I got this question recently:
“I’ve recently submitted 100 query letters to production companies and am just wondering how long should I wait for me to decide to work on my query or my next wave? Also I live in the U.K, is this a disadvantage, especially when my script is high budget? It’s been about 2 months and have received around 10 saying they won’t read any material.”
Nearly all the query letters I’ve sent I’ve done so while living in Los Angeles so I don’t know exactly how much of a disadvantage it is to live outside of L.A. However, if you read my blog you’ll know that I’m a big proponent of moving to Los Angeles if you’re serious about becoming a screenwriter. Many people have sold scripts while living outside of L.A., however many more have sold scripts while living in L.A.
It sounds to me like you need to go back and rework your query letter and synopsis. Unless you did something strange like only target large well-known production companies, if your query letter and synopsis were good you should have gotten at least a few responses. In fact, a writer contacted me a few weeks ago who had sent out query letters from Canada and she got 4 responses out of 100 query letters. (https://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/screenwriting-faq/query-letter-responses/) I doubt there is a huge difference in terms of living in the U.K. verse living in Canada so it sounds to me like you need to work more on your query letter and synopsis.
Two months is way too long to wait. I assume you put your email address in your query letter, correct? If so, in most cases you’ll hear back within a few days, a week at the longest, and after that you’ll rarely hear anything from a query letter. So if you faxed or emailed your query letter I would say a week is about all you need to wait to know if you’re campaign has succeeded or not. If you used regular mail to send your query letter just add on the transit time for the letter to get to L.A.
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