Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've been one, but I have a question. I have been entering a few screenwriting competitions that send my contact info out to managers and producers. I was wondering, what would be the best way to respond to any inquiries that may (hopefully) come my way? Advice?
Screenwriting : Responding to Manager/Producer Inquiries by Hailey Escobar
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Can you clarify the question? Are you asking how to respond if a producer says, “I like your screenplay. Can I buy it?” The conventional wisdom calls for an unequivocal “Yes.”
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You're trying to put the cart before the horse. Ive entered dozens of contests over the years,. I've placed in many and won a few. Know how many agents and producers have contacted me from those. ZERO! Nada, ziltch, bupcus. Know how many advertisements I get for writing classes in my inbox? A LOT!
I did a study on contests a couple of years ago. The average contest gets 5,000 entries a year. The top 10 get close to 10,000. They POST the names of the semi-finalists, finalists, and runners up but only the winners actually get promoted by most contests. And unless the contest is one of the top 10, one of the other places means little to nothing. You make the Finals in the Nicholls or the Page, you will be taken seriously. You win Joe Blow's Hog Calling and Screenwriting contest, nobody cares.
But on the off chance that your get extremely lucky and someone, somewhere does contact you, all they will do is request to read your script. You send them a short note/email thanking them for the opportunity and attach the script. That's it. Don't over think it. Don't send them a 50 page letter. Keep it simple. And good luck.
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Concur with Anthony. Unless you win or final in a well known contest, the more likely benefit of entering your script, it seems to me, is (1) the fun of competing, (2) a rough assessment of your current skill level, assuming you enter multiple contests, and (3) the ability to say in a pitch or query to execs, managers, producers, that you'd advanced in a particular contest they're familiar with. That said lightning does strike from time to time in regard to most contests.
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Nicholls Finalists receive cash ($35,000) and meetings with execs & reps.
Screenwriter Wenonah Wilm wrote a blog about her Nicholls' experience. I think she said Finalists are commissioned to write a screenplay with an Academy member-mentor.
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Dan MaxXx , it's actually Nicholls that I am a quarter-finalist for. Is her blog on Stage 32?
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Hailey Escobar Wilm's blog is somewhere on google. Manager Lee Stobby will read your QF script.
https://twitter.com/LeeStobby/status/1154649811989061633?s=20