Screenwriting : Disturbing comment by Bill Kautz

Wow! That's fascinating and it sounds true to me. It's a good warning so we don't get too eager and then get filed away for good. Thank you for sharing.

It's like a kid who makes a mistake early on, and pays for it the rest of his life.

Sounds about right.

Makes sense.... the equivalent of the old school 'slush pile'. Did your friend have any commentary about the intermediary (pay for pitch) sites?

No but a friend, who is a reporter, checked out the hits (logline views) and found that virtually all of them were low to no budget projects (if they were legit projects to begin with) by people who weren't really producers but were claiming credits where they were crew members.. Yes, there were exceptions but they were few and far between.

Yep. What would YOU do to cut down your in-box from tens of thousands of emails a day? Though in that case, it's bad faith to have the e-queries address at all .... UNLESS ... its purpose is exactly as you describe, to filter out all the c**p. What in a sales environment you could call automated lead qualification. Smart.

I have no problem understanding the rational behind it - but that raises doubts about the industry that caters to (targets) would-be writers, the publishers of "writers guides," manager and agents list services, on-line classes/courses, publishers of "how to" guides, independent readers, bloggers, those offering to get to get scripts in front of "industry pros," even agents and managers, and on and on and on. I wouldn't be surprised to learn it's a billion dollar business in total, all feeding off what is for the most part - myth!

Makes you wonder why a company who does not check a mail box puts one up....Why bother installing a mailbox if you do not check it?

It's a 'honeypot', or maybe flypaper, to attract and neutralise all the attention they don't want, and automate the handling of the attention they do want to know about. Including the threats. (I'm guessing - they spend good money on it.) No it's not perfect, but 'good enough'. Not all projects are equally good - what would you do to filter them?

Use key words.

Simon Simon: My guess is to use it as a place-holder, activated when they're actually interested in looking for a project.

I hope you know that your mail addressed to your federal politician never gets to him/her. It's scanned for key words, including threats, and "pro or con" text on issues, which are summerized and actually sent to the person..

Key words is one tool. I assume they would use all the tools in search engine optimisation (SOE) practice, as well as data mining and other artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, given the likely volumes of email, and the technical expertise they will have available. The problem inherent in all of those is not being able to spot the next big thing; they are all driving by the rear-view mirror. So the challenge for newbies is to navigate through all that, with a truly original idea ...

I'd dare say that many truly great original ideas have already been penned, but are still in a hard drive.

Sounds a little far fetched to me. There are some large holes in the story your friend is telling. First, when you send email from, say, your Gmail account your IP address is not actually sent to the recipient. Gmail knows what your actual IP address is and they certainly record that information. But that information isn't passed along to the recipient of your email. The recipient can only sees the IP address of where the email came from - in this example the Gmail server. So if they blocked that IP, they would be blocking all people who used Gmail. Obviously that wouldn't work. On an individual level, they could certainly block specific email addresses, but in this day and age, even that isn't really all that valuable as you can easily get another free email account in just a few minutes. I do a ton of email queries, and while I have no doubt that some do end up getting caught in spam filters, a lot don't, and I get a lot of script requests this way. So it does work. I can pretty safely say, if there was some blacklist of screenwriters who do email queries, I'd be on it, but I'm still able to get a ton of scripts out there even to this day. In fact I just did a blast this week and am fielding the responses right now.

I have always had doubts about the industry that caters to (targets) would-be writers.

I've wondered about that. Discouraging but as a writer you have to be resourceful and find other ways to get your writing out there. I also write books --had two published with a third on the way. I've found that my screenplays make excellent outlines for novel. If one doesn't sell the other will. At least that's the plan

That's really interesting, but I guess it makes sense due to the amount of correspondence they must receive. Thanks for sharing!

That's why it's crucial to know the rules first. You can avoid these types of things by regular networking first. Remember, make a friend firstly. Nat Mundel via Voyage Media has a great video on this stuff.

This, sadly, makes a lot of sense to me. There are probably thousands of emails pouring into these guys and they don't want to be bothered by you again - even if your other ideas might be what they're looking for. Too much chaff, not enough wheat to go digging.

Honestly, I could see it. Trying to get work done with the level of emails I get with clients is hard, let alone getting thousands upon thousands of emails.

What you describe is quite possible, and it may be happening, but at some point, those doing it will suffer as a result by limiting the new in what they can offer. Others who don't do this will be the ones who stumble onto the next unknown that makes them millions. Don't sweat it. Either way there's nothing you can do but keep doing your best. Aim for the small guys first. Personally, I want an agent or manager who is as hungry and driven as I am.

I read and heard interviews with respected movie producers and agents that chances of your script or pitch ever making into the hands of a Hollywood agent, producer, or the powers that be, are slim to none. It's really WHO you know who can put in a good word for you to just even give your work a glance.

I suspect we all know the math is stacked against us to an absurd degree. In the end, I say, "So what?" Look at successful people and the one thing they almost always have in common is that they simply refused to fail. "No" was not an acceptable answer. I'll get my script sold. (And the next one, and the next one.) Because (A) it's good, and (B) I simply refuse to let it not happen. It will take time. I'll have to get creative. But it will happen.

Successful people always have one thing in common - they didn't follow the crowd.

Exactly right, Bill. Writers who pay to have their query "blasted" to 100 plus agents, producers, studios and prodCo's along with 50/60 other writers don't have much of a chance to stand out.

Exactly! And, if I was on the receiving end of one of those "blasts," I'd do everything in my power to put them (all) on my block sender and block domain files and keep them there until Hell froze over.

I've read and watched biographies of countless successful people who said it was hard work, perseverance, being in the right place at the right time that set them on their way. So, I'll just keep plodding along and maybe someone out there will like my work and give me a leg up! You're right Greg, don't listen to naysayers.

Luck is for rabbits!

hehehe Well certainly things and people don't come to you unless you go meet them first.

Not disturbing. You can not expect them to read every single email they receive. Just business. You have to get through the curtain.

Well Greg, there are more productive ways to do so. You create a relationship first.

Isn't that what I just said? You have to get through the curtain. Creating a relationship is one of the ways you do that.

It is THE way, Greg. When you treat your potential coworkers and buyers like people, emails may not even be necessary.

Getting through the "curtain" sounds easy, only it's an iron curtain, and heavily defended

No one said it was easy, Bill, but simple yes it actually is. However, attitude is everything in this business. It is a business.

A good business plan will sell a bad script but a great script without a business plan doesn't stand much of a chance. Relationships are fine, IF you run in those lofty circles, but writers are for the most part on the bottom of the food chain.

Well with all due respect Bill but a pessimistic attitude doesn't make for a good business plan anyhow.

Bill - As someone with a great script (or two) I'd be interested to know what you consider to be the key points of a "good business plan."

Budget (varies in length and type/detail), cast recommendations (not attachments), staff recommendations (not attached), crew (in my case turn-key), plan to seek/obtain distribution, business structure (LLC) documentation (by the state), an established escrow account, with documentation, that allows a prospective investor to put his money into, and several other points. If you're talking about getting a script to a producer, manager, agent or talent more or less "naked," I don't have a clue - yet!

The process isn't that much different. But you have to be the marketing team. Pitching to friends til you know every possible angle and question. Michael Hauge has a book on pitching.

I used to have a job where I'd solicit new manufactures for the company to represent in the military market. We'd pitch each other until we could counter every argument or objection they could throw out and do so BEFORE they brought it up. Then, we'd "test fly" the pitch on smaller prospects before going up against the big dawgs, just to be sure.

Check on that. You can "block sender" and/or "block domain," but g-mail is not a domain.