Read 'Submitting your material to production companies' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got these questions recently:

“I have 115 page completed, professional script that I want to pitch, however 1) should the query letter be on an entertainment lawyers letterhead, 2) should I send a trailer on DVD or USB with it and 3) where can you find a listing of production companies seeking material?”

I’ll break up my answers below.

“1) should the query letter be on an entertainment lawyers letterhead” – if you have a lawyer who will submit the script for you, then sure, you might as well use him as the point person. But this isn’t mandatory and I’m not sure it even really helps much.

“2) should I send a trailer on DVD or USB with it” – I would be careful with this. In my experience most novice writers who have produced a trailer have produced something that is sub-par and not up to industry standards. By submitting something that is below industry standards all you’re doing is broadcasting the fact that you are a novice. Once you’ve pitched them your log line and they’ve agreed to read the screenplay, make them read the screenplay, don’t give them reasons to NOT read the screenplay. Now if the trailer is part of your pitch I would only include it if you are 100% sure that it is high quality and makes your screenplay look better. I would say as a general rule only include it if the people who produced this trailer work professionally in the industry and it’s up to industry standards. If it’s just you and your friends with a video camera trying to put something together, don’t include it. It’s not going to help you.

“3) where can you find a listing of production companies seeking material?”

I highly recommend you read this post: How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell).

Also this post details how to find actual contact info for companies: Getting your screenplay to producers and production companies.

In general your best bet for finding company info is The Hollywood Creative directory and IMDB Pro. Both have a wealth of information on production companies contact info.

Read 'Should you get producers to sign a NDA before sending them your screenplay?' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“I currently have 2 producers reading my screenplay, one of them mentioned I may want to look into getting a good non-disclosure agreement (NDA) template to include when speaking with potential producers to further protect myself. My screenplay is WGA registered, so I was wondering if an NDA is really necessary and what the proper etiquette was for asking producers to sign one.”

I’m not a lawyer so I’m probably not the best person to ask about this. I’ve never used a NDA when making submissions and I suspect you would turn off more than a few producers if you tried to get them to sign it.

In my experience novice writer’s worry way too much about people stealing their “great” ideas. A friend of mine sent me a great quote the other day.

Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats. – Howard Aiken

Read 'Following up with a company that has requested your full script' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“I was wondering if you had any advice on how to follow up with a company that has requested your full script?”

I’ve never been as good about following up with companies as I probably should have been. I’ve always been so busy writing new scripts and sending out query letters I’ve never really had the time to monitor the lack of a response from a specific company and then try and track them down. But it’s probably a good idea.

If you’re not afraid to make a phone call I highly recommend that you call the company a month or two after you sent it. Or if you are afraid to call them and you have an email address for the person / company drop them an email.

The main purpose of this phone call or email is to try to establish a relationship with them. If they haven’t read your script yet tell them it’s okay and you look forward to hearing their thoughts. Call them back in a couple of months. If they’ve read it and passed on it try to find out what they didn’t like about it. Try to find out what sort of material they are looking for. This can really help you as you develop ideas for future scripts. And finally, ask them if they’d be willing to read future scripts that you write and if they say “yes” make sure you put their contact info in your database so you can pitch them your scripts in the future. Also, try and get additional information like their specific phone number and email address so you can contact them directly. If they liked your script but it wasn’t “quite right” for them they’ll probably be more than happy to give you this sort of information.

Keep in mind, there is a good chance they won’t take your call and won’t return your email – don’t worry about it. It’s going to happen in most cases. Simply move on. I would say one or two attempts to make contact is the most you’d ever want to do. After that it’s clear they’re not too interested in what you have to offer so spend your time trying to find people who will.

Read 'Signing a release form for your screenplay' at http://www.SellingYourScreenplay.com.

I got this question recently:

“In a situation where a producer or production company reads my query letter and loves the idea, what do I do if a producer ask me to sign a release form before I can submit the script?”

Release forms are a very normal part of the screenplay submission process.  When making cold submissions I would say that roughly half of the producers will require that you sign one before they will read your screenplay.

In all cases you should read the release form and make sure you understand what you’re signing.  If you have questions, as with any legal matter, you should seek the advice of a qualified entertainment attorney.

In my experience (and I’ve signed hundreds of release forms over the years) I’ve never read one that really said much of anything.

In general they usually state that you won’t sue the production company if they use ideas that are similar to the ideas in your script if those ideas are not copyrightable.  This is in no way a license to steal your work, it’s simply stating the obvious.

In some cases the release form will state that any litigation that you do bring against them involving this submission will be taken to arbitration.  It still doesn’t give them the right to steal your ideas and if they do it’ll be cheaper for you to sue them, so that’s good for you as the writer.  However, it protects them a bit from a frivolous lawsuits because they’ll be able to defend themselves without spending as much money to do so. Again, though, if you really have a legitimate complaint against them going to arbitration is going to be a good thing for you as a writer because it will be much cheaper to litigate.

It is possible that a shady producer might try and get you to sign something that’s not reasonable or normal so be careful.  I’ve never had that happen, though.