How To Register A Screenplay

Update 2020/10/20: This commodity was written in 2010 so things take inverse a bit since and then. The basic strategy I lay out below can still exist effective, although I lean a lot more than into emails now then either faxes or mail, although they can still be effective considering virtually people aren't doing them. But if you're looking for general information on how to sell your screenplay, bank check out my postal service: How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell). But the commodity below still clearly lays out the steps you need to have to go your screenplay to production companies.

Getting your screenplay to product companies is actually a lot easier than about people recall. Information technology's really as simple as getting the product companies address, email, phone number, or fax number and pitching your script idea to them. Virtually of the time you're going to be politely turned downward or dismissed out of manus just once in a while y'all will go through and someone will hold to read your screenplay. Please go along this in mind: rejection is going to be the overwhelming event (98% of the time in some cases – this is normal!) of what I'm about to tell you and then please ready for it and do not get discouraged by information technology.

Many new writers feel helpless considering they don't know where or how to submit their script. I know for myself I never had the motivation to write annihilation until I had some thought virtually who to send my script to. Sometimes beginning author's call back getting an agent is the respond but getting an amanuensis to read your script is frequently more difficult than getting a product company to read your script. Even if you get an agent information technology probably won't be 1 who has a lot of power and so you withal might want to effort and submit your script directly to product companies, besides. Check out my postal service about how to get an agent. You tin find it here: http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/screenwriting-faq/how-do-yous-go-an-agent-for-your-screenplay-and-why-yous-don%e2%lxxx%99t-need-ane/

Before you offset submitting your script to production companies read my mail "How to Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell)". Yous can find information technology here: http://world wide web.sellingyourscreenplay.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/how-to-sell-your-screenplay-in-a-nutshell

So you'll want to read my post near how to write a professional query letter. You tin notice it here: http://world wide web.sellingyourscreenplay.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/how-to-write-a-professional-query-alphabetic character-for-your-screenplay/

At present you should have several solid scripts and you should accept written a nice query letter to pitch them. If yous 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 equally well every bit anyone reading your query letters so don't practise information technology until you're ready. People volition call back you so brand sure you lot are ready to make a good first impression.

All yous demand to do now is prepare a list of production companies.

To be articulate (in case you skipped my other articles), yous're submitting a query and a short synopsis to these production companies which volition hopefully outcome 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 almost of the time the company won't want to read it anyway.

Update 2020/10/xx

I wrote this article a while ago, and things have changed since. I no longer recommend The Hollywood Creative Directory (not sure it even exists anymore). At present I recommend that you use IMDb Pro. You can ofttimes find electronic mail addresses for agents, mangers, directors, producers, and even actors. This should be your main tool for edifice your own list of contacts to email.

Luckily The Hollywood Creative Directory (HCD) publishes a ofttimes updated list of virtually every production visitor in Los Angeles and New York, usually with address information, email addresses, telephone numbers and fax numbers and then all you need to do is purchase a re-create and beginning submitting. You can purchase the HCD at Amazon by clicking here.

Online y'all can purchase a one week trial membership adequately cheaply – and during that week y'all should be able to become through every company and copy and paste the information into a spreadsheet for subsequently utilise. You can also buy a difficult copy from Amazon past clicking here if you lot prefer to own information technology. Keep in mind information technology does change quite a scrap then if you practise buy it you'll desire to purchase a new re-create at least once a year and so that you're always using the correct information when submitting.

Yous need to get all the companies' information into an excel spreadsheet so that y'all tin can easily and rapidly transport out mass mailings. If this means keying it in past paw, that's what you'll need to exercise. If this ways 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 have a little while. You tin can as well buy a digital version of the HCD which volition allow you to copy and paste it into an excel spreadsheet much quicker – still the digital version costs over $300. If your fourth dimension is very valuable this is a proficient way to exercise information technology although certainly not the cheapest.

In the HCD it volition 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 observe "expert matches" for your material but I highly recommend NOT wasting your time with this. When I've submitted to companies I've never constitute 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 nearly this and they commonly all say that they're interested in good material and don't usually care too much near genre.

Once you have all this information in an excel spreadsheet you can really use it 2 or 3 different times over the class of the adjacent year or then it'due south a good investment in fourth dimension.

Over the years I've had the best luck in terms of response rates when I sent a letter through regular mail to a product company. Typically I tin can get a "nosotros'll read your script" response from letters about 5% to 10% of the time. While this method is very costly (one postage stamp per letter of the alphabet plus envelopes and paper) it does seem to produce the all-time results. One time you have all the contact information in an Excel spreadsheet you tin actually use MS Word's Mail Merge function to pump out all the messages with the proper heading and address on it. Tip: while it may exist very fourth dimension consuming hand write the addresses on all the envelopes when you transport them out (get friends to help). I've seen a prissy jump in the response rate with handwritten names and addresses on the envelopes. I think this is considering printed labels, while easy, look more similar junk mail and may get discarded before fifty-fifty being read.

After letters through regular mail, I've found that faxing a query letter to a company commonly results in about a 5% positive response. This is probably the style to go. Using a service similar FlatRateFax.com you can send out a fax to all the companies in your database in seconds and for relatively niggling, too. Again, once you have your letter of the alphabet written you can upload your Word physician 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. Information technology takes a lilliputian bit of fourth dimension setting upwards the files properly, but once you've done it y'all tin can blast out query messages in next to no time and for a pretty reasonable cost, too.

Email is the easiest and cheapest way to send out query letters, but I've found that my response charge per unit suffers, too. If you lot can become a positive response rate anywhere almost 2% of the time you're probably doing pretty well. In today's world of spam filters I'm certain a big number of these emails don't even get read. Check out my post Submitting Your Screenplay Via Email – How To Create A Tricky 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 non a expert salesman. I accept had friends try this method and it is by far the most effective. If you lot tin tum information technology you should endeavour it. Pick out a few smaller production companies and call them. Pitch your idea and try and go them to agree to read your script. Keep careful notes and so if someone is friendly and receptive to your ideas you can telephone call them back after y'all've sent the script to try and go any notes they're willing to offer.

As you lot can tell from the dissimilar methods I recommend you're going to get turned down a lot – in fact the vast majority of the time. Do not let rejection irksome yous down. Non even a petty. I don't. Any success I've had optioning and selling scripts is a direct issue of me plowing forward fifty-fifty 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 yous start to get close to v% of your queries getting a "yes" response and then you tin pace it up and start to practise mass fax blasts. By only doing 100 letters at a fourth dimension yous won't exist 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 y'all're not ready for a massive campaign. Yous'll demand 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 continue trying until you're getting some producers to read your scripts.

Some other great source of young producers looking for material is places like Craig's List, Backstage West, The Hollywood Reporter, and Daily Variety. Read my postal service about submitting your screenplay to ads similar this. Yous tin observe it here: http://www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/submitting-your-screenplay-to-craig'-list-postings/

Ane word of alert: The ideas I've purposed higher up should not be used if they violate any local or land 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 fabric 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.