What Producers Look for in a Screenplay Query

What Producers Look for in a Screenplay Query In my decade or so at Treasure Entertainment, I literally received thousands of query letters from fledgling writers desperate to claw their way to the top of the read pile. Want to guess how many I responded to? If you said less than two dozen, you’d be a winner. This is not to discourage you from querying producers, but rather to drive home the reality that competition is fierce and many letters get tossed. However, there are a lot of things you can do (and avoid doing) in your query to increase your chances that a producer will actually request the script. Here are some of the most prominent: Know Who You’re Querying Research the company you’re sending the letter to. Know what kind of pictures they produce. The information is out there if you do a little digging. Look at the company’s credits on IMDb or Wikipedia. Google their films’ budgets. Treasure produces niche genre films under $10 million, but I can’t tell you how many times I received queries about a $75 million period drama. If you pitch something that’s in their wheelhouse, you have a much better shot at a response. Start with a Solid Logline Don’t meander through some circuitous introduction that forces the producer to find your story. Start with â€Å"Dear _____, I would like to submit the following screenplay for your consideration.† Then go right into the logline – a concise, one-sentence description of the plot. A good logline will reveal the protagonist, the antagonist, the conflict, the protagonist’s goal, and what’s at stake if the protagonist fails. It should also infer the genre, tone and scope of the piece. You want the producer to be able to glean from the logline whether it’s a big-budget action film or a dark indie drama. (Read Ashley Scott Meyers’ article â€Å"Writing a Screenplay Log Line† here: sellingyourscreenplay.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/writing-a-screenplay-logline/) Other Key Elements After the logline, follow up with a paragraph describing any enticing background about the project such as attached cast or a director, noteworthy awards or competition wins, whether the script is based on preexisting material like a book or magazine article, and whether any amount of funding is in place. This is your chance to really sell it. Follow that up with a short one-paragraph