Posts tagged as:

query letters

What’s the difference between a screenplay synopsis and a screenplay treatment

July 21, 2010

I got this question recently:
“I’m a little confused. Say you have the Hollywood Creative Directory and have only the fax and address of a given company. Do you fax the query and treatment or just the query by itself? And if you use use snail mail, do you send the query and treatment? What is [...]

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A few small tips on writing query letters

July 14, 2010

I got these questions recently and thought it might be worth publishing my answers in case someone else had the same questions. While these little details may seem trite to some, when I was starting out I often wondered about them myself. And because they are such “minor” details it was next to [...]

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How long do you wait to hear from a producer who requested your screenplay?

June 23, 2010

I got this question recently:
“How long do I wait to hear from a producer who requested my screenplay? At what point do I take the non-response as a pass?”
It’s a good question and there is no right answer. I’ve had companies call me back after 6 months or more and want to option [...]

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Should the query be in the body of the email, or should it be an attachment?

June 9, 2010

I got this question recently:
“Should the query be in the body of the email, or should it be an attachment? What about the synopsis, should it be included in the body of the text or separately attached?”
You don’t want to send any attachments what-so-ever. Both the query letter and the synopsis or synopses [...]

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Difference between a query letter to agents and a query letter to producers

May 19, 2010

I got this question recently:
“I reviewed your site pretty thoroughly and while it was very helpful there is still one thing I’m unclear on: Is a query letter to an agent different than one you send to a production company? If so, what do you change?”
As a rule the query letter to agents and managers [...]

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What to expect from your screenplay query submissions

April 14, 2010

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 [...]

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Submitting to companies that don’t take unsolicited material

April 7, 2010

I got this question recently:
“When the Hollywood Creative Directory section for a producer/agent says ‘no unsolicited material,’ does that include query letters?”
Yes, it includes query letters. These companies official policy is that they do not want to see any unsolicited story ideas, not even a query letter. There are some companies that say [...]

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Query letter critique

March 24, 2010

A reader asked me to give him my opinion about his query letter and he agreed to let me share his letter and my thoughts as a blog post. Hopefully people can learn something from it.

1 January 2010
Production Company Name
123 First Street
North Hollywood, CA 91007
Dear Director of Development;
I have [...]

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Submitting your script through an agent or manager

March 3, 2010

I got this question recently:
“I have found through my years of sales that selling over the phone is one of my greatest attributes. I love it. I find myself getting uncontrollably excited over the chase of cold calling production companies! I turn it into a game just to see how many people I can [...]

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Writing a spec script based on an existing franchise

February 24, 2010

I got this question recently:
“I wrote a screenplay based on an existing franchise. I’m in the process of pending the permissions with the right attorney. If I am granted the rights to sell my script, and that’s a big “if”. What is the right way to state it in my query letter, if it’s what [...]

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