I found myself in an advantageous position…that I currently couldn’t advance.
But just because I couldn’t advance didn’t mean I couldn’t do anything.
After placing as a finalist in two different writing contests with my script for Dig Down, and well as placing as a finalist in a horror-specific competition and getting an honorable mention in a broader contest for Lock the Doors, I had gotten both of my scripts vetted already by people in the industry. And the conclusion was they not only weren’t terrible, but that they were worth people’s time.
The only problem was that with the WGA on strike, nobody else was able to see them.
Rather than get bogged down by this setback, I decided to view it as an advantage. Sure, I couldn’t send my scripts to anyone in the industry, but neither could anybody else. And even if a strike wasn’t ongoing, I couldn’t just submit my script to people as an attachment to an email which said this had already placed well in some contests.
In order to get people to read your script, you either have to know them — which I don’t — or you have to go a more common route and query them. Query letters are about a one page memo where you introduce yourself and your script, giving some details such as its genre, what it might be similar to, and a brief synopsis. Its a way for executives, managers and agents to sift through all the hopefuls inundating their inboxes hoping to progress their careers to the next step.
With a commitment of reading one page (and sometimes not even having to read that far) they’re able to tell if they want to pursue any further action with you. Does your query letter follow industry norms, or does it run on and on and on? They can see how well you present your idea, and how well you grasp the ability to market yourself. From the way I’ve heard them describe the process, its almost like they’re looking for reasons to remove people from consideration. It might sound harsh, but its a great screening process to reveal the handful of submissions that actually have potential to get made into a movie.
Even from there, the actual screenplays get a similar treatment, further reinforcing that only the best submissions actually survive to the next stage.
It’s a great system.
It’s also, like most writers, something I struggle with. I feel like I come up with unique concepts for stories. I feel like I can provide a general enough roadmap of what my story is about and where it’s going to people. But describing a story and pitching it are two different things. The former is about relaying information to someone. The latter is about hooking them.
I feel like the format of the query letter also changes with time, so it’s something I never feel too comfortable with when I start drafting it. I would’ve been concerned that I was the momentum from placing as a finalist multiple times…
…except because of the writer’s strike, I couldn’t advance any farther anyway.
So, I chose to view the pause not as a stumbling back, but as a reprieve. The longer the strike went on, the more time I had to revise and improve my query letter. Because no other writer would be able to gain on me in striking a deal in this interim.
Viewed from that lens, I felt I was being given the time to improve my already advantageous position.