. In fact I don’t know of any screenwriter who has been paid anything close to 5 million for a single script. I think Shane Black or Joe Eszterhas hold the record for a single payday and it’s only around the 3 million dollar mark.

If your screenplay is bought by a large production company they will most likely be a WGA signatory production company, in which case they have agreed to abide by strict standards set forth by the WGA – which is in business to protect writers. Without going into elaborate details, suffice it to say that the WGA has very fair guidelines on who gets writing credit on a film so you have nothing to worry about. In general when you sign an option agreement with a WGA signatory production company there will be a clause in the option agreement that credits will be given according to WGA guidelines.

If your screenplay is bought by a smaller production company that is not a WGA signatory company you would need to be a little more careful and in your agreement with them you would want to lay out the writing credits. Generally what will happen is that in the option/purchase agreement you would have a clause specifically stating how writing credits will be awarded and you can state that you must receive writing credit. Typically the producer will want to have the ability to assign writing credits to other writers if he has to hire other writers to do rewrites (which is fair) but it’s also fair that you would always receive a writing credit too, no matter how much rewriting goes on. I’ve optioned dozens of screenplays over the years and I’ve never once had a producer try and prevent me from getting a writing credit. It doesn’t cost a producer anything to give out credits so he’s usually more than happy to accommodate a writer on this.

Read 'Log Line Help – Crafting the Perfect Introduction to Your Story' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

This post was guest written by Script Quack. They offer professional script analysis and are currently giving readers of SellingYourScreenplay.com a special discount. Just enter the discount code “sellingyourscreenplay” (without the quotes) on the discount page which can be found here:

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There’s a lot of mystery surrounding log lines. What are they? Do screenwriters really need them? Is there any correlation between log lines and actual logs in the forest?

When prodded, Google coughed up these top two definitions:

1) “A log line or logline is a brief summary of a television program or film, often providing both a synopsis of the program’s plot, and an emotional ‘hook’ to stimulate interest.” – Wikipedia

Okay. So according to Wikipedia, the log line for “The Bourne Identity” would look like the summary provided on Net Flix…

“Wounded to the brink of death and suffering from amnesia, Jason Bourne is rescued at sea by a fisherman. With nothing to go on but a Swiss bank account number, he starts to reconstruct his life, but finds that many people he encounters want him dead. Bourne realizes, though, that he has the combat and mental skills of a world-class spy, but who does he work for?”

2) “A log line is a one sentence summary of your script.” – Scriptologist

In accordance with this definition, something like this might make more sense: “A man with a damaged memory struggles to uncover his identity while fighting off an army of trained assassins, ultimately learning that he too was one of these assassins, and escaping to an island with a pretty girl.”

A little clunky. Not much of a “hook to stimulate interest” there either.

At Script Quack Script Analysis, our definition of log lines bridges the gap between the two excerpted above. We like to think of the log line as a one sentence description of your story, outlining the key elements of hero, antagonist, conflict and irony.

Our ideas about log lines were largely sculpted by Blake Snyder’s interpretation in “Save the Cat.” Snyder’s book focuses on crafting commercially viable screenplays. As such, he also suggests that your log line indicate audience and cost.

But still, knowing all that doesn’t shine a very bright light on the process of crafting a good log line. It’s often an arduous, painstaking task, where the patient screenwriter must turn a pile of words over and over again, until they somehow resemble a smooth, seamless movie idea.

And that’s why log lines are so essential. They force you to sculpt, trim and prune your idea into one that’s worth outlining, writing and re-writing a million times.

Sometimes attempting to form a log line will teach you that your idea just doesn’t work. But when you’ve got a good idea, your log line will be the first nugget of gold that will guide you throughout the entire process.
So without further delay, let’s mold a messy, nebulous idea into a strong log line that indicates hero, antagonist, conflict, irony, audience and cost. We’ll continue to use “The Bourne Identity” for this exercise.

In the beginning, all you’ll really have is the bones of your idea, or story. The first step is to write all that down, as succinctly as you can. It’ll be very loose, and much too long at first, but don’t worry about that for now.

For Bourne, maybe you’d write something like the Netflix blurb, something like this:

When a highly-trained super spy wakes up with amnesia, on a boat in the middle of the sea, he begins the process of discovering his true identity. But the process is complicated, when he’s chased by stealthy assassins, and must risk his life. He runs from the assassins, darting across Europe with a beautiful female companion. In the end, he discovers that he is actually one of these assassins himself, but decides to run away, and give up killing forever.

Now that that’s out of the way, you can start trimming. Read the clunky, awkward sentences above like an encrypted prison letter. There’s valuable stuff in there, if you can just find it. Scan for hero, antagonist, conflict and irony and cut everything else.

That leaves “highly trained super spy,” “stealthy assassins,” “chased by…” and the irony is essentially Bourne’s amnesia.

Don’t be afraid to leave out any details other than those specified above. All effective log lines omit story details. In the Bourne log line, for instance, we don’t need to mention Europe, the female companion, or the end of the story. Log lines are about brevity and subtlety. The power comes from how quickly and effectively you can communicate your idea.

Take a second pass at the log line now, trying to include only the elements you scanned for after the first pass. Maybe you’ll come up with something like this:

When a highly trained super spy with amnesia is hunted by stealthy assassins, he has to stay alive long enough to figure out who he is.

Clearly, this isn’t eloquent writing. Right now, you’re just getting your ideas out. Block out your filter. Ignore that voice screaming that “THAT SENTENCE IS TERRIBLE AND CONFUSING!” Remain patient as you polish – the end result will be worth it.

Time for another pass. This time, try to mold these elements with a little more grace. Cut unnecessary words, and make sure your details are accurate, informative and essential.

The first thing I’d cut is “when.” This is a mistake that lots of first time writers make. “When” is an unnecessary word. If you cut it, you’ll throw your reader into the meat of your concept more quickly. The ‘when’ is implied.

Next, look at how you’ve defined your hero. “Highly trained super spy.” That’s actually not too bad. But it’s a little redundant. Cut ‘super’ and the log line will work better.

Continue to scour the log line for small redundancies. Play around with the order of the words. Make sure that all of the essential elements are clearly defined and prominent in the log line.

You’ll end up with something like this…

A highly trained spy wakes up with amnesia and must determine his true identity before he’s killed by government assassins.

This log line is short and powerful. Notice the presence of all the necessary elements:

hero – a highly trained spy

antagonist – government assassins

conflict – evading the assassins, figuring out true identity

irony – a super spy with amnesia

Also take notice of the adjectives we’ve used. They were carefully selected to communicate as much as possible about the story in very few words.

Finally, this log line clearly indicates audience and cost. Because it is a slim, trim story description, it’s clear that this is a standard ‘genre’ piece. It’s an action thriller. The demographic is clear. The cost can certainly vary, but could be ball-parked pretty accurately based on similar movies in the genre.

Although this process isn’t the most glamorous part of screenwriting, it’s immensely satisfying. Log lines are hugely important to screenwriters. Yes – of course it’s possible to write without one, but we don’t advise it.

Why deny yourself the joy of a tight, compact concept? As you form your outline and write your draft, you’ll find yourself referring back to the log line over and over again. It keeps you on track and will save you weeks – maybe months – of rewriting in the future.

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Script Quack offers log line analysis service, where your log line will receive the same treatment as displayed above. Just $4.99.

Script Quack is currently giving readers of SellingYourScreenplay.com a special discount. Just enter the discount code “sellingyourscreenplay” (without the quotes) on the discount page which can be found here:

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Read 'The 100% guaranteed sure fire way to get your screenplay made into a movie' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

If you follow through and do this one simple thing I guarantee that you will be able to get your screenplay turned into a movie. It doesn’t matter how good your screenplay is. It doesn’t matter how many grammatical or spelling errors are in your screenplay. It doesn’t matter if your screenplay is formatted properly or not. It doesn’t matter if your screenplay is structured correctly. It doesn’t matter how long your screenplay is. The tip I’m about to give you puts you in charge and you get to make the movie exactly the way you want to make it.

The hardest part, hands down, about making a movie is raising the money. So the one simple thing you can do that will guarantee that your screenplay gets made into a movie: raise the money yourself! If you raise the money to shoot your movie you will be able to find thousands of hungry producers eager to work with you and shoot your screenplay. You will be their boss and you will dictate everything (if you choose).

A while back Script Doctor Eric contacted me and told me a little bit about his screenplay consulting service and offered to evaluate one of my screenplays for free. He didn’t write me and ask if I could recommend his service to my readers. And he didn’t write me and ask me to recommend his service after he did the free evaluation on my script. He just started a conversation with me and offered to do something nice for me and help me with what ever current project I was working on. So I sent him a screenplay and he promptly gave me notes in return. I genuinely liked the notes he gave me and felt that they helped me with the next draft of the screenplay. Since then I’ve recommended his service several times. In addition I told him about the writer’s group that I was in and he ended up joining the group and we’ve become friends since.

Now compare that with the people who contact me (quite often) who want me to recommend their screen writing services, contests, or websites and don’t offer to do anything for me. They usually end up in my trash bin without a reply. It’s not that these services are always terrible. Some of them might be quite good. But how can I recommend something I know nothing about?

When Eric contacted me he offered to do something for me instead of simply asking me to do something for him. When a screenwriter sends out a query letter to a producer he’s contacting someone who he doesn’t know and asking for a favor; “will you read my screenplay, option it, and ultimately produce it?” A good producer has lots of people asking for the same thing so it’s not that producers are ogres or the system is stacked against you, it’s just that there are lots of people out there competing for the same precious production funds and why should anyone take you seriously?

So it occurred to me, how could I craft a query letter where instead of me asking for a favor from the producer, I was contacting them and offering them something that they actually wanted? So far the only thing I’ve come up with is raising some or all of the production budget. As mentioned, raising the money is by far the hardest part of making a movie so if you can raise the money to shoot your film you’re guaranteeing that it will get green lit and make it into production. In the current market if you were able to raise even 25% of the production budget that would be a huge help to a producer and he’d be almost certain to at least give your script a read because right off the bat you’ve done something to help him and make his life easier.

So there you have it… the secret to getting your screenplay made really is that simple; raise the money yourself and you hold all the cards.

Now if you’ve raised a reasonable amount of money to shoot your screenplay and you are still wondering what the next step is feel free to contact me as I know many producers who would be very eager to make your movie.

By the way, if you’re good at raising money please email me your address. I have a few screenplays I want to send you!

Read 'Professional Screenwriting Tools' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

SellingYourScreenplay.com is happy to announce the launch of our suite of professional screenwriting tools. Here is what you get when you join:

Screenwriter Website You get your very own screenwriter website. We’ve built a simple admin interface (no html or programming experience needed) so you can build a professional looking website to highlight your career as a screenwriter, list log lines, synopses, and some background information on yourself. Your screenwriter website will look something like this: www.ashleymeyers.com. To learn more about how a webpage can be a valuable marketing tool for a screenwriter check out this post: Why you need a screenwriter website.

Screenwriting Forum We’ve created a forum for serious screenwriters who want to take their careers to the next level. Inside the forum you will get personal career coaching and counseling from produced screenwriter Ashley Scott Meyers. In addition, Ashley Scott Meyers will help you prepare your log lines, query letters, and synopses so you can make professional high-impact submissions to agents, mangers, and producers using Selling Your Screenplay’s fax and email query letter submission service. Click here to learn more about our screenwriting forum: Screenwriting Forum.

Access to our fax and email query letter submission service to agents and managers or producers Once you have a professional log line, query letter and synopsis for your screenplay you can use our fax / email service. We currently have more than 500 email addresses and/or fax numbers for agents and mangers in our database. We currently have more than 1000 email addresses and/or fax numbers in our database for producers. In many cases the email address we have is a specific person at a company who handles screenplays and not just a general “query@companyname.com” or “info@companyname.com” email address. The membership price for fax / email blasts to agents and managers is $109 per blast. the memberships price for fax / email blasts to producers cost $139 per blast. This service is currently only available to members. To learn more about our fax and email query service please read this post: Query letter submission service.

Membership to our suite of professional screenwriting tools cost just $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year (2 months free!). Plus if you pay for a full year you will get a domain name attached to your screenwriting website and you won’t have to use a sub-domain (i.e. www.yourname.com instead of yourname.superscreenplay.com).

Purchase a 1 month subscription via PayPal to Selling Your Screenplay’s suite of professional screenwriting tools.

Purchase a 1 year subscription via PayPal to Selling Your Screenplay’s suite of professional screenwriting tools (2 free months plus a free domain name!).

What people are saying about our fax / email submission service:

“After using the Query Letter Submission Service at SellingYourScreenplay.com to effortlessly blast out a personalized query letter to 500 literary managers, I received 40 requests for my screenplay and booked several meetings before signing with my new manager. Now my screenplays are being submitted to studios and production companies all over town. I love this writer’s eblast tool!” – Marie R

Read 'What to expect from your screenplay query submissions' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

If you read this blog regularly you know that I’m a big proponent of marketing your own work. Check out my post How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell) to learn how to submit your work to producers, agents, and managers. In addition have a look at my post Getting your screenplay to producers and production companies to learn more about the actual submission process.

I get a lot of questions about what happens after you’ve made your query letter submission. So I’m going to try and answer those questions in this post.

I talk about response rates in my post Getting your screenplay to producers and production companies but suffice it to say when you’re making cold submissions to production companies and agents you’re doing pretty well if you can get 5% of them requesting your script, maybe a little higher with production companies and a little lower with agents/managers.

When submitting to companies in The Hollywood Creative Directory you’re going to get a certain percentage of companies sending back your query letter unread saying they do not read unsolicited material. Don’t worry too much about this, it’s normal. Rejection is a big part of this process so get used to it. I wrote this post which might shed some additional light on companies that don’t take unsolicited material: Submitting to companies that don’t take unsolicited material.

In addition if you send snail mail letters you’re going to get a lot of returned letters where the post office has written something like “not at this address.” Again, this is normal. Production companies move and go out of business all the time. Which is why the HCD updates their information 3 times per year. This can be as high as 5% of your total submissions. Just update your database so you don’t waste another query letter on this company and move on. But you should always be updating your database, too, with a fresh copy of the HCD. I would recommend either joining online or simply buying a copy at least once per year so you can check your database and see if you have the most up-to-date address for a company.

Of the companies that request your script probably half of them will want you to sign their release form. I wrote a post here about release forms: Signing a release form for your screenplay.

Read 'Writing A Screenplay Logline' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

You will need a great screenplay logline to sell your script.  The logline will be a one or two sentence pitch of your film.  You will use it in your query letter to agents and producers and you will use it to pitch your script idea to anyone who asks about it.  You should practice it a bit out loud so that you can easily recite it.  If you live in L.A. being able to recite your logline can be very important as you never know who you might run into.

I often see screenwriting books and websites define the logline as the “short blurb in the T.V. Guide” that describes a film in a sentence or two. I think this is a horrible definition of what you want your logline to be.  Just open up any T.V. guide and you’ll see that they’re often written by hacks and usually do very little to sell the film.  Your logline must be compelling and make people want to read the entire script or at the very least make them want to read your synopsis.

I point this out mainly so you don’t open up the T.V. guide for assistance in writing your logline.  Keep in mind the reason for your logline: it’s to get someone to read your script, practically at all costs.  The T.V. guide blurb is there to give the viewer a truthful, straightforward summation of the story so they can decide if they want to watch the movie or not.  There’s a big different.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Here’s the one sentence logline I found for Die Hard on IMDB:

New York cop John McClane gives terrorists a dose of their own medicine as they hold hostages in an LA office building.

I think this logline sums up the story pretty well.  After all, Die Hard was about McClane whooping terrorists’ asses in an LA office building.  One thing that I hate about this logline, and it’s something you see a lot, is that it uses a clichéd figure of speech (dose of their own medicine).  I think they’re used often mainly because they can convey a lot of meaning in a relatively short space.  Personally I hate them and I think you should avoid them.  To me it is a lazy way to describe your script and it makes it seem clichéd and unoriginal – how many movies could you describe as the hero gives the bad guys a “dose of their own medicine”?  If you find a more original way to describe your script it will sound more original.

Here’s how I might have written a logline if I had written the script for Die Hard:

When NYC cop John McClane gets trapped in an LA office building taken over by terrorists, he kicks the shit out of them one terrorist at a time.

Obviously you can’t use the word “shit” in a T.V. guide blurb but that’s the great thing about what you’re writing – it’s not a T.V. guide blurb – it’s a one sentence pitch of the movie and you can use whatever language you need to sell your script.  I think saying “he kicks the shit out of them one terrorist at a time” really sums up the “R” rated violent humor this action flick and would do a lot more to sell this script then the IMDB logline.

Here’s the logline I found on IMDB for Easy Rider:

Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.

Are you kidding me?  I love this movie but would this pitch really get me to read the script?  Only if I knew that Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson were in the film!  So if you don’t have that level of actor attached to your project you’re going to need a better logline.

Here’s my re-written logline for Easy Rider:

Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in a cocaine funded, LSD fueled road “trip” encountering dirty hippies, a convict lawyer, and murdering bigots.

The story for my screenplay Dish Dogs was actually similar to Easy Rider.  Here’s the logline I wrote for it:

Dish Dogs is the story of two college graduates, fed up with society and eager to gain some measure of free will; so they drive around the country in a 1958 Ford pick-up truck washing dishes.

Your logline should include the main character(s), the antagonist(s), the central conflict of the script, and give solid clues about the genre and tone of the script.  This sounds like a lot but that’s what you need to do.

In Die Hard John McClane is the hero which is in the logline I wrote.  The terrorists are the antagonist and they supply the conflict, which is also in the logline I wrote.  It’s a tongue-and-cheek action movie (tone and genre) which I think “he kicks the shit out of them one terrorist at a time” makes clear.

In Easy Rider Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda are the “Two counterculture bikers” that the story revolves around.  “Murdering bigots” are the antagonists and supply some of the conflict – although the hippies and convict lawyer do also.  The genre is pretty clear, too, it’s a road buddy movie (Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans).  The tone is summed up by the entire sentence (I hope).  Easy Rider isn’t a comedy and there’s nothing funny about the logline.  It’s a gritty look at the counterculture movement and America at the time the movie was made.  I hope that’s what is conveyed by the entire sentence but especially the last part: “cocaine funded, LSD fueled road “trip” encountering dirty hippies, a convict lawyer, and murdering bigots.”

For my script Dish Dogs the two main characters are the “two college graduates.”  The antagonist and conflict comes from society – they’re “fed up” and are eager to push back against it (conflict).  The genre, like Easy Rider, is a road buddy movie but much more lighthearted.  The main characters are somewhat sophomoric and using grandiose themes like “free will” against the backdrop of washing dishes and driving around in a 1958 Ford pick-up truck hopefully shows this lighthearted comedic tone.

One other thing that you might want to think about is using other well known films to draw comparisons to your own film.  For instance I put this sentence at the end of my Dish Dogs synopsis:

Dish Dogs is Easy Rider meets The Graduate for a new generation.

This is not a replacement for your real logline but can act as a quick way to sum up your script, especially in a verbal pitch where you tell someone your logline and then follow it up with “it’s like Easy Rider meets The Graduate for a new generation.”  If you can come up with a really creative marriage of two well known films to describe your script you might include both sentences in your query letter and they might both act as the logline.

If you would like me (and other readers) to comment on your logline just post it in as a comment below and I’ll try and comment on it.  Feel free to comment on other people’s loglines as well.

Or take a stab at the examples I gave and see if you can come up with better loglines than I did.

Read 'Writing a synopsis for your screenplay' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

You’re going to need a short synopsis for your script.  It should be a little less than 1 page long and clearly show your characters and story.  You’re going to use it when you send out query letters or when someone you meet wants to learn more about your script but isn’t quite ready to read the entire screenplay.

A couple of things to remember – there’s different types of synopses for different purposes.  What I’m going to show you in this post is how to write a short synopsis that you would include in a query letter in an effort to get your script read by a producer or director.  Sometimes longer synopses are called treatments and can range in length from a couple of pages to more than twenty pages.  There’s a variety of reasons why a producer will request that you write a treatment but to be clear I’m not covering treatments (or longer synopses) in this post. The purpose of this short, less than one page synopsis, is to get a producer, director, or agent to read your entire script.

Always stay focused on exactly what you’re trying to do with this synopsis which is to get people to request the full screenplay.  You want to tell your story and demonstrate mastery of your craft.  You want to give the person reading it a clear idea about what your story is about.  You want the reader to know you have clearly defined characters with a solid story that has a beginning, middle, and end.  But you don’t have to give everything away.  In fact you simply want to intrigue them enough so that they can’t wait to read the entire screenplay.  If you have a twist ending you can tell them about the twist without giving it away. Make them want to read the full script.

Below you’ll find two examples.  I didn’t chose these because I think they’re perfect and can’t be improved, I’m sure they can, but if you’re wondering what a screenplay synopsis looks like these should serve as good examples.  I’ve used them both for a little while and they have worked.  I also choose these synopses because these are the two scripts I pitched in my example query letter so it will give people a complete view of what I send out.

I think both synopses make it clear that my screenplays have clearly delineated characters and a solid structure with a beginning, middle and end.  While this may not seem like much of an accomplishment, if you can accomplish that in your synopsis you’re probably way ahead of the pack.  In fact I think this is more important than trying to be overly cleaver or hilariously funny with your synopsis.

With Irrefutable Evidence I open the synopsis with a bit about the production budget – saying it could be made on a limited budget.  Most of the producers who I send this to are low budget producers and this script is a perfect vehicle for them and I want to make that clear.  I don’t think you need to bring attention to the budget you foresee for your project unless it’s a selling point.  For most of the people I send this to a minimal budget is a selling point.  But I would take it out if I were submitting it to larger more established production companies.

The first paragraph of The Meaning Of High Art synopsis and the second paragraph of the Irrefutable Evidence synopsis is a sort of quick summary almost log line of the entire script.  What I’m trying to do is get people to keep reading by giving them a little taste of my story and characters.  With The Meaning Of High Art it’s my high concept pitch, if there is one: an artist makes it big on some paintings he painted as a joke while drunk.  Hopefully people can see the humor in the basic set up without me having to be overtly funny in the synopsis.

With Irrefutable Evidence I pretty much give away the ending… sort of. Film noir isn’t so much a “who dunnit” as much as a “why they did it.”  While I’ve given clues about what happens the really interesting thing about this story (I think) is the unraveling of Gene’s character and his inability to avoid his ‘fate.’  I’m hoping people will recognize this.

My synopsis for The Meaning Of High Art basically captures the character of Leo and hopefully makes it clear that this story is about a struggling artist with some funny twists.  It’s been many months since I wrote it and looking over it now I think it could actually use some polish.

Read my post How to write a professional query letter for your screenplay.  The idea is to send a producer a short query letter with a couple of synopses in it.

Then read my post Getting your screenplay to producers and production companies.

Between these three posts it should give you everything you need to know to start getting your scripts to producers.

I’m sure people will have lots of great ideas about how to improve these synopses and I’d love to hear them.  What do think I did wrong and how could these synopses be improved?

Read 'Getting your screenplay to producers and production companies' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

Getting your screenplay to production companies is actually a lot easier than most people think. It’s really as simple as getting the production companies address, email, phone number, or fax number and pitching your script idea to them. Most of the time you’re going to be politely turned down or dismissed out of hand but once in a while you will get through and someone will agree to read your screenplay. Please keep this in mind: rejection is going to be the overwhelming result (98% of the time in some cases – this is normal!) of what I’m about to tell you so please prepare for it and do not get discouraged by it.

Many new writers feel helpless because they don’t know where or how to submit their script. I know for myself I never had the motivation to write anything until I had some idea about who to send my script to. Sometimes beginning writer’s think getting an agent is the answer but getting an agent to read your script is often more difficult than getting a production company to read your script. Even if you get an agent it probably won’t be one who has a lot of power so you still might want to try and submit your script directly to production companies, too. Check out my post about how to get an agent. You can find it here: http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/screenwriting-faq/how-do-you-get-an-agent-for-your-screenplay-and-why-you-don’t-need-one/

Before you start submitting your script to production companies read my post “How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell)”. You can find it here: http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/how-to-sell-your-screenplay-in-a-nutshell

Then you’ll want to read my post about how to write a professional query letter. You can find it here: http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/how-to-write-a-professional-query-letter-for-your-screenplay/

Now you should have several solid scripts and you should have written a nice query letter to pitch them. If you don’t have both of these things don’t start submitting your script. Submitting before you’re ready will be a waste of your time as well as anyone reading your query letters so don’t do it until you’re ready. People will remember you so make sure you are ready to make a good first impression.

All you need to do now is prepare a list of production companies.

To be clear (in case you skipped my other articles), you’re submitting a query and a short synopsis to these production companies which will hopefully result in them requesting the full script from you. Never send the full script first. There’s really no point in blasting out thousands of scripts when most of the time the company won’t want to read it anyway.

Luckily The Hollywood Creative Directory (HCD) publishes a frequently updated list of virtually every production company in Los Angeles and New York, usually with address information, email addresses, phone numbers and fax numbers so all you need to do is purchase a copy and start submitting. You can purchase the HCD at Amazon by clicking here.

Online you can buy a one week trial membership fairly cheaply – and during that week you should be able to go through every company and copy and paste the information into a spreadsheet for later use. You can also buy a hard copy from Amazon by clicking here if you prefer to own it. Keep in mind it does change quite a bit so if you do buy it you’ll want to buy a new copy at least once a year so that you’re always using the correct information when submitting.

You need to get all the companies’ information into an excel spreadsheet so that you can easily and quickly send out mass mailings. If this means keying it in by hand, that’s what you’ll need to do. If this means getting your friends to help you, that’s what you should do. There are a lot of companies in the HCD so this is going to take a little while. You can also buy a digital version of the HCD which will allow you to copy and paste it into an excel spreadsheet much quicker – however the digital version costs over $300. If your time is very valuable this is a good way to do it although certainly not the cheapest.

In the HCD it will typically list a few credits that each company has recently produced. I’ve read on other blogs and how-to books about looking through this and trying to find “good matches” for your material but I highly recommend NOT wasting your time with this. When I’ve submitted to companies I’ve never found any real correlation between a companies’ credits and what they were willing to read. In fact, I’ve worked for companies listed in the HCD and I’ve asked the heads of development about this and they usually all say that they’re interested in good material and don’t usually care too much about genre.

Once you have all this information in an excel spreadsheet you can actually use it 2 or 3 different times over the course of the next year or so it’s a good investment in time.

Over the years I’ve had the best luck in terms of response rates when I sent a letter through regular mail to a production company. Typically I can get a “we’ll read your script” response from letters about 5% to 10% of the time. While this method is very costly (one stamp per letter plus envelopes and paper) it does seem to produce the best results. Once you have all the contact information in an Excel spreadsheet you can actually use MS Word’s Mail Merge function to pump out all the letters with the proper heading and address on it. Tip: while it may be very time consuming hand write the addresses on all the envelopes when you send them out (get friends to help). I’ve seen a nice jump in the response rate with handwritten names and addresses on the envelopes. I think this is because printed labels, while easy, look more like junk mail and may get discarded before even being read.

After letters through regular mail, I’ve found that faxing a query letter to a company usually results in about a 5% positive response. This is probably the way to go. Using a service like FlatRateFax.com you can send out a fax to all the companies in your database in seconds and for relatively little, too. Again, once you have your letter written you can upload your Word doc and your Excel spreadsheet of addresses to FlatRateFax.com and they will merge the documents and send out the faxes to all the fax numbers in your spreadsheet. It takes a little bit of time setting up the files properly, but once you’ve done it you can blast out query letters in next to no time and for a pretty reasonable price, too.

Email is the easiest and cheapest way to send out query letters, but I’ve found that my response rate suffers, too. If you can get a positive response rate anywhere near 2% of the time you’re probably doing pretty well. In today’s world of spam filters I’m sure a large number of these emails don’t even get read. Check out my post Submitting Your Screenplay Via Email – How To Create A Catchy Subject Line for some tips on how to write an effective subject line.

I have never tried cold calling production companies mainly because I’m not a good salesman. I have had friends try this method and it is by far the most effective. If you can stomach it you should try it. Pick out a few smaller production companies and call them. Pitch your idea and try and get them to agree to read your script. Keep careful notes so if someone is friendly and receptive to your ideas you can call them back after you’ve sent the script to try and get any notes they’re willing to offer.

As you can tell from the different methods I recommend you’re going to get turned down a lot – in fact the vast majority of the time. Do not let rejection slow you down. Not even a little. I don’t. Any success I’ve had optioning and selling scripts is a direct result of me plowing forward even in the face of mountains of rejection letters.

I would recommend starting out with 100 letters through regular mail to gauge the effectiveness of your query letter and synopsis. Once you start to get close to 5% of your queries getting a “yes” response then you can step it up and start to do mass fax blasts. By only doing 100 letters at a time you won’t be alienating lots of producers with half backed ideas. If you can’t get roughly (i.e. at least 3) “yes” responses out of 100 letters you’re not ready for a massive campaign. You’ll need to take a long hard look at your query letter and synopsis and rewrite them. Try again with another 100 letters and measure results again. Rewrite and try again. And just keep trying until you’re getting some producers to read your scripts.

Another great source of young producers looking for material is places like Craig’s List, Backstage West, The Hollywood Reporter, and Daily Variety. Read my post about submitting your screenplay to ads like this. You can find it here: http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/submitting-your-screenplay-to-craig’-list-postings/

One word of warning: The ideas I’ve purposed above should not be used if they violate any local or state laws which they very well might since these emails and faxes may be considered SPAM. Most areas have laws forbidding SPAM and by sending unsolicited material to a company you may very well be spamming them. I’ve never had any problems; however, you should consult with a lawyer if you have any questions about the laws in your area.

Read 'How to write a professional query letter for your screenplay' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

When you submit your screenplay to a producer or director you’re going to need to submit a professional query letter before you send the full script.  Please don’t take this post as gospel.  There is more than one way to write a good query letter and my approach may not be for you.  Hopefully it will give you a few ideas about how to write a good query letter but please also try and develop your own style and voice.

Keep in mind the main goal of what you’re trying to do.  You’re trying to get the person who reads your query letter to request the full script.  That’s really all there is to it.  While this seems obvious always keep it in mind and if there’s something in the query letter that doesn’t serve that purpose cut it.

I like to open my query letter with a log line pitching my script.  I’ll often include two log lines depending on where I’ve found the listing and what I think they might like.  It seems like including two log lines increases my success rate quite a bit as the person might not like one story idea but might like the other.  Unless the producer has requested scripts in a very specific genre I typically choose log lines for scripts in very different genres to mix it up a bit.  In addition, quite often the producer will request both scripts.  I’ve never tried including 3 log lines in one query letter, mainly because that seems like too much, but who knows, that might work even better.  I should probably test it and see.

After the log lines I include a brief paragraph about my writing background.  I list my writing credits, mention a script or two that is currently optioned.  I feel like this will separate me from the pack a bit since many people don’t have any writing credits.

If you don’t have any credits you can list whatever credentials you have that are pertinent to the script you’re pitching.  For instance if your script is a police drama and you were a cop mention that in your letter.  It adds authenticity to your script and a producer will like that.  If your script is a comedy and you’re currently a member of a local improv group mention that.  The producer might be from the same area of the country as you and might have heard of the improv group (you never know) or they might have done a bit of improv themselves back in the day and really respect the talent and dedication it takes to be an active member of an improv group.  Use whatever credits you have no matter how small they might be.  Don’t underestimate yourself.  Did you work as a journalist for a few years?  That’s professional writing experience.  Did you win an award in college for a short play you wrote?  That’s worth mentioning.  Did you earn an MFA?  That might be impressive to a producer.  There’s usually a reason why you wrote a script which gives you some extra credibility and you should think about that and try and tie that in with your writing credentials for the script you’re pitching. I expanded on this in my post What Should The Query Letter Say When You Have No Screenplay Credits?.

I then close the letter with a “thank you” and a link to my screenwriting website.  If you don’t have a website, get one.  This is a great way to post loglines and synopses for all your scripts.  I’ve had many people read my query letter, not like either of the scripts I pitched, and then go to my website and request something else.

I’ve pasted an example of my query letter below.

If you print out your query letter for faxing or mailing use the MS Word Headers/Footers feature to add a header with your name and a footer with your complete contact information.

As you might have noticed from reading the query letter, I usually include a 1 page synopsis of the script along with this query letter. I’ll go into the basics of writing a synopsis in a future post.

Make sure you include contact information at the end of the letter, too, so it’s easy for the producer to either email you or call you.  It used to be considered polite to include a self-addressed stamped postcard so that the producer could easily respond to you but I’ve phased that out over the years as it seems most people will just email you or call you to request the full script.

Always address your query letter to a specific person at the company. You can usually find this information where you found the address information. The HCD usually lists employee names with titles. Read my post Who Do You Address Your Screenplay Query Letter To? for more details.

I’ve heard of people who have written off-the wall zany query letters and had success with them.  After all, you need to stand out from the crowd.  However, this can backfire too.  If you’re pitching a comedy and you try and make your query letter funny, and it’s not funny, no one is going to read the script.  I’ve found that a straight-forward description of the characters and situations in a comedy script often gives the reader a sense of how funny the script might be without distracting them with jokes in the query letter.

Things you should avoid:

Do not beg.  Avoid writing things like, “I know I have the talent, I just need somehow to give me a chance.”  There’s the old saying “show me don’t tell me.”  If you’re so talented let your writing speak for itself.

To not write about how great your script is.  Avoid writing things like, “I’ve written a modern masterpiece that is destined to become one of the top box office hits of all time.”  Again, let your writing do the talking.

Do not mention any names that you think would be perfect for your project.  Avoid writing things like “I think Spielberg would be the perfect director and I have Tom Cruise in mind for the lead.”  It’s unlikely that anyone reading your query letter has any connection to anyone you might mention.  However, if you have a personal connection with name talent and they’ve agreed to help you with the project that is worth mentioning.  But make sure it’s the truth because you will be called out on this.

Do not mention how much money you think you should make for the script.  You’re trying to get people to read the script not negotiate a deal.  It’s irrelevant at this stage.

Notice none of these “things to avoid” are in any way helping you get the producer to read your material.  They’re all turnoffs and the only thing you’re trying to do with a query letter is get people to request the full script from you.  Don’t write anything that doesn’t help you do that.

While these “things to avoid” may seem comical to some, I’ve worked for a few agents and production companies and have seen these sorts of letters and worse.

I read a piece of advice years ago about how to be treated like a professional when you haven’t actually sold or optioned anything.  It went something like this: “if you act professional you’ll be treated like a professional.”  It’s really that simple.

There are many small details to the query letter which I’ve written about in other posts. Check out the query letters tag which can be found here http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/tag/query-letters/ for more details about writing a professional query letter.

If you’re wondering how to find companies to send your query letter to check out my post Getting your screenplay to producers and production companies.

Read 'Submitting your screenplay to Craig’s List postings' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

If you’re an experienced screenwriter there’s probably better ways for you to sell a script than submitting to postings on Craig’s List but if you’re trying to make your own breaks and get your scripts produced this is probably a pretty good place to start looking for producers to turn your script into a movie.

Craig’s List has two sections (in every city) where you can often find “job” posts by directors and producers looking for screenplays. You can find them under the “writing/editing jobs” section and the “writing gigs” section. I typically look in both sections for Los Angeles and New York.

The Los Angeles Writing section can be found here: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wri/

The Los Angeles Writing Gigs section can be found here: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wrg/

The New York Writing section can be found here: http://newyork.craigslist.org/wri/

The New York Writing Gigs section can be found here: http://newyork.craigslist.org/wrg/

I imported the RSS feeds into my MS Outlook RSS section so the new job posts come in like an email into the respective folder and I can quickly look at them. You’ll find the RSS link at the bottom of each page. This makes it very easy to quickly keep an eye on virtually every post that goes through the system. Most are not for screenplays but some are. And looking at them in Outlook using the RSS feed probably takes me less than 10 minutes per day to look at every single ad in all 4 sections. On average I would say I see 2-5 posts per week that I respond to.

I’ve heard a wide array of opinions about whether these posts are worth responding to. Many writers think they’re complete junk, and for the most part they’re right.

However, I personally see very little downside to responding to them. I never send a complete script (no production company would want you to). I send a 1 page query letter with usually 1 or 2 synopses (also usually about a page each). I have all my query letters saved in one file so it’s very easy to copy and paste the appropriate letter into an email – it takes me less than 5 minutes to respond to one of these posts.

But if you do decide to submit to these sorts of posts always use common sense and caution. Make sure you have a copy write on your work. If the post is poorly written and doesn’t seem legitimate it probably isn’t. If someone responds to your query and they sound like a jackass they probably are.

When you’re looking in the gigs section, the people who have posted the ads have done so for free. So there is literally no barrier to posting an ad in the gigs section and the quality of the posts reflects this. In all the major cities like Los Angeles and New York in order to post in the “writing/editing jobs” section a poster has to pay $25. While this isn’t a lot of money, it does seem to weed out most complete wanna-bes because the total losers simply post in the gigs section and are too cheap to spend the $25. So keep that in mind if you decide to respond to these posts and take the ones in the writing/editing jobs section a little more seriously than the ones in the gigs section.

One thing that definitely does happen is people who are trying to sell services to screenwriters will post a seemingly legitimate ad calling for screenplays and then add you to their mailing list and try and sell you all sorts of screenwriting services. I’ve never signed up for a single email list about screenwriting but I get several emails per day for various screenwriting services. I’m guessing most if not all got my email address by posting a fake ad. While this is annoying it’s certainly not the end of the world and I use Gmail which has a good spam filter so it’s not hard to get rid of their emails pretty quickly.

One thing I don’t understand is why other screenwriters get so annoyed at some of the obvious scams and wanna-bes. If someone posts an ad that’s clearly not legitimate why bother flagging it? If some newbie screenwriter is dumb enough to waste his time responding to it the better for me. In addition it often times seems like some legitimate posts are flagged (and removed) in an effort to prevent other screenwriters from submitting – that really is annoying.

I recently optioned my screenplay Irrefutable Evidence to a young producer who I found through Craig’s List. So there are people out there who are legitimately looking for scripts to produce. Just don’t expect any big time producers or any major production companies to be looking for scripts on Craig’s List, because they won’t be.

What has your experience been submitting your scripts to Craig’s List? Leave a comment below. I’d be interested in hearing other people’s thoughts.