Marketing Your
Screenplay
by Bill Spencer
After I
retired from teaching college English, I wrote a
screenplay and realized a dream. When I tried to
market the screenplay, I realized a nightmare.
The script,
"Angel Pays a Visit," is a comedy. My
attempts to market it have been a comedy, too. When
I completed it almost a year ago, I envisioned
that getting it made into a big-budget, popular,
Oscar-winning film would require a lot of time
printing and binding copies and mailing them out
to interested buyers. So far the number of
requests for a copy is zero.
In my
experience, you have to pay people to read your
screenplay. Even then, only contest judges and
critique services will read it. Studio executives
are prohibited by their lawyers from reading
scripts unless you sign a 20-page release saying
you will not sue the studio if they steal your
work. Several studios returned my one-page query
letters with notices that they were "unread."
One envelope came back with "Return to
Sender" scribbled on it. It had been opened
but not resealed.
Following the
advice of one of my books, I went to see a former
departmental colleague, who taught screenwriting,
during his scheduled office hour. He said I was
too old and that I'd wasted my time. "You've
aged out," he said. He made it clear he
thought I was wasting his time as well. When
I asked him if he'd give me some feedback on my
query letter, he said, "No, that wouldn't be
a good use of my time." He did, however,
have time (10 minutes) to complain of his own
script-marketing frustrations.
After the
heartening talk with my generous colleague, I
bought the latest Hollywood Screenwriting
Directory and marked which companies preferred
comedies and would also accept unsolicited query
emails from nobodies like me. I sent out 80
emails and received 4 responses, all declining my
offer of additional information. My favorite
response, and the fastest, indicated I was going
about marketing all wrong, but to my good fortune
the responder had written a book that would teach
me correct tactics and deliver "outsized
results"—available from Amazon for just
$13.88.
What I did
instead of buying still another book was to list
my script for 6 months with a searchable
screenplay database service. Finally, "Angel
Pays a Visit" would be available to
producers actively wanting to buy a script. The
first company to take a look was not Disney, or
20th Century Fox, or Warner Brothers, or even MGM;
it was Kranky. And "Kranky" is a
pretty good description of how I felt. Other
companies that glanced before passing included
Inflammable Films, Lemon Fresh Bastards, and
Gimme A Break. I agree: Gimme A Break.
I obviously
need to do some significant revision—not of
my script, but of my life. I've decided to move
to L.A., take an entry-level job with a film
studio, and erase 35 years from my age.
Maybe my next
screenplay will be about time travel.
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