Hi - I have surmised that December is an ideal time for Query Letters as I have read and heard many mentions of the idea that the industry sort of 'closes down' early to mid-December for the holidays, and frequently that time is used to review projects etc..... So I thought this might be a 2-week or so window to get out as many as I can.
I have set a goal of 20 letters a day. Surprisingly, tracking down legit emails has not been as hit or miss as I assumed it might be, so that is a positive.
However, the limited responses I have received so far are all along the lines of this one:
Due to legal and insurance restrictions, including but not limited to copyright concerns, we adhere to a strict policy prohibiting the acceptance of unsolicited literary, dramatic or musical materials in any form for consideration.
We are returning to you herewith, without review, examination or consideration of any kind, the unsolicited material which you submitted. The material was perused only to the minimal extent needed to determine its nature, and no notice was taken of its literary content. Kindly refrain from making any future submissions to us in this manner, and please be advised that any similarities that may exist between your material and any project produced by ID, its clients (or any of its affiliates) is purely coincidental.
Understand the reason for this BUT if this is the stance of the industry how does a query letter ever work? Thoughts and/or ideas?
Hi, Darrell Pennington. Some producers accept cold query letters and some will read a cold query letter if the subject line/something in the letter interests them.
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In my experience, all companies accept blind queries, even if their policy states otherwise. If they are interested they write back and officially solicit your screenplay so it's no longer "unsolicited".
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@michaeldavid well that is very encouraging. My goal is to get 300 out by the end of the year!
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Darrell Pennington That IS the standard industry response. You get around it by going through an agent, manager or lawyer who will send a query letter or call with your log line You can query them, as Michael David mentioned - but only query, send no materials - use the log line and that's about it. Then when they write back they will request it and it's no longer unsolicited.