Chapter 12. Marketing Your Scripts

Okay, your script is finished and polished, and looks and reads great. So, how do you sell it? This chapter gives you some of my hard-won secrets in marketing—how to inexpensively get the attention of agents, managers, producers, and others who will not only read your script but actually pay you money if they like it.

Here we are looking primarily at marketing spec (written on speculation) screenplays. If you turn out a great screenplay and a Hollywood producer buys it, you could get several hundred thousand dollars up front and perhaps a million or more if the script actually gets filmed. Kind of worth learning the rules for, eh?

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• Appearances are everything: How your script looks is critical in every way!

• Loglines and queries: Get their attention but do it right.

• Ways to get noticed: Some methods of putting your work before a lot of people.

• Places to get leads: First you have to find 'em, then you can pitch...