The Misconception of Sending Unsolicited Material

A lot of filmmaking and screenwriting advice can be very tricky. It is preached to get your stuff out there, get people to see your films, get people to read your scripts, but you are also told not to send unsolicited material.

Of course you want more than just your family and friends to read your scripts. You want people in the industry to read your script, to take a glance at your pitch deck, or to look at your pitch trailer. 

The biggest problem is that many producers, agents, and production companies explicitly state on their websites that they do not accept unsolicited materials. There is a very fine line there, almost the gray area where you can send stuff without sending stuff. 

To understand what can be sent and what can’t be sent, we need to understand what unsolicited material is.

The easiest way to think of unsolicited material is to think of anything that you would add as an attachment(or a link) to an email. If you have to attach a file, then that becomes unsolicited material.

Types of Unsolicited Material

• Screenplay

• Pitch Deck

• Pitch Trailer (even if it's a link and not an attachment)

• Treatment

• Synopsis

• Concept Art

Anything more than a Logline can be considered unsolicited material.

Why does it matter?

The film industry is filled with tens of thousands of ideas. It is not uncommon for many ideas to be very similar, though the stories may be different. The last thing a producer or company wants to worry about is the fear being sued for stealing someone’s story.

What if by chance the script you send them is very close in idea to the one they are currently producing. You may not know they are producing a script that feels just like yours, so when that film comes out, you may think they stole your script.

This is why producers and production companies do not accept unsolicited material.

Like with many things in the industry, there are some caveats. If a company does accept unsolicited material, they usually have some Terms & Conditions that you have to agree to before submitting, these in essence state that you can not sue them.

It also matters because if you send material anyway, there is a chance that the producer or company remembers your name and then that will put a stain on your reputation.

Lastly, your email will most likely be deleted immediately if there is an attachment or if they open it and see you have included more things than just a logline.

How to get around sending unsolicited material.

One of the things I love about the film industry is that it is a lot like the startup world. A good entrepreneur will find a solution to a problem to take the next step to get their product to market.

You can still send an email!

Email a producer production company with a query email.

Only send ONE email. It is okay to follow up weeks later, but do not send multiple emails with different projects. Also do not pitch more than one project in your email.

What you are sending is referred to as a query email. In that email you can briefly talk about yourself, your experience (industry or life), the producers work, and then a one or two sentence logline.

Let’s break this down.

What To Put In Your Query Email

• About Yourself: This is just a quick introduction of who you are. I’m a 40 year old Kentuckian working in a bourbon distillery.

• Your Experience, Industry: If you have already been in the industry for a while, maybe you have been in crew positions in the grip department and now wanting to become a writer or director, you can talk about your experience in the industry. Keep it short and simple, but this helps them to know that you have knowledge of how the film industry works.

• Your Experience, Life: If you haven’t worked in the industry you can talk a bit about life experience you have, maybe you are a single parent, maybe you are a veteran, maybe you’ve been working your families business since you were a teenager. This life experience can give you a point of view in your storytelling. Keep this short and simple.

• The Producers Work: It is important to point out at least one film the producer or company has produced and state either how that film had an impact on you as a writer or how that film is comparable to the film you have written. This shows you did some research. Keep this short and simple.

• The Logline: Your logline is your elevator pitch. It should take no more than 15 seconds to read the logline. Your whole movie is summed up in one or two minutes.

• Conclusion: Thank them for their time and let them know if they are interested that you can send over a screenplay or other material. If you have other material, mention what the other material is, such as pitch deck, trailer, concept art, etc.

Here is a logline for Titanic as an example: Amidst the opulence of the world's most luxurious ship, a forbidden romance ignites between a spirited young aristocrat and a free-spirited artist, but their love faces the ultimate test when the Titanic collides with destiny, thrusting them into a battle for survival against the unforgiving elements of the Atlantic Ocean.

What Next?

Now you wait. There really is nothing left to do but be patient. You may get a response but it is highly likely that you will not.

You can follow up a few weeks later. It is good to follow up in the same email thread you sent, so that all the emails stay together and then they do not have to go back through their emails to find the original one you sent.

If they do reply and reject your project, thank them for their time and consideration. The good thing here, is that if you are polite and professional, there is still an opportunity a year later to send them a new query email with a new project.

Reaching out to producers and production companies is a game of numbers. I knew a director who emailed almost 500 producers and production companies. Only 5 replied back, 4 said no, 1 was interested.

That is all you need. You only need ONE.

That is why it is important to contact as many producers and production companies as you possibly can, because it increases the chance that one will be interested.

*BONUS NOTE* Do not have any images or other items in your signature that show up as an attachment. It us not uncommon for writers, directors, or filmmakers to have a logo or image of the name of their own little production company. What you may not realise is that, that image sometimes appears as an attachment. As stated above, producers and production companies may delete that email right away because they believe it has an attached document.

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