Screenwriting : Contacting Production Company Contacts by Christopher Platt

IMDB Pro. Every movie and TV show has a list of credits with the producers and the names of the production companies. Regular IMDB has the names, but IMDB Pro has the contact info.

Yep, I would concur with Christopher Phillips - get the info from IMDb Pro, and then create a spreadsheet of your own. Every producer I know that hires or recommends for hiring has their own list. It is incredibly helpful when you need to confirm who you've contacted, when, and whether or not you should again. LOL!

Start by making a list of films similar to the screenplay that you are going to market.

Find out what Production Companies made those films.

Also pay attention to script sales, who they sold to, and who sold them.

You can do an IMDBpro free trial. In my Breaking In Blue Book (Amazon) I suggest that you form a Tanda with other screenwriters and share information, and also share free trial periods. If you get enough people, someone will always have a free trial going on and can get you the information... or you all chip in for resources like this and just pay for it. (though free is always my favorite price).

You want to target the production companies that regularly make films like your screenplay.

If there is no email address for the specific person you are targeting (Development), know that there are only so many combinations possible of names or initials, and if you find one email address, you can crack the code for the rest. If you can't find one, trial and error works.

Now it's up to your script's amazing original concept - and your logline that highlights that concept.

Now just query with each new screenplay that you write. It's a numbers game.

The research that you are doing before you query is more valuable than sending out the queries - you are learning who the players are and what they are looking for. And because you are beginning with produced films to find your contacts, you are excluding all of the time wasters who are more talk than action. There are a lot of those! When you go to one of those pitchfests, most of the people there are time wasters who are paid to listen to your pitch... and that is their business! They seldom make movies, or are so far down the ladder that they don't really matter that much. So "vet" the people that you query and make sure that these are Companies that actually make movies.

Eventually, they ask to read something - and they know who you are. They remember your previous queries and those amazing concepts.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it.

Update. Not making much progress on IMDB Pro. 95% have no contact emails. :-(

Wasn't there a book that used to come out every year for query letters? Does that still happen?

Hello all, the other hurdle I’m encountering is that these production companies won’t even read my query without formal representation. Does anyone have any recommendations on this roadblock? Thanks in advance.