As a starting point, let’s assume that you will not be marketing your script until you know you have a great story to market, and we’ll compare the ways to market from there.

Some methods for marketing your script are:  Go to pitchfests and pitch in person, make calls to various executives until you get through, do email blasts to potential producers or agents, or do a time-tested method of direct mail called Query Letter Mailings.

Given a great story, when you get right down to it, any of these things could work and have worked.  So whatever works, do it! 

There are trade-offs with each method though.  Emails are easily and quickly deleted and often just go unread.  With pitching, you have to find pitchfests to attend with the related expenses of the conference itself, and travel and lodging if you live out of town. Plus, the number of executives you get to pitch to in a short period of time is limited.  Phone calls are scary for most screenwriters and often disheartening.  Query Letter Mailings are not cheap or free like an email or phone call, but you can certainly deliver a professional pitch the way you want it to a lot of hand-picked people in a short period of time.

Here are a few more details on  why query letters, if you’re willing and able to invest a little in your marketing, come out on top as the best way to market your script.

With a query letter mailing, you can craft your pitch exactly the way you want it in writing and that is how it will be presented, so it’s a lot easier for most writers than pitching live. 

• You can spend however much time you need researching the right people to send to and have that list to “work” indefinitely.  In contrast, to pitch live, you will need to find a way to pitch to that person one on one, and you will just never be able to reach some execs to pitch live to them – but they might read a pitch if their assistant handed it to them in a letter.
• The query letter you send to an office has to be handled physically in some way or another, therefore has more likelihood of being noticed.  An email can be deleted instantly, and we’re trained to do that.  A live pitch disappears as soon as you hang up the phone or you leave their office. 
• A letter has a good chance of being opened and at least skimmed.  Then it takes no additional effort to place it into their inbox on their desk as a reminder call later or to pass to the exec.  But if the assistant sees your email and wants to bring it to their boss’s attention, they need to either print it out or make a note to tell the boss and later go back and find the email.  If they just forward it, you’re back to square one of it probably being deleted instantly when the boss sees it.
• With a query letter mailing, you can easily follow up with a phone call to see if they received your letter and it won’t seem odd.  With an email, it would be a bit odd to follow-up to see if they got your email, because if you were going to call you should have just called in the first place.
• One final advantage I want to mention, although there other advantages to a query letter mailing, is that when you do a Query Letter Mailing (with Smart Girls anyway), you get a complete listing of the names and addresses of every executive you are mailing to.  This is a good paper trail for you to have should you ever need to show evidence of who saw your idea when.  Hopefully, no one ever steals your idea, but it’s just one more thing to have in your backpack, should you ever want supporting evidence.

Because of the volume of digital information that people get, the most reliable means of getting through to a large number of prospective producers and agents for your script is:

          — a physically-delivered (USPS) professional query letter

          – that gives a great pitch of your story

          — to the right executives.

You can also then follow-up with all of the other methods to improve your responses.  But the best starting place is a query letter mailing.  Although it does cost more than just sending out an email, the idea is that you will then work that list indefinitely with the various other means to support your efforts, so it’s not a one-shot deal.

If you’re like most of the thousands of actors and screenwriters I’ve worked with, you probably agree that networking is a key to success in Hollywood, but it probably lives more as a concept in your head than as a real thing that you do. In fact, my guess is that you probably wish it were not necessary, and there’s a good chance that it feels “fake” to you. Bottomline, it may seem like networking is really just trying to sell yourself and get what you want. But if you think of it that way, you are making a big mistake. Relating to networking like that will work against you because you’re going in the wrong way. How do you do it right, you ask?

Here are the Five Golden Keys to be successful at networking.

First Key: Change your relationship to networking itself. Instead of focusing on getting what you want, focus on getting to know people.

If you go to a function, you have to get to know people before you can do business with them anyway. So simply meet people and talk with them as your initial contact. Ask them questions, find out about who they are, what they do, and what they are working on at the moment. As you listen and converse with them, things you have in common will come up naturally.

Second Key: Set a goal for what you want to accomplish before you go to the networking event.

Make a plan to fulfill a goal, such as exchange three business cards with people you could do business with. Or perhaps, introduce and pitch yourself to five people whom you will also learn about what they do. Or it could be to do something like find a potential writing partner or to find a project you can be a production assistant on or an agent whose office you could assist in for a week or a month. There are many kinds of outcomes that you can set that could forward your career – it doesn’t necessarily just have to be getting someone to read your script or getting someone to let you audition for their film. One of the powerful ways that you develop connections is to work with people in other capacities first while not hiding your real aspirations.

Key Three: Make sure you have follow up system in place once you meet someone.

Once you get home, make a strong, clear choice about how and when you will keep in touch with that person and how you will approach them. Then update your contact list and put on your calendar when you will reach them again. Also set aside time for when you will prepare what you will say to them, whether it is to pitch something to them or to offer to buy them lunch or dinner. Then when the time comes, make your call to them. Key Four: Prepare and practice your pitch in advance of the meeting. You need to craft your pitch so that you come across as interesting to whomever you’re pitching to. Don’t just tell about yourself, but sell yourself by telling them something about yourself that they could be interested in.

For example, what I do, from my perspective, is I help market actors and screenwriters. But from your perspective, if you’re an actor, I help you get more auditions that you want or I help you get an agent who can get you auditions. For screenwriters, from my perspective, I help you create a Query Letter Mailing. But from your perspective, I help you get producers and agents to read your script.

When you prepare your pitch, prepare it for what is in it for the audience that you want to do business with and that you are pitching to.

Key Five: Have a strong system for ongoingly keeping in touch with everyone you meet whom you could potentially do business with, so they remember you and they think of you at the right time.

If you’re an actor, go crazy with mailing out photo postcards and messages, update people on your latest activities – whether it’s a new headshot (or just new to them) – or a play you’re doing, a new class you started, or a Guest Star Role that you just got cast in. Get creative about what you announce. If you are taking action in your career, there is always something to announce, I promise you. For Screenwriters, be prolific in coming up with ideas. You can keep in touch letting people know about a new treatment or screenplay you have. You can also contact them to let them know you love their recent project, or congratulate them on something. One surefire way to get them to remember you (favorably) is if you have a fantastic script and they read it, they will remember you for quite some time. It is really great if you also engage in optioning other writers’ scripts because that puts you in a producer role and can give you countless things to talk about to anyone. But that is a whole other ballgame, so suffice it to say that if you are thinking about doing that, it’s a great idea.

If you only want to write or if you only want to act, then you have to get creative about how you can stay in touch or make people remember you. But you must do it. You must put effort and intention in this area of your career.

So there you go. Five Keys for Successful Hollywood Networking. If you taking on mastering these keys, demonstrate patience, and not get too worried about seeing immediate results (although you might see fast results), then over time you will be blown away by the results you produce. If you would like coaching on developing your Quick Pitch for networking events or any aspect of networking, follow up, approach contacts and making requests, check out my Melody Jackson Coaching page  and call me to arrange a time.