How to Get Your Screenplay Read by a Decision Maker

This is also a question I was asking myself in late 2004 when I did two screenplay scripts, one for local setting and the other international. I made sure first to have both copyrighted for protection. After copyright was granted 30 days after, it was only then that I sought ways and means to get them to the right hands. For the local scripts, I had some friends in the television and movie industry and requested their assistance to have it reviewed and evaluated. From actors, directors to producers. My script was about a hostage rescue mission by elite forces using unconvetional weapons and devices. Anyway, they did not take too much interest because they were "trending". Meaning, they were looking for scripts that was a trend for movie goers like those teen-age sort of romances or low budget horror movies that could be filmed in just 2 or 3 nearby locations. At the same time, they were looking for characters in scripts that would fit the young stars of our country. It didn't get anywhere. I should have written the script just a couple of months before a similar situation was in the offing in Iraq involving our countrymen.

Being on the other end of the globe, I had to search for emails or websites of producers, directors and agents in the United States for my international script that has a setting in the U.S. of A. My script is an alien sci-fi comedy that touches on sports particularly the NBA. If I remember right, I had over 40 email addresses or URLs of people in the industry. Sad to say, I only got a reply from a handful and most were interested only in low budget films. Some even asked if could do or write a horror script confined only in one or two locations. I did not do any because there was no assurance my script would be bought. Another is, when I start writing a screenplay, I do it continuously for about 45 days working on it 12 to 14 hours a day without doing anything else.

My last recourse was to make an entry in one of those contests for screenplay scripts. It costs around $40.00 to submit an entry. My entry did not even get past the eliminations from the board of judges composed of film producers, directors and, I believe, some actors. After the finals, I received some offers to review my script for editing or evaluation for a fee. I did not respond to any because, again, there was no assurance that the script would be bought! It would cost me a couple of hundred dollars to let the script go through the process they were suggesting. Anyway, most of the feedback I got was the timing for scripts genre and costs involved in shooting the film.

I have posted my script at Triond and it might help if anyone here has had the same experience I had. Here's the URL for that posted entry: