. . . ACTION!
Okay, so you finally grew the balls to call a production company to ask if you can send them your script. Good for you! Now, here’s how not to eff it up. Find out their submission policy and . . . DO. WHAT. THEY. TELL. YOU. TO. DO. If they tell you to submit a logline, then send them a logline ONLY. Don’t throw in your script, cast wish list (you’re not the decider here), budget, and soundtrack suggestions (nobody cares about soundtracks anymore) all packaged in a pretty blue presentation folder that you eagerly bounced down to Staples to pick out thinking it would make the production company buy your script. No. It will not.
Different production companies have different policies. One may want a logline, another may want a synopsis. You may even stumble upon that rare unicorn of a production company that will allow you to submit your script without having an agent. Whatever their submission policy is, adhere to it. Why? Because they have their particular policies for a reason. For example, one company may only want a logline because they receive tons of submissions and don’t have time (maybe due to lack of manpower) to read a bunch of full-length scripts.
A logline saves the reader a lot of time. It immediately tells the reader what the story and character are about. It also lets the reader know if the writer has any skills. If your logline sucks hard, there’s a 99% chance that your whole script sucks even harder because if you haven’t mastered how to write a logline, you haven’t mastered how to crank out 100 pages that somebody other than your mommy would want to read. Production companies ain’t got time for that!
Just work on your logline. Make it sing and then send it in, but follow the rules and save your little presentation folder for school or something. You will only piss off the reader on account of her having to shuffle through all of that extra crap. And when you piss off a reader, your script goes in the trash and you get placed on the “do not read anything from this person EVER” list. It’s basically like an airline “no fly” list minus the terrorist. In other words, you’re screwed. Yes, the punishment seems petty and mean, but it is what it is. “Life is pain. You just get used to it” (Charly Baltimore, The Long Kiss Goodnight).
. . . CUT!
Tell me,have you ever submitted something to a production company, agent or studio? What happened? Spill the tea in the comments section.