/got my call today
//and my fingers crossed for the playwriting competition
Just curious, for those that make semi finals in the top 3 contests, do you wait till the final round or maybe as a winner to query, or is semi finals enough to start querying?
The first time I was a second rounder I got a letter with a nice handwritten note from Matt Dy and a congratulatory phone call.
The next time, a letter and a phone call.
This time nothing. I saw a twitter post that said the list was online.
Feels like they're losing some of what always made Austin special.
I got a letter, *and* a groovy sticky note about how much they loved it, and a call. Passed on the same script this year. And one that was a final draft semi finalist last year. It's a crap shoot
I got a letter, *and* a groovy sticky note about how much they loved it, and a call. Passed on the same script this year. And one that was a final draft semi finalist last year. It's a crap shoot
Do you mean you had the same script place last year, but not this year (and it also was a semi finalist in big break)? Congratulations on the placement, by the way.
Do you mean you had the same script place last year, but not this year (and it also was a semi finalist in big break)? Congratulations on the placement, by the way.
Thank you, but no. A different script I submitted this year was a semi finalist at Final Draft last year but bupkis at Austin this year. The script that placed at AFF last year (that was also a "Table Read My Screenplay" semifinalist last year and had an extra, fawning sticky note with the letter) -- also bupkis. My point being this stuff is all so subjective. It's really needle in a haystack as to who reads it and if they like it or not.
Thank you, but no. A different script I submitted this year was a semi finalist at Final Draft last year but bupkis at Austin this year. The script that placed at AFF last year (that was also a "Table Read My Screenplay" semifinalist last year and had an extra, fawning sticky note with the letter) -- also bupkis. My point being this stuff is all so subjective. It's really needle in a haystack as to who reads it and if they like it or not.
Cool. Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, I've heard it can be pretty subjective from contest to contest or even within the same contest, with even conflicting notes from different readers on how they react to one particular scene.
Just out of curiosity, do you think managers pay attention to semi-finalists for the big four or five contests (other than Nicholl) like Page, Austin Film Festival, Final Draft Big Break in a query? Not sure which others would be in the top 5-7.
Had a win in Page some years ago. Sent dozens of queries to management companies. No one replied.
This. Whoever you're querying has to respond to the material. Placing high might make the difference, but because the title and genre are in the subject line, they may not even open the email if it's "meh" to them.
Actually, I did mention in the subject line - Page winner. It didn't make any difference. There might be a misconception out there as to how much a competition win is helpful to get a positive reply to cold quires. Maybe, the cold query era is over. Back in early 2000's, when queries were sent by snail mail, out of 400-600 query letters I would get 75 request for my script which didn't have any competition win. Today, if you get 5-15 script request out of sending 400-600 query emails you're a champ -- but that is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Actually, I did mention in the subject line - Page winner. It didn't make any difference. There might be a misconception out there as to how much a competition win is helpful to get a positive reply to cold quires. Maybe, the cold query era is over. Back in early 2000's, when queries were sent by snail mail, out of 400-600 query letters I would get 75 request for my script which didn't have any competition win. Today, if you get 5-15 script request out of sending 400-600 query emails you're a champ -- but that is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
-- the internet era killed the query star.
Which category were you in? Maybe, they look at certain categories more than others.
Like you mentioned, they might be less receptive to queries now that they are getting flooded.
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