Too many emails

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #31
    Re: Too many emails

    Hello Harbak,

    Originally posted by harbak View Post
    Virtually everything I have accomplished so far has come from cold emails and then following up on those leads with phone calls etc.... It opens doors.
    There it is, question solved. If email blasts helped in your career then they are helpful, who can argue that. Seems I was wrong.

    So because someone asks about email limitations you have to immediately besmirch their whole career? #tryingtodragpeopledownsucks
    I don't besmirch nobody's career, I just think it must suck to manage such large email campaigns instead of writing or doing whatever else. Also, of course it doesn't prove anything, but I've never heard of an A-list caliber writer who started that way.

    Again this is so wrong, but I'm guessing you don't have an address book
    2500 industry contacts you can send emails to either. It takes a ton of work and has huge payoffs.
    I don't, my agent does. Scripts she sends out come with a referral though so it's a different thing.

    According to John August and Craig Mazin, if it ain't Nichols or Austin it's garbage and a rip off. Their own words. So "few" might be an overstatement. If you wait to win the Nichols or pay any other contest you are kidding yourself.
    Yes, I've meant those two.

    Admit that you have never bulk emailed and you had little or no success when you cold queried and I may be able to understand your perspective. Because it has to be one or the other.
    I don't know where "bulk" starts. I've sent out maybe 200 cold queries, yes. Some people read the script (assistants to agents) nothing much came out of it.

    You assume you know his level of writing, but you don't.
    Never have I assumed to know his level of writing.

    Have you produced several projects with amateur directors using your material?
    No, I was lucky enough to start already with the industry professionals, but not in the US. However, all that started in the US because of an option off Nicholls. Now I'm coming back into Hollywood after that detour. What I wrote was however my belief based on what I've seen. That people are immensely more interested in videos they can see than reading another non-referred script. And that a friendship with people who also want to break in is most precious thing of all because once they do break in they will take you with them.

    My suspicions seemed to be proven by pieces like that one:
    https://goodinaroom.com/blog/great-query-letter-hoax/

    But, well, seems I (and the author of that article) was wrong.

    Comment


    • #32
      Re: Too many emails

      The only thing from that article that is important, and where you and I completely agree is the following (see below). I 100% advocate building relationships and going the route you have if that is feasible. However, there are those with jobs or habitation locales, that preclude their being at premiers, networking, hobnobbing and being "in" the community who need to use every tool possible to build some relationships that might further their career. I have a real job, and make 6 digits, but I still write a couple screenplays a year. How else would you recommend I go about building the contacts I have if not the use of email and the phone? And since this has actually produced results why would I discontinue that?

      That's really the rub. If someone wants to do this "full" time as a career get out to LA and start making movies, I completely agree. Whatever it takes. Unpaid PA gigs, write and shoot shorts, become a reader and build those inter personal contacts that will be the key. If you ain't moving to LA query away. If you write good query letters people will read your stuff, just a fact. If you can attach some IP even better.



      "To decision-makers, screenwriting query letters mean that you don't understand Hollywood.

      This is because Hollywood is a relationship business and screenwriting is a collaborative art.

      As a screenwriter, you have to be able to:

      Develop relationships with people inside the business.
      Generate meetings with decision-makers.
      Handle yourself in those high-stakes meetings.
      Collaborate with directors, stars, and producers.
      Being able to generate a real meeting demonstrates that you "get it.-
      Eric
      www.scriptreadguaranteed.com

      Comment


      • #33
        Re: Too many emails

        This is all about quality of relationships.

        I wouldn't place too high a premium on blind shotgunning of emails.

        The last time I went to find reps, I didn't do a single cold call. I asked CEs for reccos.

        (Yes, I got reps)
        - - - - - - -
        Script consulting still going strong.

        Details and updates here, as always: http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...ead.php?t=9901

        Comment


        • #34
          Re: Too many emails

          Originally posted by goldmund View Post
          Never have I assumed to know his level of writing.
          My level of writing? It sucks - big time, which is no surprise since I'm not from the English speaking market - But my story ideas and how I present them in screenplays seem to be above the average.

          Comment


          • #35
            Re: Too many emails

            Originally posted by StoryWriter View Post
            Seriously? You have no idea who the pros are on this forum?
            I'm not from the states or ashamed to admit I have no idea who all these people are.

            For me counts only a valuable answer/response.

            If I get it, I say thanks - if not, if someone tries to lecture me in something I know he is wrong, he will get a response.

            If he likes it or not is another thing - but I rely on facts, not fantasies.

            Comment


            • #36
              Re: Too many emails

              Originally posted by StoryWriter View Post
              Give the pros a few decades to completely die off

              I mean -- what are they gonna f*cken do -- not buy it? I don't think so!
              Sorry to disappoint you, but you won't have to wait till you're 150 years old.

              It will probably happen in the next five to ten years.

              What I'm talking about is AI.
              It is only a question of time till companies start using AI's to develop screenplays and other sorts of overpriced "lecture."

              Doing so, all these writers, their agents, and managers will become ... useless.

              Some guys discussed a couple of months back why did Amazon closed its free script evaluation system. Amazon now has an enormous assemblage of scripts, stories, from all over the world.

              All they need is a software that will be able to take the "best" pieces from thousands of works, which naive writers submitted to them, and turn them into new, original screenplays.

              Who knows, maybe their AI will manage to force producers to develop what writers did not achieve in the last decades - movies worth watching.

              https://thenextweb.com/artificial-in...ai-film-story/

              Just one of the things that are coming at you as an invisible meteorite.

              Comment


              • #37
                Re: Too many emails

                Originally posted by Done Deal Pro View Post
                You've disparaged my forums and this community in three different posts in this one single thread.
                Opposite to some others on this forum, I'm stating facts, not stories without any real proof or record.

                If stating facts is for you bad-mouthing, then so be it.

                As I respond to someone else, you'll all soon be free of all your worries connected to your "work," as a documentary about AI's progress in the last years showed a couple of weeks back.

                This thing is coming.

                It learns/works with the speed of light - It demands no paycheck, and its abilities are limitless.

                Or as football fans would say, "Writers versus AI = 0:3."

                Which for writers means, "Game Over!"

                Comment


                • #38
                  Re: Too many emails

                  Originally posted by slopnik View Post
                  I'm not from the states or ashamed to admit I have no idea who all these people are.

                  For me counts only a valuable answer/response.

                  If I get it, I say thanks - if not, if someone tries to lecture me in something I know he is wrong, he will get a response.

                  If he likes it or not is another thing - but I rely on facts, not fantasies.
                  Well, I guess if you're not trying to sell in the states, you don't need know who they are. If you were trying to sell in the states... they might be able to help you out some day, unless you intentionally try to p*ss them off. Your choice.

                  Valuable answer/response? Yeah, but you put a "value" on that response by having a clue whether the responder is a pro or a poser. If you're saying you already KNOW the answer to your question, then what's the point of asking it?

                  You rely on "facts" not "fantasies"? Do you write fiction or non-fiction?

                  Have a great day.
                  Last edited by StoryWriter; 07-02-2018, 01:34 AM.
                  "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Re: Too many emails

                    Originally posted by slopnik View Post
                    Sorry to disappoint you, but you won't have to wait till you're 150 years old.

                    It will probably happen in the next five to ten years.

                    What I'm talking about is AI.
                    It is only a question of time till companies start using AI's to develop screenplays and other sorts of overpriced "lecture."

                    Doing so, all these writers, their agents, and managers will become ... useless.

                    Some guys discussed a couple of months back why did Amazon closed its free script evaluation system. Amazon now has an enormous assemblage of scripts, stories, from all over the world.

                    All they need is a software that will be able to take the "best" pieces from thousands of works, which naive writers submitted to them, and turn them into new, original screenplays.

                    Who knows, maybe their AI will manage to force producers to develop what writers did not achieve in the last decades - movies worth watching.

                    https://thenextweb.com/artificial-in...ai-film-story/

                    Just one of the things that are coming at you as an invisible meteorite.
                    Young pups were saying the same thing in 1998, when I first discovered screenwriting newsgroups. I think they were saying in three or four years back then.

                    Others said the same thing about "real" actors. Any day now... The problem is even though they can do a better and better job of animated/CGI "actors", they still have to say words. That's a thing real actors do.

                    It's obvious in cartoons. The fly-by-nights can often produce as good or nearly as good animation, but it all breaks down with the voice talent. Watch with the sound off, the difference isn't nearly as obvious as when you turn the volume up.

                    Anyway is it really AI when someone is directing the AI toward the results they want?

                    If the AI was arguing with the co-writer and pushing for its artistic vision, that would be impressive.

                    But I'm not holding my breath.
                    "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Too many emails

                      Originally posted by StoryWriter View Post
                      Young pups were saying the same thing in 1998, when I first discovered screenwriting newsgroups. I think they were saying in three or four years back then.
                      1998? We now have 2018, and things have changed.

                      Sorry to disappoint you - again.
                      This is what I meant:

                      https://openload.co/f/mBMMwxdXpgQ/th...264.rmteam.mp4

                      You want this thing to thing like a human - it does.

                      You want it to assemble - check - combine and use data in real time mode - it does.

                      You want it to act like a human, think like a human... debate like a human - now, it does.

                      This docu tells the story of the AI from its first success when it beat Kasparov, then the masters of Jeopardy all the way to today, when it debates with the best on this planet in live mode.

                      It thinks, acts and reacts like a human - only a million times faster.

                      So, making a code that would enable it to write a shitty screenplay shouldn't be so hard.
                      If an idiot like me can write one that gets optioned, how hard would it be for a computer code with a billion times higher IQ?

                      Easy-peasy, my character would say.

                      One should never forget that the most annoying, unwanted element in Hollywood is, was and remains to be the writer.

                      Producers might not admit it, studios love to hide it, but they all search for ways to produce more material at a higher pace with less or no costs.

                      This AI is their golden goose.

                      No complaints, no vacations, no weekends. It works 24/7, and once it learns its work, it produces real wonders.

                      Watch it - enjoy it - This is your future.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Re: Too many emails

                        Originally posted by StoryWriter View Post
                        Well Have a great day.
                        I'll try to be short; I usually fail at it:

                        - Who cares if the answer comes from an Oscar winner/writer or a mother of five who just started her first screenplay in life? If the answer is correct, if it helps me, I will kiss her feet for it.

                        - "If you're saying you already KNOW the answer to your question, then what's the point of asking it?"
                        Where did I say that I know the answer to my question about emails - where?

                        - "You rely on "facts" not "fantasies"?"
                        Facts when we talk about the biz and what works and what not.

                        But yes, I also love to use facts in my stories, hard-core facts that most writers don't even dare to think of to use in a screenplay.
                        And producers love it.

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        X