Dave's Rickety Bridge Part II

So I crawled out of my cave and ventured toward the chasm.

And I did some homework. For some reason I thought I was about the only one smart enough to check out a screenwriting posting board. Yes, sir, I was going to have a competitive advantage all right. Because, what, only a few million other writers, give or take, were privy to this sort of classified info.

So I found a thread talking about up-and-coming managers. A few were listed. I wrote down their names. Who knows, in retrospect, they were probably posting their names themselves, but I didn't ask any questions I didn't want answers to.

Then I sent out some query emails. I'm a believer in the less-is-more school of querying. Really, really, really less is more. Give them an interesting logline that allows their imagination to see the potential, and that's it.

I think my query went something like this...

I'm an up-and-coming screenwriter, and I recently completed a script that you may be interested in.

Title: The Floaters
Logline: A misfit high school guy realizes that the school's janitor is a washed up one-hit-wonder pop star from the eighties, and the kid convinces the janitor to help him form a band.

And that's it. I'm sure I signed off accordingly. Gave them a thanks for their time and some contact info.

Within a week or two I'd heard from a couple managers requesting the script.

Then... nothing. That's another thing you have to be prepared for: So Much Nothing. I will have to post on this in the future.

But the Nothing ended a couple months later. I received an email from the Manager that said the script I sent was the first one he'd responded to in the last 1,400 or so.

I don't include that number to brag. I include it to show why they take soooo long in responding, if they respond at all. And how much competition there is.

More to come. The script gets sent around town... and does not sell.