marketing efforts: trying to make the PIMP pay

As I mentioned two weeks ago, I plunked down a very precious $100 to sign up with Script PIMP (Pipeline Into Motion Pictures), which gets me access to an online database of production companies, agents, and managers looking for new scripts. And they have a feature that allows you to submit queries through their site to companies who want them--I don't know if they're any more likely to be read than a traditional e-mail (I hope so, but have no idea).

Finally I've been getting my act together and going through the database and figuring out which companies are right for my work and which particular scripts they might like to see. So far I've sent 22 queries, so I'm down to less than $5 a shot. Not great, but it's getting better all the time.

I've heard absolutely no response yet, though it's only been a week or two at most for any of the queries. If this hadn't already worked for me about three years ago, I'd be wringing my hands in despair, wondering if it's all a scam. Since I know better, I just get to practice my patience instead.

Looking at my submission database, I can see a pattern for my screen work. I send out a handful of queries and then get an agent or manager. I work with them for a while, some scripts get submitted (maybe not as many as I'd like). And then the whole thing falls apart, and my screen work languishes for a few years. When I say the whole thing falls apart, I mean, the project that got them excited doesn't sell quickly and they get more interested in something else and stop calling me back. (Is this how it works for other people, too? I have no idea. Actually, one agent just went out of business.)

I'm not quite sure how to break out of this cycle, besides try to make sure that I get lucky and see one of these suckers all the way through, at least all the way until I have something to put in my bank account, but really I want to follow it until there's something to see on the screen.

In addition to sending out these queries, which feels like the minimum I should be doing, I should probably do a little assessment of who I know who might be able to give me a referral to an agent. I've found screenwriters to be pretty tight lipped with agent information. I understand why this is, because they're tough to get, and the relationships can be fragile. But I guess I still need to at least try.

(If any of you have tips on good screenwriting sites that go beyond the very basics, I'd be interested to know. (I've had agents, a manager, and had a script optioned, so I've at least gotten my feet wet.))

Screen Life: baby steps

My adventures in screenwriting have been the slowest aspect of my writing life, for quite a while. I secured a manager in LA about 3 1/2 years ago, and we worked together on some of my scripts, but we never got much off the ground. They submitted one of my pieces once or twice, but that was about it. Then they got busy on the production end, and basically got too busy to call or e-mail me back.

At the same time, I got busy writing plays (and having productions) and having a novel published. But I have four spec scripts that I'd love to see get sold and produced, and since I haven't been doing anything with them, nothing's been happening.

My writing account is just about dry, but I got some money for my 40th birthday, and I'd been thinking about putting some of it into writing stuff. Tonight I plunked down $100 for a year's subscription to Script P.I.M.P. (Pipeline Into Motion Pictures), which is web site that offers access to a database of production companies, agents, and managers. It's not a huge database, but it has a number of folks who will look at material from unknowns like me. I used this back in 2004, and that's how I ended up with my previous manager. So I know that it can work. And maybe, since I've put my money down, I'll feel inspired to make a lot more queries now, to make sure I get my money's worth. Spending that much money definitely makes me feel a little queasy (screenwriting has had the worst payback, financially, of any of my writing, so far).

I was especially inspired to do something today, because the news is full of a story about a man with a rare strain of TB who has been quarantined. Elements of the news story are extremely similar to The Carrier, my screenplay that's had the most close calls to-date. To me, it felt like this was really the day to start getting those queries back out there.

I realize that I don't understand the movie biz, and especially how to make it work from Boston. It seems like a place where there are lots of folks interested in lots of different projects, but getting them to follow all the way through to the end is the tricky part.

Maybe this time it'll finally work out. I sent out two queries, through the Script PIMP site tonight. I'm down to $50/query already.